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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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Isabella Carosi
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School
Class of 2025
Isabella Carosi is a rising sophmore at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in Washington, DC. Isabella Carosi is an honors student who is very interested in STEM based based classes.
Isabella Carosi plays basketball and tennis. She is a member of Mathletes and Body Positivity Club at her school. She is also starting a Pickleball Club. During her free time Isabella enjoys exercising and hanging out with friends.
Isabella Carosi is excited to participate in the International Business & Development Internship this summer. She loves extending her helping hands to whoever needs it and she loves learning more about different societies in the world around her. In the future Isabella wants to use the communication skills she has learned to help her succeed in her career.
Mikayla Edmunds
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School
Class of 2025
A rising sophomore and student athlete at Georgetown Visitation, Mikayla is a committed learner. She is enrolled in advanced honors courses, including Honors Spanish III and Honors Pre-calculus, with only six other sophomores in her class.
Mikayla participates in many sports, including varsity soccer, varsity track, and JV basketball. As a freshman, Mikayla played in every varsity soccer game, helping her team win the conference title, the first time the school has won in 12 years. She also participates in many clubs bringing her love of math and science together, including BEDA (Building, Engineering, Design and Architecture) and Mathletes.
Mikayla is very excited to participate in the International Business and Development Internship. She wants to utilize her aptitude in math and science by pursuing environmental engineering to make the world a better place. Mikayla is also open to exploring the medical field, either as a doctor or a biomedical engineer.Through this internship, Mikayla can acquire the necessary skills to advance in whichever field she chooses.
Our Internship Team
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Annetta Uduebor
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School
Class of 2025
Annetta Uduebor is a sophomore at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School. She is an honors and is in advanced placement courses.
Annetta enjoys drawing and reading. She enjoys keeping up with the newest NASA articles in her free time. At school, she is apart of many clubs, such as astronomy club, science fair, BWS, yearbook, etc. After school, Annetta partakes in Tech crew.
Annetta is excited to partake in the Business and Development Program this year. She loves astrophysics and aerospace engineering and hopes to major in both one day. Later on, Annetta hopes to learn the skills she learns in the Business and Development Program in order to start a aerospace engineering company.
Tsion Assefa
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School
Class of 2025
Tsion Assefa is a sophomore at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School. Tsion is a dedicated honors student.
During her free time, Tsion volunteers with various organizations, tutoring overseas students in English and working with disadvantaged kids. She enjoys reading and learning about unusual and obscure history.
Tsion is excited to be participating in the International Business & Development Internship this year. She loves learning about the process of expanding a business and hopes to someday become an International Business major. In the future, Tsion wants to use the skills she has learned to help benefit other emerging businesses.
Mackenzie Conlon
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School
Class of 2025
Mackenzie Conlon is a sophomore at Georgetown Visitation High School. Mackenzie takes pride in her honors studies and is involved in Model United Nations and Visitation Arts.
Mackenzie enjoys drawing and crocheting. Her favorite sports are hockey and volleyball. Mackenzie loves history and science courses, as she is interested in International Relations and Engineering.
Mackenzie is excited to be working with the International Business Program. She is interested in learning the criteria of business, finance, and international relations from her work here. Later on in life, Mackenzie wants to adapt these skills to work with businesses around the world.
Our Business Partner
Rose Sylvester
Business Statistics
She currently tracks her finances by logging everything in a book.
Rose already advertises and sells at church and the market place.
There is no competition near Rose because it is a “peculiar” business.
Rose Sylvester
About Rose
Her business started from a government program that the Bauchi government came up with for widows and single mothers to start businesses. She sees Vaseline as a household need, which is why she started her business. Rose dreams to have a big store with a vast variety of vaselines with different textures and fragrances.
Rose Sylvester
Community Impact
Rose Sylvester
Our Partnership
Rose hopes for her customers to view her products as affordable and accessible. Through her work, Rose hopes to inspire other women to start businesses.
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
$712 RAISED
$38 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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