Allison Pan
My Business Training
Mercy Orumah Ojoniko
Quick Facts
Mercy Orumah Ojoniko, widely known as "Dazzling," is a determined 24-year-old culinary professional holding a National Diploma in Nutrition and Dietetics.
Following her parents' early separation, Mercy navigated a resource-scarce childhood across divided households, learning deep independence within a strict girl's boarding school.
When her mother fell ill in 2020, Mercy supported her family by working as a street vendor selling local akara and pap.
Now residing in Bauchi, she handles heavy household duties while financially supporting her relatives and funding school expenses for her young niece, driven by a strong motivation to achieve her dreams.
Mercy Orumah Ojoniko
Business Goals
Mercy aims to transition her home-bound apartment baking into a trendy, independent storefront tentatively named MM Treats and Events.
Operating Monday through Saturday from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM on a highly accessible main street, her shop will specialize in custom cakes, parfaits, ice cream, and small snacks.
She targets fashion-conscious students, working professionals, and local organizations throughout Gwallameji and Yelwa who value good hygiene and elegant product packaging.
Serving one hundred weekly clients, Mercy will utilize creative TikTok content and external banners to build a distinctive brand rivaling Nigeria's premium dessert franchises.
Mercy Orumah Ojoniko
Business Obstacles
Mercy produces exceptional custom wedding cakes on tight budgets, but her current operational growth is heavily restricted by structural limitations.
Her primary operational challenges include securing reliable electricity to power appliances, boosting business visibility through effective local advertising, and managing high customer demand during hectic festive periods.
Operating from a small one-bedroom apartment limits her physical space, forcing her to work without essential commercial tools like an industrial dough mixer, transparent refrigerators, and large display cases.
Additionally, she also lacks formal small-business bookkeeping experience to track her daily ingredient expenses or monitor her business’ cash flow
Mercy Orumah Ojoniko
Vulnerabilities
Mercy is teaming up with Leadership Initiatives to move out of her apartment and open a fully functional commercial catering parlor.
This strategic partnership will equip her startup with critical food-service machinery, including a standing dough mixer, a transparent display fridge, a snack warmer, an automatic generator, and a larger glass pastry display case.
By securing a spacious main street shop, this initiative allows Mercy to set up a front signature product display and an organized inner baking station.
This vital assistance directly enables Mercy to increase daily baking speeds, host student apprentices, and support her family.
My Business Proposal
Throughout the program, we worked closely with Mercy Orumah Ojoniko 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 Mercy Orumah Ojoniko to optimize their business through a new financial tracking system.
This new budget enables Mercy Orumah Ojoniko 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 Hungary
- Diplomacy Briefing At The Mongolian Embassy
- Professional Mentorship
Our business development journey began with a one-on-one Zoom meeting with our partner, Mercy Orumah Ojoniko, 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 Mercy Orumah Ojoniko 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 Hungary, where I gained firsthand insight into the role of diplomacy in fostering strong relationships between Hungary 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 Hungary 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 Mongolian 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 Mongolian 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.