Economic Growth Nigeria Project #18959

Create 56 Opportunities for Orphans Nigeria

by Leadership Initiatives

Project Report | Apr 24, 2015
You have changed the lives of young men and women!

By Marshall Bailly II | Executive Director

Dear Amazing Leadership Initiatives donor,

Because of you Leadership Initiatives now supports the education, skills training and care of Orphans throughout Nigeria through our Orphan Independence and Skills Program that your donations have supported.

I want to take a moment and highlight one business whose owner and staff are now supporting several Orphans.

PERSONAL STORY OF OUR CARPENTRY BUSINESS OWNER:

The Abdulmalik Carpentry Shop opened in July of 2014 after years of sacrifice and hard work. Abdulmalik is the oldest of four children and had to drop out of high school when his parents could no longer afford to send Abdulmalik to school and properly care for his siblings.

Abdulmalik then took on as many petty jobs as he could find to help support his family as best he could. As work dried up though in his community he had to look in other areas of Nigeria for work.

Abdulmalik left his home in Plateau State in 2012 before settling in Bauchi where he was able to become an apprentice in a carpentry shop. Abdulmalik showed promise and through his hard work and determination moved from apprentice to site manager in a little under a year, managing a team of five young men. As his income grew he began to send money back home to help finance his siblings education and provide for his family.

In 2013, Leadership Initiatives recognized Abdulmalik as a powerful and committed community leader and he entered Leadership Initiatives’ Business Creation Program where he received business training, additional carpentry skills training, and found local investors to get his business off the ground. Abdulmalik’s idea was for a low cost carpentry shop that could help renew old homes and buildings, making them livable again.

Today, the Abdulmalik Carpentry Shop employees four people, helps send four children to school and supports 15 family members associated with the business, all due to Abdulmalik’s hard work and perseverance.

ABDULMALIK'S IMPACT UPON HIS COMMUNITY:

The Abdulmalik Carpentry Shop helps renovate old and low cost homes for the growing communities of Bauchi. More and more people can afford homes because of Abdulmalik’s work fixing many of the problems that had left so many older homes in non-livable condition. This has provided shelter for both the old and the young within his community.

Abdulmalik also does pro-bono work for churches and mosques and gives discounted carpentry services to families in need.

Abdulmalik has used his shop to offer jobs to young men who could not afford a higher education but want to work and provide a good life supporting their families. This has made Abdulmalik a community leader and an example to others within his city on how they too can create a better life for themselves.

Because of you, there are more jobs, orphans cared for and opportunities for communities in Nigeria. You can learn more at www.lichange.org or view the program pamphlet and benefits sheet attached along with our highlighted business partner Hamza's welding business.

If you would like to learn more about our business creation programs please visit our new website at www.lichange.org. There you can find out about their personal stories, meet members of the community, view photo galleries, or even set up a Skype call with a business owner!

Also if you had a moment could you tell us why you donated and how you heard of us, we are always trying to better refine our message and reach more people with our call to change. Thank you for also helping us, understand wonderful people like you better!

Wishing you, your friends and especially your family the absolute best this Holiday Season!

Sincerely,

Marshall and the entire LI family

Links:

OUR CARPENTRY BUSINESS

Permalink

Feb 5, 2015
New Jobs and Skills Training for Orphans!!!

By Marshall Bailly II | Executive Director

Dear Amazing Leadership Initiatives Donors,

Because of your support Leadership Initiatives has been able to further develop our Orphan Independance and Skills Program. The Orphan Independence and Skills Program is now designed to both provide both a stable home-life and job training to disadvantages youths.

LI ensure a stable home life through:
Tracking of the orphans taken in by LI Business Owners.
Periodic visits by LI staff to ensure the orphans are being fed, well clothed, and provided for.
LI ensures the orphans are receiving job training by:
Establishing a learning curriculum which orphans must progress through during the course of their apprenticeships.
Setting apprentice wages that allow the orphans to earn income while learning a skill.

One example of a business owner and orpahn partnership is that of Danliti and Jamil

Personal Story of Danliti Cobbling Shop Business Owner

Some of the shoe making shop’s main customers are the local police force, security firms and local military troops, because of the quality and style of the shoes. Danliti’s shoes have earned a reputation over his competition in neighboring states, and at times even orders from other nations.

Because of this he has won contracts from multiple groups allowing locally owned and operated institutions to invest money locally. This has allowed Danliti to grow his business and hire additional employees, which has brought his business community support while also improving the community itself.

Some months he receives local orders to make 500 -1000 shoes in addition to his usual orders because of his dedication to creating high quality footwear.

Danliti has also beat foreign competition by offering repair policies for his footwear that larger outside companies could not, allowing him to compete at an unprecedented level.

Because of this, thousands of dollars are kept within his community and reinvested allowing local dollars and funding to continue to transform lives.

With this new financial support Danliti has expanded his business and hired local Orphans as his new employees to give them an opportunity to take control over their lives.

One such Orphan is Jamil who has been with Danliti for about 4 years since he lost his father. Jamil was brought to learn the cobbling skill with Danliti, and Danliti liked him because of his commitment to hard work; this gave him a place in Danliti’s heart.

Danliti began to inquire about his family, his future plans and the challenges he faced. After Jamil had told him how he had had to stop school because his mother could not afford it, Danliti opted to pay for his fees and give him some extra money for his welfare.

Jamil now works at the cobbling shop, learning more about the skill while attending school during the day paid for by his work with Danliti while simultaneously helping siblings as much as he can both financially and as the leader of his family.

If you would like to learn more about our business partners visit our new website at www.lichange.org. There you can find out about their personal stories, meet members of the community, view photo galleries, or even set up a skype call with a business owner!

Also if you had a moment could you tell us why you donated and how you heard of us, we are always trying to better refine our message and reach more people with our call to change. Thank you for also helping us, understand wonderful people like you better!

Wishing you, your friends and especially your family the absolute best this Holiday Season!

Sincerely,

Marshall and the entire LI family

Links:

http://lichange.org/orphan/

Permalink

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.