Connect young innovators with business in need!

Dear wonderful donor, 

We would like to start off by wishing you a happy International Women's Day. We thought it would only be appropriate to highlight the wonderful work that our female business partners have accomplished. Through our programs, women in Nigeria have been able to use their skills and use them to their full potential with the help of our resources. None of this would have been possible without your tremendous support. 

We would like to share the story of a student IBIP team and their connection with powerful Nigerian women.  

The team of Roosevelt students started off working with Falilat who runs a small soap making business in Bauchi State, Nigeria. The girls helped Falilat with various business problems such as marketing techniques and developing new scents for her products. Halfway through the team’s first year of hard work Leadership Initiatives’ Executive Director, Marshall Bailly told them about yet another amazing program during that upcoming summer. Leadership Initiatives was hosting the International Business Leadership Summit, which would be similar to that which Maya attended the previous summer.

This program, however, would take place at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. Two members of the Roosevelt group, Maya and Lauren, attended the summer program and develop even more skills to use in the IBIP. The girls ended up being paired with Rabi to help her work on her catering business during their week at the program. Little did they know that the charming young woman they were working with would ultimately become their official business partner. This program not only allowed the girls to form a more personal connection with Sani but also taught them leadership skills, public speaking skills and hands-on experience in entrepreneurship.   

When Lauren and Maya returned from the summer program they were bursting with stories and skills that they were eager to share with the other members of their group, and so was their business partner, Rabi. She announced the wonderful news to the group that she was pregnant! It was a very exciting turn of events but meant that she was going to be taking a break from working with the Roosevelt IBIP team.

Wonderful stories like these wouldn't be able to happen without your continuous and unwavering support.

Thank you from your friends at Leadership Initiatives