Toby Chan
My Business Training
Isah Muhammad
Quick Facts
Isah Muhammad, nicknamed "Chikatara," is a dedicated 28-year-old entrepreneur from Bauchi State.
Growing up in a household of ten, his childhood was severely impacted when the government demolished his father’s provision business, causing long-term financial hardship. Despite these struggles, Isah completed secondary school and became his family's primary provider, single-handedly covering 80% of their expenses, including his siblings' school fees.
Mentored by his employer, Alhaji Habibu, Isah mastered interlocking stone manufacturing and paving.
Having overcome significant personal and financial adversity, he remains extremely motivated to establish his own interlock-making business and secure financial stability for his family.
Isah Muhammad
Business Goals
Isah strives to establish a leading brick-making business, offering quality manufacturing and professional installation of interlocking paving stones. He aims to produce durable zigzag blocks, facing blocks, and kerbstones that promote customer confidence and trust.
Targeting engineers, civil servants, and business owners, Isah prioritizes excellent craftsmanship, modern designs, and fixed, competitive pricing.
He plans to serve twenty customers weekly, operating daily on a busy main street.
Isah also wants to utilize digital marketing to showcase his durable products, building a recognizable brand that provides top-tier customer service and beautifully transforms local infrastructure.
Isah Muhammad
Business Obstacles
Isah maintains excellent technical standards and precision with his work despite currently operating with only a shovel and a wheelbarrow.
To support his large family, he works extremely hard, but his primary obstacle remains the lack of reliable water and electricity for production and equipment, as well as low advertisement, all of which restrict his growth.
In addition to that, the lack of an independent workspace also prevents him from gaining his own following for his business.
Overcoming these financial and structural shortcomings will be essential for Isah to gain a competitive marketplace edge.
Isah Muhammad
Vulnerabilities
Isah seeks support from Leadership Initiatives to launch his new interlocking brick business, built upon the years of expertise he has acquired.
He requires materials like a vibrator machine and table, interlock molds, a power generator, an overhead water tank and more. This partnership provides the funding to purchase essential raw materials.
With this assistance, Isah’s business will transform into a large, highly organized workspace featuring dedicated manufacturing, curing, and display sections.
This collaboration also promotes Isah’s independence, enabling him to fulfill his contracts efficiently, maximize his weekly income, and confidently provide for his family's financial stability.
My Business Proposal
Throughout the program, we worked closely with Isah Muhammad 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 Isah Muhammad to optimize their business through a new financial tracking system.
This new budget enables Isah Muhammad 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 Serbia
- Diplomacy Briefing At The European Union's Embassy
- Professional Mentorship
Our business development journey began with a one-on-one Zoom meeting with our partner, Isah Muhammad, 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 Isah Muhammad 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 Serbia, where I gained firsthand insight into the role of diplomacy in fostering strong relationships between Serbia 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 Serbia 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 European Union's 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 European Union's 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.