Charlie_Fuquay
Charlie Fuquay
My Business Training
Ibrahim Haruna Wunti
About Ibrahim
Ibrahim Haruna Wunti is an ambitious and hardworking 25-year-old auto mechanic from Ebo Quarters, Wunti, Bauchi State, Nigeria.
With hands-on experience and a deep passion for auto repairs, he dreams of opening his own auto repair shop to serve his community with honesty, integrity, and expert care.
His vision is to offer reliable, affordable vehicle repair and maintenance services while creating job opportunities for local youth. Born and raised in a large family, Ibrahim is driven by a desire to uplift his loved ones and contribute meaningfully to the growth and development of his community.
Ibrahim Haruna Wunti
Business Goals
At the heart of Ibrahim Haruna Wunti’s vision are the values of hard work, honesty, respect, and community support. His journey has been one of perseverance, driven by a commitment to uplift his family and serve his community through reliable and high-quality auto repair services.
His ultimate goal is to open a well-equipped, organized shop on Gombe Road, a well-known and easily accessible location in Bauchi. He envisions a clean, welcoming space where customers feel confident and cared for.
Services will include engine overhauls, maintenance, wheel repairs, oil changes, and general auto repairs, all delivered with integrity and skill.
Ibrahim Haruna Wunti
Obstacles
Over the past ten years, Ibrahim Haruna Wunti has developed strong expertise in auto repair through a dedicated apprenticeship that began in 2015.
He has mastered a wide range of services, including engine overhauls, repairs, and general maintenance. His favorite part of the job is diagnosing and fixing complex engine problems, breathing new life into vehicles with care and precision.
Despite his skills and clear vision, Ibrahim’s biggest obstacles are financial. He lacks the funds to rent a shop and purchase essential tools. Family responsibilities and limited access to business support have further delayed the growth of his dream.
Ibrahim Haruna Wunti
Our Partnership
Ibrahimi is seeking mentorship, guidance, and funding to turn his vision into reality. He hopes to establish a successful auto repair business that benefits both his family and the wider community. He believes that Leadership Initiatives’ expertise can help improve his operations, marketing, and customer service strategies.
Ibrahim’s goals are rooted in family. He dreams of buying a home to move his family out of their crowded living situation and helping his parents grow their businesses.
Motivated by his upcoming wedding, he is committed to building a life of stability, comfort, and opportunity for his future spouse and children.
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 Ibrahim Haruna Wunti to gain a clear understanding of their business goals. Though Ibrahim 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 Ibrahim to optimize their business through a new budget and financial tracking system.
This new budget enables Ibrahim 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, Ibrahim Haruna Wunti, and our Nigerian project coordinator. This initial conversation laid the foundation for strong collaboration and helped us better understand Ibrahim’s background, family, goals for the business, and the specific challenges they were facing.
Hearing directly from Ibrahim 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 Finland, 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 Finland 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.