Jaysen_Vokes
Jaysen Vokes
My Business Training
Abdulrahman Isa
About Abdulrahman
Abdullahi Isa, affectionately known as Harder or Baban Abba, is a passionate inscription designer and entrepreneur from Kandahar Community in Bauchi State, Nigeria.
With a strong background in public administration and a lifelong love for art, he dreams of expanding his work into a full-scale commercial inscription and printing business named Darul-Hikma Arts and Press.
His vision is to provide high-quality, affordable signage, banners, textiles, and branding materials to individuals, schools, and businesses in Bauchi and beyond, while mentoring youth in his community. His passion for visual communication and community service drives his work each day.
Abdulrahman Isa
Business Goals
At the heart of Darul-Hikma Arts and Press are the values of creativity, reliability, community service, and respect. His business is not just about printing but about creating meaningful visual expressions that empower others.
His ultimate vision is to build a respected brand that uplifts his family, creates jobs, supports youth development, and plays an essential role in community events across Bauchi State.
Abdullahi envisions a clean, organized, and welcoming shop with clear, professional signboard displaying his services. Inside, customers will be greeted by displays of previous work, a comfortable seating area, and friendly staff.
Abdulrahman Isa
Obstacles
Over his seven-year career, Abdullahi has developed a wide range of inscription services. He has also developed strong financial management skills and keeps meticulous records of his work.
Despite this, Abdullahi’s biggest hurdles have been financial. Without adequate funding, he has been unable to purchase the modern equipment necessary to fulfill larger client demands, often having to partner with others or turn down jobs.
He operates in a highly competitive market, where limited resources have led some clients to seek services elsewhere. These challenges have slowed the full realization of his business vision.
Abdulrahman Isa
Our Partnership
Abdullahi is seeking support from Leadership Initiatives through funding, mentorship, and essential materials such as new computers and a heat press. His goal is to expand his services, improve efficiency, take on higher-value projects, and strengthen his marketing to grow his client base and brand presence in Bauchi.
He hopes to build a sustainable business that enables him to save money, send his children to quality universities, and purchase a home in a safe neighborhood.
Beyond personal goals, Abdullahi wants to teach others, especially young people, the art of inscription, helping them find purpose, stability, and meaningful work.
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 Abdulrahman Isa to gain a clear understanding of their business goals. Though Abdulrahman 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 Abdulrahman to optimize their business through a new budget and financial tracking system.
This new budget enables Abdulrahman 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, Abdulrahman Isa, and our Nigerian project coordinator. This initial conversation laid the foundation for strong collaboration and helped us better understand Abdulrahman’s background, family, goals for the business, and the specific challenges they were facing.
Hearing directly from Abdulrahman 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 Swiss Embassy, where I gained insight into the role of diplomacy in fostering strong relationships between Switzerland 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 Swiss 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 Moldova, 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 Moldova 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.