Bill Lovejoy began advising the owner of Detroit Sip, a burgeoning coffee shop in Detroit’s Bagley and Fitzgerald neighborhoods, a couple of years ago as part of program that helps entrepreneurs in the city.
Many small business owners face barriers to getting started because they lack resources and expertise. Some Detroit entrepreneurs are partnering with teams of U-M students through the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project to gain access to free services and consultation that could give their venture an added boost. Get the full story here: https://impact.govrel.umich.edu/dnep/
Under the high ceilings of a University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design classroom, surrounded by a semi-circle of design, accounting, and law students from U-M, entrepreneur and lifelong Detroiter Achsha Jones is reviewing dozens of sticky notes with name suggestions, and sorting them into “yes,” “no” and “maybe.”
“The University of Michigan’s DNEP program is hands down one of the best programs I have ever participated in.”
Former DNEP client Jevona Fudge, owner of Detroit Sip, speaks about her experience with the DNEP program during an episode of the Black Leaders Detroit podcast. Hear about it at the 15:00 mark.
Read about DNEP’s partnership with Jefferson East, Inc., including the Community Tech Worker program, in this interview with JEI’s CEO Joshua Elling.
Crystal Dowe is the owner of Riley’s Way, an apparel company that specializes in clothing and merchandise that encourages young girls to embrace their natural hair.
Growing up, Crystal Dowe was teased for her natural hair and chemically straightened her hair for 30 years until she finally decided to embrace her natural hair in 2011. Now, Crystal is a proud grandmother to her granddaughter Riley who loves sporting her natural puffs. In honor of Riley, in 2017, Crystal founded Riley’s Way to help other girls accept themselves and feel just as empowered in their natural hair. “I wanted other little girls …
When most small businesses become clients in a Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project class, they get a basketball team’s worth of researchers, data analysts, thought partners, and cheerleaders. Helina Melaku of Konjo Me and Ysahai Honor-Marie of Ice Cream Detroit, it’s more like getting an entire baseball team.
Melaku and Honor-Marie were selected as this year’s integrated semester clients, meaning that they are working with teams of students from three different classes at the Ross School of Business, the Law School, and the Stamps School of Art & Design. Students in the three classes work on different aspects of the business, but …
Throughout my life, I never thought of myself as a numbers person. Yet, with my goal being to pursue consulting after I receive my Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from the Ford School, I knew I wanted (and needed) to improve that “not a numbers person” attitude. So, I went out on a limb and was put on the Point of Sales (POS) team which focuses on using financial technology to optimize business analytics.
It has been a little less than two weeks on the job, and I can confidently say my knowledge of different POS systems has drastically increased. …
According to Christie Baer, assistant executive director for the University of Michigan’s Center on Finance, Law and Policy, downtown businesses face a big decision as the pandemic continues.
“Businesses that thought that they just had to weather a short storm are suddenly realizing that it’s going to be like this for a long time,” she said. “It just becomes not as worth it to pay a higher cost of being downtown.”
