Katherine Cho
My Business Training
Debora Mairabo
Quick Facts
Debora Mairabo is a resilient entrepreneur from Bauchi State, raised in a lively military home in Yobe and Jos.
After earning a National Diploma, she transitioned from her childhood dream of medicine to her passion for culinary arts.
Inspired by her mother’s strength and persistence, Debora now operates her own restaurant, balancing a busy professional routine with personal responsibilities, including supporting her mother financially.
Despite facing profound personal losses and a noisy living environment, Debora remains motivated by her faith and community. She finds joy in providing quality meals to her neighbors, especially the working men in her community.
Debora Mairabo
Business Goals
Debora strives to create a welcoming, professional culinary environment where customers feel confident in the quality of every meal.
She aims to provide delicious local dishes, including jollof rice, pounded yam and tuwo with soup, all of which spark joy and energy.
Catering to local workers like mechanics and carpenters, she prioritizes a friendly, reliable service that remains affordable for the community.
Debora hopes to expand her business by acquiring essential equipment like coolers, an electric cooker, cooking gas, and more.
For the presentation, she envisions a spacious, well-ventilated workshop in a commercial hub, featuring outdoor seating and attractive food-themed signage.
Debora Mairabo
Business Obstacles
Debora maintains a consistent menu of local dishes, including moi moi, masa, and jollof rice.
But to meet the needs of local workers, she operates daily, with peak demand during the busy lunch hour.
Despite her culinary success, her biggest challenge is the lack of reliable electricity; without consistent electricity, there is a high chance that leftover food will spoil.
Additionally, the lack of consistent running water causes delays, forcing her to rely on outside vendors.
To gain a competitive edge in a busy market, Debora aims to distinguish her business through exceptional service and a well-equipped, professional workspace.
Debora Mairabo
Vulnerabilities
Debora seeks support from Leadership Initiatives to establish a professional restaurant, requiring essential equipment like a power generator, an electric cooker, outdoor seating and more.
This partnership provides the necessary funding to secure a spacious shop in a commercial hub and maintain a consistent inventory of ingredients.
With this assistance, Debora’s workspace will transform into a well-ventilated, welcoming environment with modern signage and comfortable seating.
She envisions an efficient, friendly hub where customers enjoy quality local dishes while experiencing exceptional service.
This collaboration ensures business success, allowing Debora to support her mother while providing the community with reliable, nutritious meals.
My Business Proposal
Throughout the program, we worked closely with Debora Mairabo 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 marketing materials necessary to support the growth of their business. We devised a plan that would allow Debora Mairabo to optimize their business through a new brand identity
Investments in a logo and marketing materials, such as signs and flyers, are vital for establishing a strong brand identity and expanding the customer base. These visual assets create a consistent and memorable image that builds trust and recognition among potential clients.
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 brand.
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 Norway
- Diplomacy Briefing At The Egyptian Embassy
- Professional Mentorship
Our business development journey began with a one-on-one Zoom meeting with our partner, Debora Mairabo, 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 Debora Mairabo 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 Norway, where I gained firsthand insight into the role of diplomacy in fostering strong relationships between Norway 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 Norway 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 Egyptian 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 Egyptian 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.