Elijah Brunson
My Jumpstart Training
Akanbi Ruqaya
About the Owner
Akanbi Ruqaya is a determined tailor from Bauchi State, Nigeria, who has overcome significant hardships to build a better future for her family. After her parents separated during her childhood, she learned resilience through years of responsibility and sacrifice while pursuing her education. These experiences shaped her strong work ethic and inspired her to develop a career that would provide stability and opportunity.
As a devoted wife and mother, Ruqaya has transformed her passion for tailoring into a source of income that supports her household. Her commitment to producing quality garments and serving her customers with care has earned their trust and motivated her to continue growing her business.
She dreams of expanding her tailoring shop into a professional workspace where she can serve more customers and inspire other women to pursue entrepreneurship. Through dedication and perseverance, Ruqaya continues working toward creating a brighter future for both her family and her community.
Akanbi Ruqaya
About the Business
Ruqaya owns a tailoring business that specializes in designing and sewing custom clothing for women and families throughout her community. She creates garments that combine quality craftsmanship with affordable pricing, helping customers celebrate important occasions while expressing their personal style through professionally tailored clothing.
Her business has grown through satisfied customers who value her attention to detail, dependable service, and ability to produce garments that meet their expectations. By focusing on quality materials and personalized designs, Ruqaya has built lasting relationships that encourage repeat business and referrals throughout the community.
She hopes to expand her workshop with improved equipment and a more organized workspace that allows her to increase production while maintaining the high standards her customers expect. Her vision is to establish a respected tailoring business that serves as a model of quality and professionalism.
Akanbi Ruqaya
Business Challenges
Although Ruqaya has established a loyal customer base, several challenges continue to limit the growth of her tailoring business. Limited access to modern sewing equipment, reliable electricity, and sufficient workspace reduces her efficiency and makes it difficult to complete larger orders within customer deadlines.
She also faces rising material costs and increasing competition, making it challenging to maintain affordable prices while generating enough income to expand her business. These obstacles affect productivity and restrict her ability to invest in additional equipment that would improve the quality and speed of her services.
Despite these challenges, Ruqaya remains committed to growing her business and providing dependable tailoring services. With the right resources and support, she is prepared to overcome these barriers and continue building a successful enterprise.
Akanbi Ruqaya
Opportunities
Leadership Initiatives has the opportunity to help Ruqaya expand her tailoring business by providing modern sewing equipment, reliable power solutions, improved workstations, and additional business resources. These investments would increase productivity, improve efficiency, and allow her to serve more customers while maintaining exceptional quality.
With better equipment and an upgraded workspace, Ruqaya could complete orders more quickly, expand the variety of garments she produces, and strengthen the professional image of her business. Improved operations would increase revenue while creating greater confidence among both new and returning customers.
This partnership would help Ruqaya achieve long-term financial stability while strengthening a valuable local business. By supporting her entrepreneurial vision, Leadership Initiatives can empower her to create lasting opportunities for her family and provide dependable tailoring services throughout her community.
My Jumpstart Proposal
During the Jumpstart Program, I worked directly with some of the world’s leading developmental experts in order to expand my partner’s business and brand identity.
At the conclusion of this internship, our team pitched the final proposal to Marc Zavarro, Leadership Initiatives Director of Program Development, and Jenna Sackter, Leadership Initiatives Director of Legal Programming. This formal pitch allowed our team to practice our skills and utilize our entrepreneurial toolkit, all while showcasing our efforts to transform the business we partnered with.
At the end of the pitch, we were able to receive feedback on our proposal for our business partner. Over the next year, Akanbi Ruqaya will utilize our proposal to propel sustainable growth of their business.
My Jumpstart Proposal Presentation
Throughout the program, we worked closely with Akanbi Ruqaya to gain a clear understanding of their business goals. Though Akanbi Ruqaya has 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 crafted a proposal detailing the infrastructure and marketing materials that would support the growth of their business. We devised a plan that would allow Akanbi Ruqaya to optimize their business through a new budget, financial tracking systems, and a logo.
This new budget enables Akanbi Ruqaya to allocate funds toward essential materials and equipment, supporting the optimization of their services. Effective financial tracking will be crucial for managing growing profits and preserving assets, ensuring the business’s long-term growth and stability. Investments in a logo and marketing materials, such as signs and flyers, are also vital for establishing a strong brand identity and expanding the customer base.
Internship Highlights
Our team began the business development process by having a one-on-one Zoom call directly with our business partner, Akanbi Ruqaya, and our Nigerian project coordinator to ensure productive collaboration.
After discussing important considerations for our marketing materials, including local populations, family situations, and prior experience, we began our exploration of the business industry.
We received briefings on marketing and branding tactics from Professor Luc Wathieu.
Outside of the classroom, we received a personalized tour of the Embassy of Austria, where we learned about Austrian culture, US/Austria relations, and international business.
We received hands-on training in a variety of medical skills. Through a model dissection, DNA extraction lab, and water purification lab, we gained critical insights into the possibilities within the scientific and medical fields.
We also got hands-on training for building plaster casts. After receiving this training, we had the opportunity to build model casts and practice assessing damage and breaks.
At the end of the week, we got to put our medical skills to the test through a demo EMT scene where we used triage and emergency response.
To explore the legal field, we got the opportunity to learn about forensic work through a model crime scene. In this scene, we conducted a fingerprint analysis, hair analysis, and used microscopic analysis tools.
I also got to meet esteemed DC Judge Adam Hunter. Judge Hunter taught us about questioning, data analysis, and evidence collection.
Outside of the classroom, we took a tour of the International Spy Museum. Throughout this tour, we learned about intelligence and counterintelligence equipment. We also got the opportunity to participate in a covert mission through the Spy Museum, where we learned about intelligence operations, historical advances, and even put our skills to the test through training simulations.
We also got the opportunity to discuss topics related to global affairs and government relations through our meetings with the Austrian Embassy officials, government officials from the NSA and DoD, and through collaborations with representatives of universities including Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, American University, and more.