BusAdityaHerekar
Aditya Herekar
My Business Consultant Training
Collaborated With A Business In The Developing World
Our team reviewed the economic, social, political, and environmental factors that impact our partner business to design a launch plan and identify how to bridge the gap between our business partner’s current and desired conditions.
Earned a Development Grant to Enact Solutions
In order to fund the proposed business, our team composed a detailed plan and pitched our proposal to request seed funding from the Leadership Initiatives Grant Committee.
Collaborated With Business Development Experts
After researching the socio-economic conditions facing our business partners, our team worked with the Nigerian development staff to create effective solutions to the challenges our business partner was facing.
Jamilu Mohammed Labaran
About Jamilu
Jamilu began tailoring because of his family and his passion for creativity. He is interested in starting a tailoring business because he grew up watching his neighbors, who were tailors, sell clothing that he felt could have been better. He started learning tailoring to help his mother and siblings with their clothes after they were disappointed with the ones they received. Eventually, as he learned, he began to develop a passion for the craft because he witnessed the appreciation and happiness that tailors bring to people.
He was trained for three years at one of the top tailor shops in Bauchi, and with his dedication and skills, his mentor decided to hire him to work as an employee in the shop for five years. In the process of working, he learned various tailoring techniques which bolstered him to a better expertise. After working and saving up money, he purchased a used manual sewing machine and started his own business from home.
He hopes to continue and improve his tailoring business so that he can be financially independent and provide for his mother and siblings. He is extremely passionate about tailoring and interacting with customers and finds a lot of joy in his work.
Jamilu Mohammed Labaran
Business Goals
Jamilu hopes that one day, his business will grow and become a reliable establishment in Bauchi, so he will be able to hire additional employees and apprentices from his community. He hopes to train others in tailoring so they can start their own businesses to support their families, just like he is. He plans to establish a large tailoring industry that produces various types of imported clothing styles such as Senegal, Kaptan, and fashion Abayas. Jamilu wants to be famous in his business throughout the Bauchi Community, as well as in neighboring areas throughout the country.
Jamilu wants to be self-reliant and financially independent so he can build a comfortable home for his siblings and his mother, who was diagnosed with heart disease. He wants to make sure his family can afford three meals a day, every day.After building his business, he wants to use it to support his community by teaching less privileged children to have a source of income.
Jamilu Mohammed Labaran
Obstacles
Running a tailoring business in Bauchi State, Nigeria presents several formidable challenges for small business owners. Firstly, sourcing high-quality fabrics and materials at affordable prices can be challenging due to limited local suppliers and the reliance on imported goods, which are subject to fluctuating exchange rates and customs delays. Secondly, skilled tailors are in short supply, making it difficult to find and retain experienced personnel proficient in both traditional and modern sewing techniques. Thirdly, inadequate infrastructure such as unreliable electricity and poor transportation networks can disrupt production schedules and affect the timely delivery of orders, impacting customer satisfaction.
Jamilu Mohammed Labaran
Home & Family
Jamilu is 31 years old and lives in a small rented house in Yankari Workshop Road Bauchi. He was born and raised in the Bayan Bata community of Bauchi State, Nigeria. Jamilu is the sixth child of seven children in his family of nine members. His late father used to work in a company, and his mother is a small business owner who cooks food at home and takes it to the street to sell. He completed his primary school education at The Baptist Royal Academy and his secondary school at Sky Crests. He completed his National Diploma at Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic School Bauchi, where he studied Estate Management.
Jamilu spends his days tailoring so that he can provide for his large family.His mother assists him as much as she can but has recently been diagnosed with a heart condition, which has made her have to pull back on her contributions. They have been struggling financially, especially with paying rent, and Jamilu hopes that his improved business will help their situation. Jamilu’s income plays a very large role in his family, and he makes sure to spend time with them every day.
Jamilu Mohammed Labaran
Our Partnership
In recent years, after his mother’s diagnosis of a heart condition, Jamilu’s family has been struggling to afford basic necessities and pay rent. The business partner believes that by having his own business, he will be able to improve his financial situation and that of his family.Jamilu feels extremely delighted and honored to be a part of Leadership Initiatives and the International Business Internship Program He has been operating the business from home for a while, and he hopes that this partnership will allow him to establish a storefront, provide for his family, as well as provide opportunities for others in his community to support themselves through tailoring and escape the circle of poverty.
In his words, “I am happy to get this opportunity to be part of this organization. I believe that with this partnership all of my dreams will come true and I will be successful.”
My Grant
Proposal
Family Ambition Stitches is a tailoring business focused on the quality and individuality of their clothing. The main tailor and business owner Jamilu Mohammed obtains year of experience and has tips and tricks from the best tailors in Nigeria. Mr. Mohammed has vast diversity in the products he produces ranging from women’s and mens apparel, to children’s apparel. He prides himself in his reasonable pricing, while still reaching his high quality standards.. With quality, variety, and experience, Family Ambition Stitches produces affordable and prestiges apparel for all.
We aim to grow Family Ambition Stitches into a stable and full-functioning business. With our help, we aspire to support Mr. Mohammed in turning family Ambition Stitches into a company that produces unique high-quality products and emphasizes the importance of loyalty and family. With his experience, Mr. Mohammed hopes to gain loyal customers who see his vision and appreciate his quality and attention to detail.
When helping Mr.Labaran begin his business, we ran into certain issues such as imperfect locations, concerns about safety, lack of consumers, transportation, and much more. As we continued brainstorming with Mr.Labran on these concerns, we devised solutions to help solve these issues. We strategically chose a store location that was very close to his home. There it solves the issues of transportation and is accessible to his current customers creating automatic business. Due to the protests and overall crime rate in Nigeria at the moment, we resolved the issue of security by implementing 5 CCTV camera systems in his shop alongside durable locks and metal bars.
My Grant Proposal
Presentation
In the International Leadership and Business Internship, I worked directly with some of the world’s leading developmental experts in order to build my partners business and brand.
At the conclusion of this internship, our team pitched the final proposal to a panel of esteemed judges from the Leadership Initiatives Nigerian Development Team and the Leadership Initiatives Grant Committee. This formal pitch allowed our team to practice our skills and utilize our entrepreneurial toolkit, all while showcasing our efforts to transform the business we partnered with.
At the end of the pitch, we were able to receive feedback on our proposal for our business partner. Over the next year, our business partner’s venture will be made into reality and monitored for sustained success and growth.
Internship Highlights
- Business Meeting
- Portugese Embassy
- Embassy of Argentina
- Expert Assistance
Our team began the business development process by having a one-on-one Zoom call directly with our business partner,Jamilu Mohammed Labaran, and our Nigerian project coordinator to ensure productive collaboration.
We learned more about their life, family, and desires for the proposed business venture, as well as the challenges they were facing. By discussing first-hand the challenges our partner faced, our team successfully and efficiently began to brainstorm solutions to launch their business.
Each morning we held constructive discussions about our ideas, the advice we received the day before, and the timeline necessary to begin implementing our ideas in real-time.
The on-staff project coordinators and business development experts helped facilitate the ideation process and ensured our team asked the right questions to produce tangible results.
I had the unique opportunity to visit the Portugese Embassy, where I learned about diplomatic relations between Portugal and the United States.
The embassy serves as a hub for collaboration with partner countries and international organizations, which facilitates the creation of solutions to address global issues, such as poverty, gender inequality, and climate change.
Portugese diplomats and officials work closely with local communities to identify needs and design programs that empower individuals and enhance overall societal well-being. This community-centered problem-solving is something my team and I aspired towards while crafting our business proposal.
I also visited the Embassy of Lebanon to learn about the role that Lebanon plays in domestic and international development work. We discussed critical topics including investments, international trade, and human rights.
While touring the embassy, I learned about the wide range of policy issues and gained a better understanding of the embassy’s role in international development through sustainable and inclusive initiatives.
My visit to the Embassy of Lebanon was not only educational, but inspiring. It allowed me to see Lebanon’s pivotal role in advancing international development and how I can implement their ideals into my own work.
Our team met with leading experts in the fields of business and economic development from Johns Hopkins University, the State Department, and GlobalGiving.
One such expert was Carla Brooks, Business and Development Officer at Johns Hopkins Center for Communications Program. She provided us with a crash course in advertising and marketing, in which we learned essential components of an effective marketing campaign.
Our work with Ms. Brooks was essential in preparing us for our culminating pitch deck presentation. With her and other expert guidance, we streamlined our initial ideas to further our efforts in launching the venture our business partner envisioned.
By the end of the week, we had incorporated the advice of leading experts from across the globe for our business proposal to empower and transform the life of our business partner.