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The International Business Development Internship
Leadership Initiatives is working to end extreme poverty in Northern Nigeria through entrepreneurship and innovation. As part of the International Business & Development Program, Leadership Initiatives identifies small business owners who live under $1.90 a day, have little formal business education, and are struggling to provide for their family’s basic needs.
Once business owners have completed training, Leadership Initiatives pairs International Business & Development Interns with a business partner and business mentor. Interns are given the opportunity to help tackle major issues at the grassroots level by working directly with small business owners to support and incubate local entrepreneurs. Students will work with Leadership Initiatives staff over the course of nine months to provide income-generating solutions that focus on food supply, women empowerment, environment and sustainability, personal care, and mobility.
The International Business & Development Internship aims to introduce interns to the complexities and challenges of running a small business and working within community development. Interns will gain an understanding of the unwavering commitment, focus, and determination required to work within this field. From working with interns, local business owners will have new knowledge of entrepreneurial skills they need to create business opportunities that will contribute to socio-economic development and significantly transform their lives.
Our Internship Team
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Nicole Lee
Homestead High School
Class of 2023
Nicole Lee is a senior at Homestead High School. She is currently enrolled in rigorous courses which include both honors and Advanced Placement courses.
Nicole plays soccer and field hockey on the varsity level as well as being a captain on the field hockey team. She is also a third-degree black belt in Taekwondo. Nicole is very involved with the extracurriculars at school. She has been a part of leadership since her freshman year. She now serves as part of the senior class cabinet. She is also the VP of Member Relations of Homestead’s National Honors Society. In her free time, she loves to spend time with her friends and family.
Nicole is extremely excited to be a part of the International Internship Program this year. She was previously a part of the Summer International Leadership and Business Internship program at Leadership Initiatives. Last year, she served her first year as part of the International Internship Program. She is ready to expand her business experience in the developing world with her passion for helping others.
Grace McGoran
Homestead High School
Class of 2024
Grace McGoran is a current junior at Homestead High School in Cupertino, California. She is a dedicated student who challenges herself with a range of diverse subjects, including AP Calculus BC, AP U.S History and AP Bio.
Grace loves almost every sport that involves a ball and has recently played for her high school soccer, volleyball, and water polo teams. She has also been both the freshman and sophomore class president, as well as the ASB treasurer. Grace excels in business-related activities and has won numerous Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) awards. During her free time, Grace enjoys playing with her puppy, spending time with friends/family, and volunteering.
Grace is passionate about social justice and helping the less fortunate within her community. She is excited to join the Business Sector of the International Internship Program to further develop skills in this area and make a contribution to the lives of people in Nigeria and surrounding communities!
Aditi Ghosh
Homestead High School
Class of 2024
Aditi Ghosh is a junior at Homestead High School, she is currently enrolled in numerous advanced courses such as Advanced Placement Calculus BC, Advanced Placement Physics, and Advanced Placement United States History.
Aditi Ghosh is an avid volleyball player on her school’s team, and she is the school's Social Manager. She has also been doing an Indian Classical dance called Bharatnatyam for ten years. She has given many solo and group-based shows around California. In addition, she has been playing the violin for ten years and is a part of the National Children’s Chorus of the United States of America. She is set to perform around the world in the upcoming years with her choir. She enjoys playing with her dog Buddy, reading, and hanging out with her friends during her free time.
Aditi is eager to be participating in the International Business section this year. She believes it is a great opportunity to help others across the globe. In the future, she hopes to be in the ever-growing tech industry and positively impact the world.
Our Internship Team
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Yujiun Chen
Homestead High Schoo
Class of 2023
Yujiun Chen is a senior at Homestead High School. Yujiun is a diligent bilingual student who is enrolled in both Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment courses.
Yujiun enjoys playing field hockey. She was the captain of her school's team and plays competitive hockey outside at club. At school, she is the EL commissioner of the ASB leadership team that serves to represent the EL community. She is also a member of CSF and LTFR. During her free time, she loves to sew and take on new projects very so often.
Yujiun is honored to be participating in the International Business and Development internship program this year-round. She is excited to collaborate with her team and gain valuable real-world skills from this opportunity. She loves learning about different roles in the business world and hopes to reflect her understanding later on in her career.
Kaylie Gupta
Homestead High School
Class of 2024
Kaylie Gupta is a junior at Homestead High School. She is driven student enrolled in Advanced placement and Honors classes.
Kaylie played competitive soccer for 10 years and plays on the Homestead High School team as well. She works part-time as a Starbucks barista. In her free time, she likes going on hikes, and meeting her friends.
Kaylie is excited to be participating in the Leadership Initiatives Business Program this year. She is interested in the mechanics behind running businesses. She hopes to use collaboration and teamwork skills to help her business partner succeed.
Hetal Kurani
Homestead High School
Class of 2023
Hetal first got involved with Leadership Initiatives through the 2021-2022 International Internship Program through which she worked with a tailoring business owner in Nigeria to create an efficient financial and advertising plan to organize his business. The following year, she earned a scholarship for the Advanced Medicine and Public Health internship which she plans to attend this summer.
Hetal attends Homestead High School at which she is a 4.0 student, has taken various advanced classes to challenge her growth and learning, and holds leadership roles in 3 clubs. She volunteers at the Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Santa Clara where she has gained a tight-knit community of friends and role models, been witness to the hospital environment, assisted nurses, patients, and members, and seen a dead body. Outside of academia, she holds a job as a seasonal Camp Counselor for her city’s local summer camps for kids. When she grows up, Hetal aims to be a trauma surgeon; she loves the prospect of working in such a unique, fast-paced environment. To help others pursue the same passions she holds, Hetal founded an organization Girls for Med, through which she has hosted many events with 100+ attendees to educate girls about the field of medicine and inspire them to follow their dreams.
Hetal looks forward to participating in this summer's internship due to the impact she anticipates this program will have on her self-growth as an aspiring surgeon. She can’t wait to meet like-minded individuals who share her passions and ambitions.
Our Business Partner
Aisha Isa
Business Statistics
Aisha Isa
About Aisha
2) Aisha learned how to cook from her mother
3) The funds from Aisha’s restauramt go towards supporting herself and her daughter
4) Aisha loves supporting and inspiring women around her
5) Aisha wakes up at 6AM to clean her restaurant and prepare food for the day
Aisha Isa
Community Impact
Aisha Isa
Our Partnership
For Aisha's business, we worked with her vision in order to create 8 logo samples which we will edit to her preferences. We worked with varying designs and contrasting color schemes. We have financial tracking plans that we are excited to implement in order to support Aisha to the best of our ability. Aisha and the team have built a connection through our monthly meetings and we are deeply appreciative of being able to work with her.
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
$1003 RAISED
$497 NEEDED
$1500 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.
CLICK BELOW TO VIEW OUR GLOBALGIVING PAGE
