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Our Internship Team

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Sahana Behera

Lexington High School

Class of 2024

Sahana Behera is a junior at Lexington High School who is deeply interested in computer science and healthcare. She is a driven student who strives to have a future career where she helps the world in some way or another.

Sahana partakes in various activities in school including HOSA, the Students Against Destructive Decisions Club, and is a News Editor for the Musket (her school newspaper). Apart from her academics, Sahana loves Bollywood dance and has recently cofounded a Bollywood Dance Team at her school. Outside of school, she also volunteers on a suicide helpline, Samaritans, where she is able to give back to her community.

Sahana is extremely excited to join the Business and Development program because she will be able to expand her skillset through learning entrepreneurial and economic principles, something she doesn't have much experience with. In doing so, she will also be aiding communities in need of support which is something she is passionate about.

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Anvi Patel

Lexington High School

Class of 2024

Anvi Patel is a junior at Lexington High School. Not only is she a dedicated student but also participates in many other extracurricular outside of school such as Brazilian Jiu Jistu, parade band, and community service related activities such as tutoring children.

Anvi is excited to be able to participate in the International Business and Development Internship. She is hoping that her skills in business and management are better able to support businesses in Nigeria and she hopes to gain a perspective on how small businesses struggle due to a negative environment, how they end up thriving with the help of others, and what we can do as a community to help support business owners.

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Our Business Partner

Monday Yohanna Azi

Business Statistics

Monday is a 38-year-old man living in Wuntin Dada, Bauchi State, Nigeria. He obtained a college diploma at Bauchi State Polytechnic and apprenticed with another laundry business for 7 years before establishing his own business. Monday runs his business to support himself and his family: his wife and two younger sisters. Every morning he wakes up early to pray, take breakfast and go to the shop. In the evening, he returns home to sleep. Monday hopes to expand the business into an enterprise with multiple branches in order to better empower and serve others in his community.

Monday Yohanna Azi

About Monday

1. He goes to church and doesn’t operate his business on Sunday. He likes to see his friends and family after church.

2. Monday sponsored himself through his education.

3. Monday started learning about laundry businesses in 2008.

Monday Yohanna Azi

Community Impact

Monday’s primary goal is establishing his laundry business and offering cleaning services. He sees his business as an opportunity to help the members of his community and develop a great work and social relationship with them as well. He hopes to employ more youth from his community to give them an opportunity to escape the cycle of poverty and afford education. He currently has seven employees.

Monday Yohanna Azi

Our Partnership

During our meetings, we present our ideas to Monday and ask for his feedback. We then modify our ideas to best represent his vision for his business. Although there is definitely a language barrier to overcome, we feel that we have formed a great bond with Monday and have worked to improve his business throughout the year.

Our Approach

FINANCIAL TRACKING

Financially literate entrepreneurs make growth-oriented financial and economic decisions for their savings, borrowing, and investments. Our team is working with Isiyaka Sa’ad to create an effective financial tracking system for his business finances, receipts, and daily costs.

OUR ADVERTISING

Our team identified target markets and key demographics to create a customer acquisition plan. We are working with Isiyaka Sa’ad to redesign his brand and create effective marketing campaigns.

BUSINESS IMPROVEMENTS

Steady growth is a critical component of creating self-sustaining communities. Our team is working to identify key areas of opportunity for Isiyaka Sa’ad and design solutions with grant money to improve his business to foster growth.

Our Fundraising

$150 RAISED

$600 NEEDED

$750 GOAL

Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced some of the highest growth rates globally over the past 10 years. While this means that people in these nations have become more optimistic about their social and economic future, the region continues to face a myriad of historical problems. In order to continue steady growth and achieve a future of equitable conditions in the region, our International Internship Program team seeks to build stronger communities from the grassroots level through fundraising for community development.

Funds raised are used to implement community-based education programs, pay staff to run the operations on-site, and invest in training for local leaders. Leadership Initiatives uses fundraised money to develop a network of support for actionable change and accountability between our team, the Leadership Initiatives staff, and the community stakeholders we work with.

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