Riley Nguyen
My Business Training
Umar Garba Umar
Quick Facts
Umar Garba Umar, known by his nickname "Sasa," is a hardworking 31-year-old auto electrician from Plateau State.
Growing up during a time of local community insecurity, Umar completed primary school and learned resilience within a supportive family.
Intrigued by electronics from childhood, he pursued a rigorous seven-year apprenticeship split between his hometown and Bauchi.
Today, Umar is a devoted family man living with his wife and two young children.
Driven by a deep desire to make his father proud, he entirely supports his household and actively funds his younger brother’s ongoing formal education.
Umar Garba Umar
Business Goals
Umar aims to establish an independent automotive workshop tentatively named Umar G Auto Engineer.
Operating Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM in a bustling marketplace, his business will provide high-quality car diagnostics, alternator fixes, starter motor overhauls, and general electrical wiring.
He targets vehicle owners aged 20 to 60 who value strong attention to detail, honest diagnostics, and fixed, budget-friendly pricing.
Anticipating ten daily customers, Umar plans to use bold outdoor signs to build his brand presence, capitalizing on peak travel volumes during the busy holiday months.
Umar Garba Umar
Business Obstacles
Umar possesses highly technical troubleshooting skills, yet his personal commercial business growth is very restricted by inadequate infrastructure and a lack of equipment.
His biggest operational challenges stem from working without a permanent shop space, which drastically limits his safety and efficiency. Additionally, he currently owns nothing but a basic set of wrenches to work with.
Without modern diagnostic machinery, including a Lunch Car scanner, an Android tablet, a Bluetooth connector, an organized toolbox, and structural wall-mounted shelving, Umar cannot accommodate high volumes.
Finally, navigating daily expenses without formal financial record-keeping training hinders his long-term wealth management.
Umar Garba Umar
Vulnerabilities
Umar is partnering with Leadership Initiatives to transition from a shared garage space into a fully equipped, permanent diagnostic center.
This collaboration will supply his new business with crucial advanced gear, including a Lunch car scanner, an Android Bluetooth connector, an Android tablet, a complete toolbox, and structural wall-mounted shelves.
By securing a spacious storefront in a busy commercial hub, this initiative gives him the exact physical infrastructure required to work on multiple vehicles safely and store equipment securely.
This helpful assistance empowers Umar to build a modern, high-tech operation and support his extended family.
My Business Proposal
Throughout the program, we worked closely with Umar Garba Umar 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 Garba Umar to optimize their business through a new financial tracking system.
This new budget enables Umar Garba Umar 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 Garba Umar, 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 Garba Umar 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.