Sonya Rivas, owner of Casita Title & Escrow Agency in Southwest Detroit, was determined to turn her entrepreneurial dream into a reality. While scrolling on social media, she came across an informational post about ‘Walk in Wednesdays’ taking place at the Southwest Detroit Business Association (SDBA) that piqued her interest.
She registered for the Walk-In Wednesday workshops, eagerly participating in discussions and engaging with the presenters to understand the extensive range of services available. Her primary focus was to gather information about office space as she sought to establish a base for her business.
“It really did all start with the Walk-In Wednesday and Bank of America being the first one to help guide me through the steps,” Rivas said. “Although I didn’t get a loan from Bank of America, the resources and how they laid them out played a key factor in making my business plan.”
As of February 2024, Rivas opened a brick-and-mortar, and SDBA helped find her a comfortable space.
The Southwest Detroit Business Association began to collaborate with Bank of America in 2016 to create the Small Business Advocacy Center (SBAC) and began hosting Walk-In Wednesdays. SBAC provides comprehensive services to small local businesses in Southwest Detroit, focusing on enhancing economic opportunities, promoting racial equity in public contracting, and fostering a vibrant commercial area.
Laura L. Chavez-Wazeerud-Din, current President & CEO of SDBA, emphasized the abundance of resources provided as an additional ‘hand up’ instead of ‘hand holding’ to local entrepreneurs.
“We have a regular cadence of people coming in on Wednesdays. What’s been great with Bank of America is that they’ve been consistent, and we see consistency as something that the business owners appreciate and value, ”Chavez-Wazeerud-Din said.“ Bank of America will host a workshop, for example, like the four C’s of credit, or they have something that shows businesses how to become loan ready; they have this huge list of different workshops that they provide.”
Hassan Elsayed, Bank of America’s Small Business Community Officer, was eager to return to expanding small businesses in Southwest Detroit after unexpected changes occurred during COVID-19.
“We connected with Laura and her team and said, ‘Hey, let’s start collaborating.’ From there, we’ve been full speed ahead ever since. It’s been almost two years, and it’s been a great relationship,” Elsayed said.
Architect Will Marquez, now a business owner in Southwest Detroit, was tired of working for others and took ownership of his path. With 24 years of experience working in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, he went straight from undergraduate at the University of Michigan to opening his own architecture office.
“I was walking down the street and saw the SDBA and saw a posting for space rental. I simply wanted to build my business again and build the same success that I had in Indianapolis, and I wanted to do it again here in Detroit,” Marquez said. ” My life goals are very specific: to bring people to design, and SDBA has helped me with that.”
Elsayed and SDBA provide personalized, on-site consultations to interested business owners during Walk-in Wednesday events. Through one-on-one interactions, they walk them through the process and offer tailored guidance to help them achieve their business goals.
Walk-in Wednesdays has helped more than 45 local businesses get financing, a brick-and-mortar, or both, two of which are Rivas and Marquez’s.
“It’s important for people to see the work that we’re doing,” Chavez-Wazeerud-Din said.
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This story was made possible by the Race and Justice Reporting Initiative, which aims to build trust between the news media and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities and strengthen representative democracy.
