2022 Business - Leadership Initiatives

Program Information

Rising Freshman - Graduating Seniors

Georgetown University Washington, DC

Seven Days - Sunday to Saturday

~~July 7th - July 13th, 2024 July 21st - July 27th, 2024 July 28th - August 3rd, 2024~~

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$3,500 USD

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International Leadership & Business Internship

Launch a real start-up

All International Leadership & Business Internship session are now closed. Visit our 2025 International Leadership & Business Internship page here for more session availability.

The Program

The Leadership Initiatives International Leadership & Business Internship is taking our first-of-its-kind accelerated internship to the next level. Students will choose an entrepreneur from the developing world to partner with and assist in developing their start-up business. During this program, interns will learn how to skillfully build a business while simultaneously calculating risk – the essentials of constructing a successful enterprise.

Interns work closely with Georgetown University professors and business professionals in writing business plans, developing research skills, and critical communication skills. During this intensive program, students will learn from experts about business analytics, marketing planning, customer and market insights, as well as study the art of cross-cultural communication to understand the international business landscape and complexities faced by aspiring entrepreneurs.

Along with guest speakers and interactive panels, interns have the unprecedented opportunity to interact with some of Washington’s top business leaders. These experts will lead a series of skill-development workshops to help students create a business plan for our own “Shark Tank” style presentation. Each student-proposed solution will be implemented by the start-up with a full grant from our sponsors changing the life of their business partner forever.

Students will present their business proposal and allocate seed money to decide the company's name, their brand, execute their marketing plan, and even decide the products they will sell. The best business pitches will be selected by the grant committee to receive additional funding over the course of one year.

Secure a Grant

At the internship, students are partnered directly with leaders from Amazon, Microsoft, and Lockheed Martin to provide the support, resources and opportunities for students to develop strategies that cross every business function in order to innovate and drive meaningful growth to their start-up.

Work with Experts

Students intern with the Leadership Initiatives Business Development Institute at Georgetown University and work directly with one of six entrepreneurs in their area of focus. This internship is ideal for any student who wants to add practical business work experience to their resume.

Launch a Startup

Program Highlights

Emily Kim

Crean Lutheran High School, Class of 2022

2021 International Leadership & Business Internship

"From the LI staff to the aspiring entrepreneurs, everything about the International Leadership and Business Internship program has exceeded my expectation. No experience to date can compare to working hand in hand with a start-up business to build it from the ground up. My team and I developed logos and marketing plans, selected the to-store locations, created seed money budgets, and created financial tracking solutions. The opportunity to work so closely with experts and field staff to help prepare our business partner for success has inspired me to work even harder in life. LI has helped me to create invaluable friendships and relationships and I am truly grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in the transformation of the Nigerian economy and community."

Throughout the internship, I developed skills to effectively advocate to congressional officials. To prepare for my meetings, I developed informative briefing materials, which focused on improving the criminal legal system with my team. We highlighted a pressing issue in the criminal legal system that affected our client and advocated for possible solutions to critical issues.

My team and I worked to ensure we had facts, statistics, and compelling stories to share with our representatives in order to inform them of what is currently happening within the criminal legal system. We also presented possible solutions, in hopes that they would support our goals for reform.

Read my proposal here.

My Congressional Advocacy

See my research proposal presentation here.

I had the opportunity to work with advocacy experts such as Professor Heather Aryani of Northwestern University, Gerald “Chip” Kunde, Senior Vice President of Institutional Affairs & Corporate Communications at Ferrero North America, and Capitol Hill Interns to perfect my congressional advocacy presentation. We practiced our presentation multiple times to ensure that we were prepared to speak with members of Congress.

During our meetings, I spoke confidently about the issues our client is facing in incarceration and will face after his release. Meeting with multiple members of Congress allowed us to demonstrate the importance of the challenges our client and those in similar situations have to endure. Being able to meet with a congressional staff member was a unique opportunity for our team to broaden our perspective and learn how much we can accomplish together. It was also a great privilege to see and participate in the political process.

All students who attend one of our Summer Internship Programs will receive free SAT/ACT training through Testive, one-on-one admissions consulting with a former admissions officer, essay editing assistance, two letters of recommendation, and scholarship application assistance. These benefits remain available for four years to allow nominations for rising freshmen through rising seniors.

Click on each academic benefit below to learn more :

1. Admissions Panels

2. College Essay Assistance

3. Letters of Recommendation

4. College Probabilities

5. Personalized Websites

Jumpstart your college experience.

Summer program students will have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with a college admissions expert. They will help walk students through the ins-and-outs of college applications, essay writing, and scholarships.

Students can speak directly with former admissions officers from schools such as Yale, Brown & UCLA. These individuals have a minimum of 15 years of experience in the field of college admissions.

Students are recommended to have their most pressing questions about the college application process ready so they can have them answered by someone who knows the application system inside and out.

Past students have used this time to hone in on their essay topics, decide on how many colleges to apply to, and create application time lines.

College Admissions Panel

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All Summer Internship Program participants receive one-on-one essay editing assistance from Leadership Initiatives partner University Connection.

This offer is exclusive, and not available with any other institution or program!

Each student essay will be edited to ensure it makes an excellent impression at every stage of the competitive application process. The editors will improve the style, clarity, sentence structure and coherence of your application so that your achievements are noticed.

Editors bring their experience in many different backgrounds, including Science and Technology, Commerce, Management, and the Humanities.

College Essay Review

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All participants in the Youth Development Programs will have the opportunity to have two written for them from any Leadership Initiatives staff member, including the Executive Director Marshall Bailly.

Students interns will also have the opportunity to have letters written by Leadership Initiatives partners from the International Business & Development Internship, International Public Health Internship, and International Law & Advocacy Internship.

These unique and complimentary letters are one of the most highly regarded benefits that Leadership Initiatives has. Below are sample letters from previous students:

Letters of Recommendation

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Leadership Initiatives creates a personalized website for each International Internship Program team highlighting their collaborative efforts with their partner in the International Business & Development Internship, International Law & Advocacy Internship, or International Public Health Internship.

The website displays your team's solutions, grant proposal, photos of your partners, and illustrates the impact your team has had on the life and community of your partners. The website link is included in your letters of recommendation, allowing colleges to independently explore the phenomenal work done by each and every student.

Personalized Website

Click here to view Youth Development Program websites.