Zori_Brown
Zori Brown
My Business Training
Rabiu Abubakar
About Rabiu Abubakar
Rabiu Abubakar, affectionately known in his community as “Ustaz,” is a devoted family man and aspiring entrepreneur from Bauchi State, Nigeria. With over ten years of experience in the provision shop industry, he is now working to launch RB Classic Provision Store.
His dream is to build a well-stocked, reliable, and friendly neighborhood shop that serves the everyday needs of local families.
Motivated by love for his family and a desire to educate his children, Rabiu also hopes to create job opportunities for others and make a lasting impact in his community through honest and consistent service.
Rabiu Abubakar
Business Goals
Rabiu is guided by values of truthfulness, contentment, and service to others. He believes in managing RB Classic Provision Store with honesty and fairness, offering prices that reflect integrity.
His father’s advice to live within one’s means continues to shape his financial choices. Rabiu envisions a clean, well-organized store where customers feel respected and can easily find essentials like bar soap, biscuits, pasta, sachet water, and cold drinks.
His goal is to build a trusted, community-centered business that supports his family, provides education for his children, and creates lasting opportunities for others around him.
Rabiu Abubakar
Obstacles
Rabiu brings over a decade of hands-on experience in the provision shop industry, having mastered customer service, inventory control, and business operations under Alhaji Labaran. Known for his honesty and calm nature, he is prepared to carry these qualities into his own store.
However, he faces serious financial barriers. His current income cannot support both household needs and business growth, and he has no outside support.
The collapse of part of his family home forced him into a rented apartment, adding to his expenses. Rabiu is eager to learn bookkeeping but needs resources to move his vision forward.
Rabiu Abubakar
Our Partnership
Rabiu is seeking support from Leadership Initiatives through mentorship, funding, and help securing a better shop location. He needs essential items like a deep freezer, generator, and full inventory to establish a competitive and sustainable business.
Rabiu also hopes to learn effective record-keeping and marketing strategies. With these resources, he aims to grow RB Classic Provision Store into multiple locations across Bauchi State and employ local youth as apprentices.
He dreams of renovating his collapsed family home, sending his wife to university, and improving his children’s education. Rabiu’s vision is to uplift his family and positively impact his entire community.
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 Rabiu Abubakar to gain a clear understanding of their business goals. Though Rabiuhas 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 Rabiu 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, Rabiu Abubakar, and our Nigerian project coordinator. This initial conversation laid the foundation for strong collaboration and helped us better understand Rabiu’s background, family, goals for the business, and the specific challenges they were facing.
Hearing directly from Rabiu 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 Egyptian Embassy, where I gained insight into the role of diplomacy in fostering strong relationships between Egypt 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 Egyptian 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.
During my visit to the Embassy of Poland, I explored how diplomacy shapes international cooperation and development. The experience provided a deeper 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 Poland 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 we applied while developing our business proposal.
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 Carla Brooks, Business and Development Officer at the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs. She gave us a crash course in marketing and advertising, breaking down the key elements of what makes a campaign actually work. Her insights helped us think bigger and more strategically about how to position our partner’s business for success.
With support from Ms. Brooks 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. 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.