Brendan McCarthy
My Business Training
Bashir Ibrahim
Quick Facts
Bashir Ibrahim is a resilient and determined tailor from the Kofar Gombe community in Bauchi State, Nigeria.
A devoted husband and father to one child, Bashir currently works as an apprentice tailor in Wunti Market, and hopes to establish his own tailoring business to provide for his family and offer high-quality clothing services to his neighborhood.
He attended school up until university, but grew up with 11 siblings, creating an environment where they had limited space and limited resources for each person. Still thinking fondly of his childhood, he grew to become very hardworking and self-dependent, leading him to apprentice under a master tailor to gain his current skills.
Despite facing personal obstacles such as rising material costs and the lack of privacy and space for his family,Bashir’s dedication to his craft has encouraged him in his pursuit of a new business to continue supporting his family.
Bashir Ibrahim
Business Goals
Bashir strives to create a professional tailoring environment where customers feel confident in the quality of their custom garments.
He hopes to provide every client with a sense of pride through clothing that reflects personal style and community traditions.
Catering to female neighbors in Kofar Dumi, he strives to provide reliable services that are affordable and delivered with precision.
Bashir aims to expand by acquiring a shop, an industrial sewing machine, solar panels, a working table, among other needs.
For the presentation, he envisions an organized workspace with clear signage and product display to showcase his best work for everyone.
Bashir Ibrahim
Business Obstacles
Bashir maintains a consistent workflow in the Wunti Market, producing high-quality garments for his neighbors.
However, his primary challenge is the lack of a permanent shop space. He recognizes that a stable location is essential to promote smooth operations and to build long-term trust with customers.
Additional operational issues like lost or damaged clothing, customers refusing to pay after completed services, or occasional accidents that can damage a customer’s clothing make the running of a tailor business a challenge. Situations like these will create conflict and generally make it harder to maintain strong customer relationships.
Bashir Ibrahim
Vulnerabilities
Bashir seeks Leadership Initiatives’ support to create his tailoring business, requiring a permanent shop space, industrial sewing machines, a reliable power generator, workstations, and advertising.
This partnership provides the necessary equipment and funds to maintain diverse fabrics and a high-quality work environment.
With this assistance, Bashir’s workspace will be a professional, well-organized workshop with clear signage and display mannequins. He envisions a fast-past, lively experience where customers receive custom garments while engaging with community testimonials.
This collaboration will ensure business success, allowing Bashir to provide for his family while offering the Kofar Dumi community dependable, expert tailoring services.
My Business Proposal
Throughout the program, we worked closely with Bashir Ibrahim to develop a clear understanding of their business goals. Though they have leveraged their skills and years of experience to create their business, they face obstacles hindering the expansion of their work.
Guided by their vision, we created a proposal detailing the infrastructure materials necessary to support the growth of their business. We devised a plan that would allow Bashir Ibrahim to optimize their business through a new financial tracking system.
This new budget enables Bashir Ibrahim to allocate funds toward essential materials and equipment, supporting the improvement of their services. Effective financial tracking will be crucial for managing increased revenue and preserving assets, ensuring the business’s long-term growth and stability.
My Business Proposal Presentation
As part of the International Leadership and Business Internship, I collaborated with top development experts to strengthen my business partner’s operation and finances.
At the conclusion of the program, my team presented our final proposal to a panel of judges from the Leadership Initiatives Grant Committee. This formal pitch allowed us to demonstrate our entrepreneurial skills, showcase our strategic plan, and advocate for meaningful change in our partner’s business.
Our team was awarded grant funding to support the implementation of our business partner’s plan, providing life-changing support that will expand operations, strengthen financial stability, and create new growth opportunities. Over the next year, this grant will help transform the future of their business and improve the quality of life for both the entrepreneur and their community.
Internship Highlights
- Business Partner Meeting
- Visit To The Embassy Of Serbia
- Diplomacy Briefing At The European Union's Embassy
- Professional Mentorship
Our business development journey began with a one-on-one Zoom meeting with our partner, Bashir Ibrahim, and our Nigerian project coordinator. This initial conversation laid the foundation for strong collaboration. It allowed us to better understand our partner's background, family, goals for the business, and the specific challenges they were facing.
Hearing directly from Bashir Ibrahim provided the insight we needed to begin brainstorming practical, personalized solutions. Each morning, our team held focused discussions to refine our ideas, reflect on expert advice from the day before, and adjust our timeline to move our plans forward efficiently.
Throughout the process, on-staff project coordinators and business development experts offered guidance, helping us ask the right questions and turn our ideas into meaningful, actionable strategies.
I had the unique opportunity to visit the Embassy of Serbia, where I gained firsthand insight into the role of diplomacy in fostering strong relationships between Serbia and the United States.
The embassy serves as a center for international collaboration, partnering with countries and global organizations to address pressing issues such as poverty, gender inequality, and climate change. Through this visit, I learned how diplomats engage in meaningful dialogue and policy development to create sustainable, people-focused solutions.
Officials from the Embassy of Serbia shared how they collaborate with local communities to identify needs and implement programs that empower individuals and strengthen long-term development. This commitment to community-driven impact inspired my team and me as we worked to develop our own business proposal focused on creating lasting change.
During my visit to the European Union's Embassy, I gained insight into how diplomacy shapes international cooperation and development. The experience deepened my understanding of the embassy’s role in promoting peace, fostering economic partnerships, and addressing shared global challenges.
Embassy representatives discussed how their work supports cross-cultural exchange, advances policy priorities, and strengthens relationships between the European Union's people and the United States. I learned how embassies serve as bridges, connecting governments, communities, and organizations to create innovative solutions for global issues.
This visit broadened my perspective on international leadership and inspired me to think critically about how collaboration, cultural awareness, and strategic planning can drive meaningful progress- principles that our team applied while developing our business proposal.
Throughout the internship, our team had the incredible opportunity to collaborate with leading experts in business and economic development from Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. State Department, and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
One of the highlights was a session with Carla Brooks, Business and Development Officer at the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs.
My team also worked directly with a personal mentor. Our mentor provided us with career insights, project support, and feedback for our business ideas. The meetings we had throughout the week with our mentor provided critical insights from the initial business ideation phase through our project presentation.
With support from Ms. Brooks and other global leaders, including Eric Rosenstein, we refined our ideas, strengthened our strategy, and developed a powerful and polished pitch deck to present at the end of the week. Their guidance helped us take our business proposal to the next level, creating a plan designed not only to launch a venture, but to transform our business partner’s future.