Kellyn Chea
My Business Training
Nasir Ibrahim
Quick Facts
Nasir Ibrahim, known affectionately as "Nasir," is a resilient 51-year-old university graduate from Bauchi.
Orphaned by his father at age ten, Ibrahim moved from Jos to Bauchi, where his mother raised him despite financial hardships.
In 2010, his life shifted drastically when a sudden stroke left him completely paralyzed. He had to sell his successful loan business to pay for his medical care and survive.
Showing incredible perseverance, he fully recovered by 2015 and cleared his massive medical debts.
He is deeply family-oriented, working hard to fund his own four children's education alongside four orphaned nieces and nephews
Nasir Ibrahim
Business Goals
Ibrahim aims to launch an independent wholesale and retail beverage depot tentatively named Nasir Soft Drinks.
Operating daily from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM on a highly accessible main street, his enterprise will distribute soft drinks, bottled water, juices, energy drinks, and dairy products.
He targets local shop owners, busy event planners, and retail consumers who require consistent, budget-friendly product stock.
Anticipating over twenty bulk customers daily, Ibrahim plans to utilize large outdoor signs and seasonal promotions to establish a highly reliable distribution hub, maximizing sales during the peak dry months and the festive end-of-year wedding rush.
Nasir Ibrahim
Business Obstacles
Ibrahim possesses extensive practical skills in beverage distribution, yet his independent commercial growth is blocked by an absolute lack of equipment.
As a current apprentice, he owns zero business supplies, tools, or products of his own. His primary operational challenge is navigating an unreliable electricity supply, which threatens refrigeration and disrupts evening sales.
Additionally, he faces intense competition from established nearby vendors and struggles to secure direct partnerships with major bottling companies to become a legitimate primary supplier.
Finally, navigating a fixed pricing model without formal small-business bookkeeping experience limits his ability to manage startup capital safely.
Nasir Ibrahim
Vulnerabilities
Ibrahim is teaming up with Leadership Initiatives to move past his apprenticeship and build a fully independent bulk beverage company.
This strategic partnership will equip his new commercial startup with essential refrigeration machinery, including a high-capacity commercial deep freezer and a reliable power generator to protect cold inventory from local electricity outages.
By securing a spacious storefront on a major street, this initiative provides the infrastructure needed to create an orderly white-walled showroom with large display windows.
This helpful assistance directly enables Ibrahim to purchase initial product crates, service high-volume orders, and achieve long-term financial stability.
My Business Proposal
Throughout the program, we worked closely with Nasir 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 Nasir Ibrahim to optimize their business through a new financial tracking system.
This new budget enables Nasir 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 Mongolia
- Diplomacy Briefing At The Egyptian Embassy
- Professional Mentorship
Our business development journey began with a one-on-one Zoom meeting with our partner, Nasir 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 Nasir 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 Mongolia, where I gained firsthand insight into the role of diplomacy in fostering strong relationships between Mongolia 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 Mongolia 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.