Identifying a gap in available support, BUILD has been developing a program since 2023 specifically designed to help established business owners grow, scale, and evolve.
“Our Black Business Reunion is a celebration and recognition of Detroit’s Black business community, their everlasting legacy and the impact they make in our everyday lives,” says Christianne Malone, chief program officer at TechTown Detroit.
“As Detroit continues to cement itself as the premier technology hub, it’s critical to highlight and lift up our Black talent and entrepreneurs who have made Detroit into the destination it is,” says James Feagin, founder of Venture 313.
Economic development is more critical than ever, as our communities work to recover from the devastating impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, including the loss of many small, local businesses. Leaders in the field point to past project successes to demonstrate impact in Detroit, and what role they might play post-COVID.
For more than a decade, the artist and entrepreneur developed low-altitude urban wind turbines — fashioned out of upcycled materials like truck axles, satellite dishes, and light poles — that also function as public art. Now that he has a patent on his unique design, he's looking to bring his innovative green energy technology to the neighborhoods.
An expert in food, music, and culture with more than 20 years of restaurant industry experience, Goudia highlights her favorite local spots on the east side. Here’s how Goudia would spend a perfect day in the city she now calls home.
Kiki Louya, a native Detroiter who co-founded Folk and The Farmer's Hand in Corktown and is the economic development manager at Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation, will represent Detroit in the upcoming season of Bravo TV's popular cooking competition "Top Chef," the chef, writer, food activist and restaurant consultant announced on her social media pages.
“When starting a business you always have to answer a problem. And we started BLK Space by answering our own problem,” says Miracle Bailey, who is BLK Space’s chief marketing officer. “We needed the space literally for us."
Matt Naimi and Oren Goldenberg, the owners of the Recycle Here! and Lincoln Street Art Park complex, aim to combat displacement of artists and to preserve culture in the neighborhood where Naimi’s fostered a creative and green-minded community around a factory ruin and a garbage dump (as he fondly puts it) since 2005.
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