Brooklynn_Levin
Brooklynn Levin
My Business Training
Muhammad Ghazali Isma'il
About Muhammad Ghazali Isma'il
Muhammad Ghazali Isma’il, affectionately known as “Jika,” is an aspiring entrepreneur from the Inkil Community in Bauchi State, Nigeria.
With four years of hands-on experience as a vulcanizing apprentice, he has honed both his technical skills and his dedication to service. Muhammad envisions opening M.G Tyre Services, a modern and welcoming shop offering reliable tyre repair with a professional touch.
His dream extends beyond income as he seeks to build a secure future for his family, create meaningful work for himself, and deliver high-quality, trustworthy service to his growing and supportive community.
Muhammad Ghazali Isma'il
Business Goals
At the heart of M.G Tyre Services are Muhammad’s values of resilience, honesty, dignity, and community service. Inspired by his grandmother and mentors, he wants his shop to reflect fairness, warmth, and purpose.
His services will include inflation, patching, German Patch repairs, rim straightening, tube replacement, and eventually tyre and rim sales. With shaded space, solar-powered lighting, and a welcoming bench, the shop will serve tricycle riders, motorcyclists, car owners, and travelers.
Clear signs in English and Hausa will guide customers to a reliable service point that stands for safety, quality, comfort, and genuine care.
Muhammad Ghazali Isma'il
Obstacles
Over the past four years, Muhammad has trained under a trusted relative, gaining hands-on experience in tyre patching, inflation, rim straightening, tube replacement, and German Patch repairs. He especially enjoys using German Patch technology because it boosts efficiency and eases physical strain.
Although still labeled an apprentice, Muhammad now completes nearly all tasks independently. His biggest obstacle is the lack of startup capital for essential tools like an inflating machine and rim straightener.
Rising material costs and established competitors add pressure, but Muhammad’s determination, growing skills, and belief in his vision keep him moving forward with hope.
Muhammad Ghazali Isma'il
Our Partnership
Muhammad is seeking comprehensive support from Leadership Initiatives, including funding, essential tools, and mentorship to strengthen his business and financial management skills.
While he already has the motivation and technical experience to run a successful tyre shop, he understands that expert guidance can help turn his vision into reality. With support, Muhammad aims to grow a business that not only sustains his family but creates job opportunities for youth in his community.
He dreams of training apprentices, building a better home, and providing quality education for his children. His goal is long-term impact through service, stability, and shared success.
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 Muhammad Ghazali Isma'il to gain a clear understanding of their business goals. Though Muhammadhas 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 Muhammad 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, Muhammad Ghazali Isma'il, and our Nigerian project coordinator. This initial conversation laid the foundation for strong collaboration and helped us better understand Muhammad’s background, family, goals for the business, and the specific challenges they were facing.
Hearing directly from Muhammad 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.