Camille Boyle
My Business Training
Yusuf Isiyaku
Quick Facts
Yusuf Isiyaku, nicknamed "Babba," is a determined 30-year-old breakfast food and drink expert from the Darazo Local Government Area of Bauchi State.
As the second of ten children, Yusuf paused his formal education after secondary school, sacrificing his early dream of becoming a lawyer so his younger siblings could remain in school.
Now a devoted father of two, his primary motivation is securing educational opportunities for his children.
Having navigated severe setbacks—including a forced 2024 eviction from his roadside location—Yusuf used seasonal farming savings to restart his trade, proving his immense resilience and commitment to his family.
Yusuf Isiyaku
Business Goals
Yusuf aims to establish a permanent, vibrant breakfast and evening shop called Babba Tea and Coffee Shop.
Operating daily from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM in a bustling marketplace, his business will offer freshly brewed tea, coffee, noodles with egg, and hot tea with bread.
He aims to target up to thirty customers each day, including Keke tricycle drivers and working-class men aged 18 to 40, who require fast, reliable, and affordable meals.
Inspired by industry leaders like Indomie, Yusuf intends to use bold, colorful branding to build an accessible neighborhood landmark centered on top-tier customer service.
Yusuf Isiyaku
Business Obstacles
Yusuf is successfully running a busy daily business, consistently delivering fast, high-quality morning and evening meals from his active roadside location.
Currently, his more pressing roadblocks are the complete lack of a permanent storefront and constant local power outages.
In addition to this, running his business with only a tiny gas cylinder and basic pots severely limits his ability to work during peak hours.
Also, managing fluid, item-dependent pricing and building a secure customer base without formal financial record-keeping training makes navigating sudden evictions or seasonal business slow periods exceptionally difficult for him to handle alone.
Yusuf Isiyaku
Vulnerabilities
Yusuf seeks support from Leadership Initiatives to transition away from the roadside into a permanent commercial hub, requiring a deep freezer, a power generator, a multi-burner gas cooker, and startup funding.
This partnership will provide the funding needed to secure a stable marketplace lease and stock bulk ingredients like Milo, eggs, milk, and coffee.
With this assistance, Yusuf's shop will transform into an organized, well-lit dining space featuring customer tables, wall-mounted display shelves, and a dedicated checkout counter.
This vital collaboration ensures complete security from roadside evictions, empowering Yusuf to comfortably fund his children's school fees.
My Business Proposal
Throughout the program, we worked closely with Yusuf Isiyaku 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 Yusuf Isiyaku to optimize their business through a new financial tracking system.
This new budget enables Yusuf Isiyaku 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 Lithuania
- Diplomacy Briefing At The El Salvadorian Embassy
- Professional Mentorship
Our business development journey began with a one-on-one Zoom meeting with our partner, Yusuf Isiyaku, 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 Yusuf Isiyaku 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 Lithuania, where I gained firsthand insight into the role of diplomacy in fostering strong relationships between Lithuania 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 Lithuania 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 El Salvadorian 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 El Salvadorian 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.