Anthony_Gotsev
Anthony Gotsev
My Business Training
Aliyu Abubakar
About Aliyu Abubakar
Aliyu Abubakar, fondly called Alhaji, is a skilled and passionate barber from Bauchi State, Nigeria, with over ten years of experience. He dreams of launching Legend Barbing Salon, a modern barbershop in Zango Market, where style and professionalism come together.
Aliyu envisions creating a space that redefines grooming for men and boys by prioritizing creativity, hygiene, and customer satisfaction.
Motivated by a strong commitment to excellence and community development, he aims to inspire and empower local youth with practical skills while offering reliable and high-quality grooming services that reflect his dedication to the craft.
Abubakar Hassan
Business Goals
Aliyu Abubakar hopes to open Legend Barbing Salon, a modern grooming space that blends style, professionalism, and cultural relevance.
The shop will serve men and children, offering hair cutting, styling, washing, dandruff treatment, and shaping. His core values are quality, accessibility, and trend awareness.
Aliyu envisions a bright, clean space with ash and white walls, a large mirror, organized shelves, and a sliding door for privacy. Music will create a lively atmosphere while a signboard highlights the business name and hours. His goal is to deliver international-standard service with a local, welcoming touch.
Abubakar Hassan
Obstacles
Aliyu trained under a local barber for eleven years, developing strong skills in haircuts, styling, customer service, and equipment maintenance. He has a deep understanding of grooming techniques and client preferences, skillfully adapting styles to current trends while honoring individual needs.
His main challenges include a lack of startup capital, inability to afford modern equipment, and not having an apprentice to assist with daily operations.
Despite these obstacles, Aliyu remains dedicated to his craft, serving customers with borrowed tools and offering home services as he steadily works toward opening his own barbershop.
Abubakar Hassan
Our Partnership
Aliyu Abubakar seeks startup capital, modern barbering equipment, business mentorship, and marketing support to grow Legend Barbing Salon. He envisions his shop becoming a respected, thriving business in Bauchi, known for skill and integrity.
Beyond income, Aliyu aims to expand by opening multiple locations and creating training programs for young aspiring barbers, especially those lacking formal education.
Personally, he dreams of financial stability to support his family and siblings, including owning a reliable car to ease daily errands and school runs. His goal is to build a sustainable business that uplifts both his family and the 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 infrastructure.
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 Aliyu Abubakar to gain a clear understanding of their business goals. Though Aliyu 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 materials that would support the growth of their business. We devised a plan that would allow Aliyu to optimize their business through a new budget and financial tracking system.
This new budget enables Aliyu 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.
Internship Highlights
Our business development journey began with a one-on-one Zoom meeting with our partner, Aliyu Abubakar, and our Nigerian project coordinator. This initial conversation laid the foundation for strong collaboration and helped us better understand Aliyu’s background, family, goals for the business, and the specific challenges they were facing.
Hearing directly from Aliyu 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 Swedish Embassy, where I gained insight into the role of diplomacy in fostering strong relationships between Sweden 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 Swedish 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.
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.