Jessica Lam
My Business Training
Umar Danlami
Quick Facts
Umar Danlami, nicknamed "Danlami," is a hard-working 34-year-old secondary school graduate from Gashua.
As the eldest of fifteen children born to a butcher and a housewife, Umar learned the value of hard work and resourcefulness early in life.
When he moved to Bauchi for his informal education, he became completely self-reliant, which led him to learn the laundry trade.
Now a dedicated father of two, Umar completely supports his wife, children, sister, and younger siblings.
He covers their food, schooling, clothing, and healthcare, driven by a deep motivation to give his children a high-quality education.
Umar Danlami
Business Goals
Umar aims to expand his current laundry workshop into an organized, independent workshop hub which he calls Rahma Laundry.
Operating daily from 7:00 AM to 9:30 PM in a residential area, he will offer budget-friendly clothes washing, professional ironing, specialized starching, and advanced dry cleaning.
He targets students, office employees, and local business owners aged 8 to 60 who value fast, affordable service.
Working with ten major client orders weekly, Umar plans to use outdoor signs to establish a trusted neighborhood brand, experiencing his peak business rushes at the end of each month.
Umar Danlami
Business Obstacles
Umar successfully operates his own laundry setup, but his current commercial growth is restricted by limited infrastructure.
His biggest operational challenges are managing customer debt, balancing heavy family financial responsibilities, and setting fair, sustainable pricing structures for his services.
Because he lacks a formal small-business bookkeeping background, tracking daily cash flow remains difficult.
Additionally, Umar currently has only a few buckets, a standard table, and a basic pressing iron.
Without advanced machinery like an automatic washing machine, a heavy-duty power generator, garment baskets, and open wall-mounted shelving units, he cannot efficiently increase his daily workload.
Umar Danlami
Vulnerabilities
Umar is teaming up with Leadership Initiatives to upgrade his residential laundry setup into a highly productive commercial facility.
This strategic partnership will equip his startup with essential modern machinery, including an automatic washing machine, a professional-grade pressing iron, collection baskets, and a heavy-duty power generator to combat local electricity outages.
By funding a spacious workspace with open shelving units, this collaboration provides the infrastructure needed to create a distinct customer intake counter and a separate garment processing station.
This important assistance directly empowers Umar to increase his delivery speed, hire apprentices, and secure his family's income.
My Business Proposal
Throughout the program, we worked closely with Umar Danlami 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 Umar Danlami to optimize their business through a new financial tracking system.
This new budget enables Umar Danlami 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, Umar Danlami, 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 Umar Danlami 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.