The African Economic Development Solutions (AEDS) organization has played a big role in supporting the work of the African diaspora here in Minnesota. This 12 months 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 a possibility for businesses to be celebrated and are available together under the banner of a shared African identity. 

The morning of the festival, the organization will even be breaking ground on the Little Africa Plaza development, a cultural entrepreneurship center, to be situated at 678 Snelling Ave N. St. Paul that’s scheduled to open in 2024. The middle will include a food market, a halal butcher shop, and a retail space. The plaza will even 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 chance to return together and luxuriate in what diverse African immigrant communities in Minnesota should offer. We have fun diversity, resilience, and the labor of African immigrants in Minnesota,” Dr. Gene Gelgelu, the founder and CEO of AEDS, stated during an announcement concerning the festival. He emphasized that this 12 months the festival could be returning larger and higher than ever now that the pandemic had subsided. 

Since its start in 2008, AEDS has served nearly 600 businesses and created greater than 800 jobs. They provide entrepreneurs business lending support in the shape of loans and grants. Participants with AEDS can even receive homeownership education and have interaction in community-building programs. 

The Little Africa Festival follows events focused on the East African community that were a part of Minneapolis’s celebration of Black Business Week. Minneapolis residents and entrepreneurs from the East African community and beyond gathered on the Brian Coyle Neighborhood Center on July 26, for a resource fair and discussion about East African entrepreneurship. The event included greater than 15 organizations, in addition to Minneapolis and Hennepin County agencies, businesses, and neighborhood associations. 

This 12 months’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 within the Twin Cities. 

Jamal Osman of Ward 6 gave remarks to begin off the event in support of the organizers and the work of East African women across town of Minneapolis. 

“As a councilmember, I represent a wonderful, diverse community, but I’ll let you know [the] East African community, it’s nothing but wonderful,” he said. “We’re desperate to start businesses. We’re very successful at what we do, we must be happy with ourselves. We’re the engine behind town of Minneapolis.”

Mayor Jacob Frey was also in attendance together with Council President Andrea Jenkins of Ward 8. 

“I just really wanted to return over here today simply to say congratulations and show my support for this panel of fantastic East African women who’re doing I feel incredible work in providing goods and services and resources to our communities,” Jenkins said. 

Frey echoed the feelings of the council members and underlined the importance of supporting town’s entrepreneurs beyond the week’s events. “Now we have people here which might be on the forefront of their industry. They should be supported. They should have access to things like city contracts and that’s the direction that we’re taking all the things right away,” Frey said. 

The panel discussion kicked off with a series of questions from Mohamud who asked the entrepreneurs concerning the personal challenges, successes, and cultural barriers they encountered on their journey as business owners. Each panelist spoke about how their business began with seeing a spot within the marketplace and a possibility to assist people like themselves. 

Radman, whose background is in logistics, spoke about her profession and experience with firms equivalent to Boeing and Columbia Sportswear. Up to now 12 months, she’s launched the East African Business Association, a corporation dedicated to helping train and educate entrepreneurs from the Horn of Africa. Radman stated that the association was created to offer business owners a spot where they’ve access to resources in the event that they want help to begin and grow their businesses. 

Jama spoke of how she saw a scarcity of options for Muslim women when it got here to fitness clothing. She launched her sportswear company to offer Muslim women a modest option after they sought to higher their health. 

Nur’s inspiration for creating Faceless Pro got here from her own experiences coping with a difficult job market after having been rejected from several job postings. She shared that when she reapplied under a unique name, she was given interviews for the exact same jobs she was once rejected from. 

Coming from the startup world, Nur shared that she’s had challenges accessing capital in comparison with her White male peers who’ve been in a position to raise tens of millions within the three years she’s been operating. She also identified the dismissive attitude that many Black women face in business. 

“Being a Black woman, it’s like you might be missed consistently. Like, ‘What’s what you are promoting? Doesn’t this exist already?’ These are the questions that I’m consistently getting,” she said. One in every of the things that truly worked for me was moving into Beta, which is a non-profit accelerator. Now people learn about my company, and I’m actually recognized.”

“This whole path of entrepreneurship has been really just utilizing the resources which might be available and having the people guide me through that,” Radman said. “I feel when you have got a support system and you have got folks that really consider in you, you can find a way.”

“Let’s not make this a one-day thing. Let’s proceed to uplift. Let’s proceed to ask questions. As Amani was saying we’re not all the identical, but we are able to learn from one another. There’s a lot that we are able to learn, and I’ve learned quite a bit today just by sitting in and listening to them,” Mohamud said.