The African Economic Development Solutions (AEDS) organization has played a significant role in supporting the work of the African diaspora here in Minnesota. This year they’re hosting the ninth annual Little Africa Festival on Aug. 6 in Hamline Park on 1564 Lafond Avenue in St. Paul, from 12 to 9 p.m. The gathering brings an opportunity for businesses to be celebrated and come together under the banner of a shared African identity.
On the morning of the festival, the organization will also be breaking ground on the Little Africa Plaza development, a cultural entrepreneurship center, to be located at 678 Snelling Ave N. St. Paul that is scheduled to open in 2024. The center will include a grocery store, a halal butcher shop, and a retail space. The plaza will also house a museum highlighting the contributions of Minnesota’s African community. The groundbreaking is scheduled for 11 a.m. ahead of the festival and parade.
“The festival gives us the opportunity to come together and enjoy what diverse African immigrant communities in Minnesota have to offer. We celebrate diversity, resilience, and the hard work of African immigrants in Minnesota,” Dr. Gene Gelgelu, the founder and CEO of AEDS, stated during an announcement about the festival. He emphasized that this year the festival would be returning bigger and better than ever now that the pandemic had subsided.
Since its start in 2008, AEDS has served nearly 600 businesses and created more than 800 jobs. They offer entrepreneurs business lending support in the form of loans and grants. Participants with AEDS can also receive homeownership education and engage in community-building programs.
The Little Africa Festival follows events focused on the East African community that were part of Minneapolis’s celebration of Black Business Week. Minneapolis residents and entrepreneurs from the East African community and beyond gathered at the Brian Coyle Neighborhood Center on July 26, for a resource fair and discussion about East African entrepreneurship. The event included more than 15 organizations, as well as Minneapolis and Hennepin County agencies, businesses, and neighborhood associations.
This year’s Black Business Week event highlighted the contributions of East African women entrepreneurs and included a panel discussion with Amani Radman, CEO of the East African Business Association, Abyan Nur, the founder and CEO of Faceless Pro, and Ifrah Jama, co-founder of Jannah Fitwear.
The panel was moderated by Yusra Mohamud, a business advisor at Lake Street Council and host of “Eat and Talk,” a podcast that underscores the story of entrepreneurs in the Twin Cities.
Jamal Osman of Ward 6 gave remarks to start off the event in support of the organizers and the work of East African women across the city of Minneapolis.
“As a councilmember, I represent a beautiful, diverse community, but I’ll tell you [the] East African community, it’s nothing but wonderful,” he said. “We are eager to start businesses. We are very successful at what we do, we should be proud of ourselves. We are the engine behind the city of Minneapolis.”
Mayor Jacob Frey was also in attendance along with Council President Andrea Jenkins of Ward 8.
“I just really wanted to come over here today just to say congratulations and show my support for this panel of amazing East African women who are doing I think incredible work in providing goods and services and resources to our communities,” Jenkins said.
Frey echoed the sentiments of the council members and underlined the importance of supporting the city’s entrepreneurs beyond the week’s events. “We have people here that are at the forefront of their industry. They need to be supported. They need to have access to things like city contracts and that’s the direction that we’re taking everything right now,” Frey said.
The panel discussion kicked off with a series of questions from Mohamud who asked the entrepreneurs about the personal challenges, successes, and cultural barriers they encountered on their journey as business owners. Each panelist spoke about how their business started with seeing a gap in the marketplace and an opportunity to help people like themselves.
Radman, whose background is in logistics, spoke about her career and experience with companies such as Boeing and Columbia Sportswear. In the past year, she’s launched the East African Business Association, an organization dedicated to helping train and educate entrepreneurs from the Horn of Africa. Radman stated that the association was created to give business owners a place where they have access to resources if they want help to start and grow their businesses.
Jama spoke of how she saw a lack of options for Muslim women when it came to fitness clothing. She launched her sportswear company to give Muslim women a modest option when they sought to better their health.
Nur’s inspiration for creating Faceless Pro came from her own experiences dealing with a difficult job market after having been rejected from several job postings. She shared that when she reapplied under a different name, she was given interviews for the very same jobs she was once rejected from.
Coming from the startup world, Nur shared that she’s had challenges accessing capital compared to her White male peers who have been able to raise millions in the three years she’s been operating. She also pointed out the dismissive attitude that many Black women face in business.
“Being a Black woman, it’s like you are overlooked constantly. Like, ‘What is your business? Doesn’t this exist already?’ These are the questions that I’m constantly getting,” she said. One of the things that actually worked for me was getting into Beta, which is a non-profit accelerator. Now people know about my company, and I’m actually recognized.”
“This whole path of entrepreneurship has been really just utilizing the resources that are available and having the people guide me through that,” Radman said. “I think when you have a support system and you have people that really believe in you, you will find a way.”
“Let’s not make this a one-day thing. Let’s continue to uplift. Let’s continue to ask questions. As Amani was saying we’re not all the same, but we can learn from each other. There’s so much that we can learn, and I’ve learned a lot today just by sitting in and listening to them,” Mohamud said.
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