NEEDS ASSESSMENT

BASIC INFORMATION
Business Partner Name	Huzaifa Hamza Rahma
Type of Business	Tailoring
Business Name (If Applicable)	Fast Tailoring
Business Phone	07061100006
Business Address	Babangidan Dangombe wunti market, Bauchi State
Years in Operation	2011- Present
Employees (If Applicable)	Before losing shop, he had 4 staff members and 6 apprentices
Target Community	Men, Women, Babies, and Children/ middle and lower class in his community
Project Title	No Title
Business Partner Personal History	Huzaifa is a 39-year-old married man who lives in Bauchi state Nigeria. He has 6 children; 5 boys and a girl, ages 5 months through 14. Every day, Huzaifa wakes up early in the morning to buy bread for his kids’ breakfast and go to work. For quite a long time, Huzaifa’s family was barely able to eat, as Huzaifa sold everything he owned in order to save the life of his daughter. Unfortunately, his daughter died at the age of 6 with a hole in her heart. Huzaifa is now trying to recover all that was lost.
Business Description and History	Huzaifa used to own a tailoring business and specialized in sewing men and women’s clothing, baby play mats and children’s sweaters. Huzaifa’s business was his family’s only source of income, and after losing the shop, he started working in a friend’s shop just to make a living for his family. Before Huzaifa lost his shop, he had 4 staff members and 6 apprentices who were supporting their own families.
Business Purpose	To expand the business, make enough money to support his family and employ more people to give back to his community.

Economic, Social and Environmental Factors

Economic Factors

Consider the economic factors affecting the business partner you are working with:

What sorts of economic trends are occurring? Consider seasonality of prices, production and employment opportunities. There are many businesses in the surrounding area. There are more orders coming in during the christmas season and winter. Mr. Rahma makes special orders during this time.
What are the industries or major sources of employment in the area? Local businesses. There is also a major steel industry nearby.
What is the average income of the people you are working with? How does this compare to others in the area?
What is the unemployment rate of the target audience? What is the major cause of this unemployment?
What other economic factors are applicable?

	Unemployment	X	Seasonal Employment	X	Poverty
	Lack of job opportunities		Poor business growth		Other (Specify below)

(Please use the space provided to talk about the economic factors facing your business partner and the community they reside in.)

Poverty seems to be a large issue because there is not a huge cash flow in the area. Linked to that, is the seasonal employment. Especially in the tailoring business, people buy new clothes at seasonal times during festivals. Due to this, there are not many opportunities in the slow seasons, leading to seasonal employment.

Social Factors

Consider the social factors affecting the business owner you are working with:

What are the demographics of the community? Example: gender, age, life expectancy, etc. Birth and mortality rates are higher than the global average.
What are the population trends affecting the community (birth rates, family size, etc.)? Families are large with many children. Children are expected to take care of the elders.
Do the people you are working with have access to affordable education? Education rates are rising in the area.
What health-related issues and trends are present in the community? Malaria and typhoid are prevalent in the area.
What role does the government play in the lives of the community?
Is there a history of conflict or discrimination in the community? None was recorded
What cultural norms and practices are present in the community? Huzaifa’s community is known for its arts and crafts which include beautiful embroidered caps and gowns (known as babban riga), fibre craft, and decorated calabashes. It is also very versatile in the production of metal works (such as weaponry), agricultural tools, pottery, and leather works.
What other groups or organizations are doing development work within the community? Mennonite economic development associates, save the children, fahimta women and youth organization
What other social factors are applicable to your beneficiary community?

	Population Growth	X	Health-related Issues		Social Isolation
	Discrimination		Education		Other (Specify below)

(Please use the space provided to talk about the social factors facing your business partner and the community they reside in.)

What are the demographics of the community? Example: gender, age, life expectancy, etc.

This is a small state in Northern Nigeria with a small population. There are mostly Christians and Muslims living in the area. Interestingly, they tend to watch many Bollywood movies.

Do the people you are working with have access to affordable education?

There is a school in the area. People regard education as important and want to pursue it. Unfortunately, many are unable to.

What health-related issues and trends are present in the community?

malaria and typhoid fever, these impact what health problems people are most familiar with and the issues they cause. This is a significant challenge due to the poverty that is present, leading to medicine being harder to acquire.

What role does the government play in the lives of the community?

when there are political elections, there is more cash flow. This helps businesses prosper.

What cultural norms and practices are present in the community?

during festive celebrations there are house decorating, but otherwise nothing significant. Culture is gradually becoming extinct in most parts of Nigeria, Bauchi state still practice annual Durbar where there is colorful display of horses by horse riders touring the whole city. People speak languages such as Gerawa, Fulani, Jarawa, Gere, Sayawa (Zaar), etc.

Environmental Factors

Consider the environmental factors affecting the business partner you are working with:

Describe the physical location of the community – What are the climate and topography like? Bauchi state is classified as tropical. The summers here have a good deal of rainfall, while the winters have very little. This location is classified as Aw by Köppen and Geiger. The temperature here averages 25.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1009 mm.
What sort of disease, pollution or natural disasters affect or might affect the community? Typhoid, measles, cholera and malaria.
Describe the infrastructure available to the community. There are roads, and electricity even though its not constant.
What sort of industrial facilities and commercial areas are present? There is a major steel industry nearby. Our business is located in the heart of a major commercial area where there are many local businesses.
What other environmental factors are applicable to your beneficiary community?

	Climate change	X	Pollution		Waste Management
X	Soil Change		Land Elimination		Other (Specify below)

(Please use the space provided to talk about the economic factors facing your business partner and the community they reside in.)

Describe the physical location of the community – What are the climate and topography like?

Northern part of Nigeria, home is in the center of the marketplace. The rainy season in the northern part of Nigeria last for only three to four months (June–September). The rest of the year is hot and dry with temperatures climbing as high as 40 °C

What sort of disease, pollution or natural disasters affect or might affect the community?

just malaria and typhoid, but no environmental factor. Pollution is an issue, especially litter, but it does not impact the tailoring business specifically.

Describe the infrastructure available to the community.

They have a marketplace that supply most of the jobs in the area. Roads are generally made of dirt

What sort of industrial facilities and commercial areas are present?

Marketplace with various stores available that people can visit. There is a lot of competition between stores that can impact profits.

What other environmental factors are applicable to your beneficiary community?

nothing environmentally major that could affect the business.

Livelihoods Assets & Strategies
The goal of livelihood development is to increase access to and/or protection of financial, social, natural, physical, and human livelihood assets. The assets are relational, and often developing one means development of others. It is also necessary to look beyond the categories into the structures, processes, and strategies that transform the assets into livelihood outcomes. The purpose of the section below is to identify what assets You Business Partner has to work with have currently, and how they are using them (or not using them) to achieve their desired livelihood outcomes.
What financial assets does your business partner have currently? How stable are these assets?
The business is new, there are no financial assets as of now. He currently makes money from taking up a few orders per week.
What social assets does your business partner have currently? How stable are these assets?
None
What natural assets does your business partner have currently? How stable are these assets?
No agricultural assets that would help our business specifically, but materials such as timber and food are available in the area.
What physical assets does your business partner have currently? How stable are these assets?
Sewing machine and shop. They are pretty stable, the shop is rented out. He also has materials (fabrics, buttons, embellishments)
What human assets does your business partner have currently? How stable are these assets?
The business is restarting, no human assets as of now. The goal is to employ more people.
What are the desired livelihood outcomes of your business partner? Which outcome(s) will be the focus of your project?
Right now, working based on demand from the community and individual customers. He is not doing anything based on personal interests or wants. His goal is to employ more people, advertise his business, have a new financial management plan and packaging plan.

Business Analysis
Current Economic Activities for your Business Partner
Consider what your business partner is currently doing to make a profit. What items is your business partner producing? How frequently is your business partner selling these products? How much does each product cost to produce? How much does your business partner sell the product for? What is the expected profit for each item produced?
Mr. Rahma has on average 2 customers a week. He makes baby play mats, leather sheets for maternity in hospitals, hospital bed sheets, mens clothes, children's ready made gowns, men's packaged clothes. Biggest sale times are weddings, christmas major times. He sells mostly seasonally. Productions costs depends on what he is making, but baby play mats are generally cheaper than dresses. He pays 3000 naira ($8.28) to rent his shop.
Current Monthly Profits for your Business Partner
Consider what your business partner products. How much time each month do they spend working on their business? How many employees does your business partner have? How much does each employee make? How much supplies does your business partner purchase each month? After all, those things are considered, how much is left over?
Profits depend on the number of orders he receives in a month ranging from 5,000 naira upwards. The hours of work are 10am-6pm daily. His profit depends on orders, which means it is unpredictable. He has no employees and buys supplies based on what he has to make. He gets about 2 orders per week and pays 3000 naira to rent the shop. Cost of a dress depends on the style a customer chooses but he can spend 2000naira to make a certain design which he will make a profit of 1500 on.
What strengths does your business partner’s business have?
His business is very unique because he takes in orders that other businesses do not. He is also very hardworking, pushes himself to do better for his family and children. Does everything and anything he can.
What weaknesses does your business partner’s business have?
No money leads to not being able to make a difference in his life or for family. He has a big family to take care of and the business is still very young without employees.
What immediate issues facing your business partner, prohibiting them from growing their business and becoming more profitable?
Consider economic, environmental, and social factors facing your business partner and their community.
Basically a new company. He needs a slogan, logo, business cards, finances, organization (bookkeeping), appointment calendars, ideas that make the company original and different from the other companies around the area. FIND A WAY TO MAKE EVERYTHING MANUAL AND NOT ONLINE. Huzaifa doesn’t have any packaging plan in mind for now, but he packages his baby play mats in transparent nylon bags, we wanted unique, eye catching, less expensive design that will carry his business name, logo, address etc something that will help advertise his business. Huzaifa has quite a number of competitors in his area. We hope the advertising will cover all kinds of people here in Bauchi.
Long term issues facing your business partner, prohibiting them from growing their business and becoming more profitable?
Consider economic, environmental, and social factors facing your business partner and their community.
He is unable to gain enough customers, which means that he cannot make enough money unless he gains more. This can be achieved through advertising.

Conclusion

Recommendations for your Business Partner

We can package items with nylon bags to make them more appealing.
He can stay organized using a planner.
Once we have a logo, use it to signature all of your products.
We will design posters for him that he can hang to advertise his business.
Look for employees. Once there is a better packaging plan, more advertising, and an efficient way to keep track of orders, business will flourish with more hands to help.

What outcomes do you expect to see if your business partner follows your recommendations?

I hope he will be able to gain more customers and expand his business in an organized fashion.

Do you foresee any challenges arising from these recommendations?

The advertisements may not be eye catching enough or stand out. Planners are also very subjective and be helpful only if they are used correctly and diligently. Finally, I am worried that the packaging would add to the pollution levels of the area.

Additional Information

Huzaifa spends his income on his business (fabric, threads, etc) and family (feeding, school fees, etc)