Sophia_Zinn
Sophia Zinn
My Business Training
Zakariya Abdullahi Laku
About Zakariya Abdullahi Laku
Zakariya Abdullahi Laku, known by his nickname Bami, is a hardworking and visionary entrepreneur with a deep passion for transforming worn and aging interiors into refined, custom-designed pieces.
With over a decade of hands-on experience in car seat design, leatherwork, and dashboard restoration, he has built a strong foundation in automotive upholstery. Zakariya dreams of launching A.Z Luxury Auto, a business focused on delivering innovation, comfort, and beauty to vehicle interiors.
His goal is to offer high-quality, professional services in a welcoming space while creating job opportunities and uplifting others within his community through skill-sharing and mentorship.
Zakariya Abdullahi Laku
Business Goals
Zakariya’s business is built on creativity, responsibility, and quality. He values perseverance, precision, and honesty in every project.
His vision for A.Z Luxury Auto is to create more than just a place of craftsmanship. He wants it to be a symbol of hope and possibility for others in Wuntin Dada. With determination and community support, he aims to reduce youth unemployment and inspire others through his work.
A.Z Luxury Auto will offer seat cover repairs, leather upholstery installation, custom car seat design, and dashboard restorations in a welcoming space that delivers comfort, quality, and excellent customer service.
Zakariya Abdullahi Laku
Obstacles
Zakariya spent seven years apprenticing at Dynamic Car Seat and six years with Mus’ab Integrated Ventures, building expertise in upholstery, dashboard restoration, and roof lining repair.
His skills include sketching, fabric cutting, leather installation, and delivering professional-quality finishes. Though creative and skilled, Zakariya faces major challenges. The greatest is lack of capital, as family needs have made saving difficult. He also struggles to access high-quality materials and lacks experience in financial management.
Without local examples in his field to learn from, his path has been harder. Still, he remains confident, focused, and driven by purpose and community responsibility.
Zakariya Abdullahi Laku
Our Partnership
Zakariya is seeking support from Leadership Initiatives to acquire essential equipment such as a heavy-duty walking foot sewing machine, a post bed sewing machine for embroidery, protective gear, a toolset, and a suitable location for his business.
He is also interested in mentorship, marketing guidance, and branding support. Zakariya hopes to design a logo, develop promotional strategies, and establish sustainable business practices.
His dream is to build a thriving, reputable business that supports his family and creates jobs in his community. He also wants to sponsor his sisters’ education and provide a better life for his loved ones.
My Grant Proposal Presentation
As part of the International Leadership and Business Internship, I collaborated with top development experts to help grow and strengthen my business partner’s brand.
At the end 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 apply our entrepreneurial skills, showcase our strategic plan, and advocate for meaningful change in our partner’s business.
Our team was awarded a grant that will fund the implementation of our business partner’s plan, providing life-changing support that will expand operations, improve 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.
My Grant Proposal
Throughout the program, we worked closely with Zakariya Abdullahi Laku to gain a clear understanding of their business goals. Though Zakariyahas 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 marketing materials that would support the growth of their business. We devised a plan that would allow Zakariya to optimize their business through a new branding strategy.
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. These visual assets help create a consistent and memorable image that builds trust and recognition among potential clients.
Internship Highlights
Our business development journey began with a one-on-one Zoom meeting with our partner, Zakariya Abdullahi Laku, and our Nigerian project coordinator. This initial conversation laid the foundation for strong collaboration and helped us better understand Zakariya’s background, family, goals for the business, and the specific challenges they were facing.
Hearing directly from Zakariya gave us 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 guided us, helping us ask the right questions and turn our ideas into meaningful, actionable strategies.
I had the unique opportunity to visit the Polish Embassy, where I gained insight into the role of diplomacy in fostering strong relationships between Poland and the United States.
The embassy functions as a center for international collaboration, working with partner 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 Polish Embassy shared how they partner 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.
Throughout the internship, our team had the incredible opportunity to collaborate with top 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 Gerald Gangaram, a decorated Apache helicopter pilot & leadership expert. He gave us a crash course in leadership and decision making, breaking down the key elements of what makes an effective leader. His insights helped us think bigger and more strategically about how to position our partner’s business for success.
With support from Mr. Gangaram and other global leaders, we sharpened our ideas, refined our strategy, and built a powerful pitch deck to present at the end of the week.
To further enhance our presentation and proposal, our team had the unique opportunity to partner with a business and development mentor with immense experience in the fields of finance, development, business management, and more.
With support from our mentor, we were able to craft key questions for our business partners that enabled us to design an effective SWOT analysis that guided our work throughout the week. Following the completion of the SWOT analysis, our mentor worked alongside us to hone our ideas and proposal recommendations that would provide funding and new marketing materials for our partner.
At the end of the week, our mentor supported our slide deck design and gave us instrumental feedback as we practiced pitching our ideas and proposals. This feedback directly contributed to our receiving support from the Leadership Initiatives’ Board of Directors and Guest Judges to implement our microgrant and marketing designs.