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About

Detroit Means Business is helping make Detroit the place for small business owners to thrive. DMB is Detroit’s front door to entrepreneurial success and the one place dedicated to driving a strong small business community. Find solutions, make connections and let DMB help your small business soar.

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Letter from the President & CEO

Detroit small business owners deserve better – a level playing field, access to capital, supportive legislation, help navigating City services, a way to connect to peers, and so much more. They need an advocate. Enter Detroit Means Business (DMB), an organization fully dedicated to helping small businesses operate safely and successfully.

  • What is Detroit Means Business?
    Detroit Means Business is a coalition of small business owners, support organizations, large corporations and public entities in Detroit coming together to support the evolution of an equitable, best in class small business environment that allows Detroit to thrive. Now positioned within the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC), in partnership with key stakeholders, the coalition will exponentially increase the impact of the existing small business support ecosystem. Informed by Detroit small business owners and designed specifically to identify and remove systemic barriers to their success, DMB represents an important new mechanism for addressing the need for shared prosperity. The DMB coalition aspires to help small business owners quickly adapt to the rapidly changing COVID-driven reality and become the primary go to hub to help Detroit small businesses stabilize, grow, and thrive.
  • Why is a program like this needed at this time?
    Small businesses are the primary drivers of our city’s job creation and productivity growth. Those under 50 employees located in cities like Detroit often do not have access to traditional capital or resources and often are overwhelmed by the number of resources found online. Providing trusted and vetted resources through an accessible site will accelerate their ability to operate safely and save business owners’ time.
  • Which businesses are eligible for this program?
    Small businesses that are operating in the city of Detroit with under 50 employees that are currently serving customers or in the process of reopening according to the Governor’s Michigan Safe Start Plan.
  • Are there any resources available to small businesses operating outside of the city of Detroit?
    The partners and funders behind the Detroit Means Business program intend to serve Detroit-based small businesses, but some of the resources compiled and created for this program are accessible to all businesses regardless of geography, including webinars, reopening playbooks, and online informational resources.
  • How are businesses learning about the program?
    There are 34 partners helping to spread the word of this program. They include business support organizations, chambers, and member associations with Detroit-based clients and members. In addition, the program is promoted through social media and radio ads.
  • What partners are involved in outreach?
    There are 34 nonprofit business service organizations, chambers of commerce and membership associations that have trusted relationships with small businesses, particularly those owned by women and people of color.
  • What organizations are providing resources and support?
    A collaboration of experienced nonprofit organizations, Community Development Finance Institutions, microfinance programs, and corporate partners is providing financial and technical assistance support.
  • Who is managing this program?
    This program is being led by the Small Business Services team at the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC). It was conceived by a collaboration of the City of Detroit, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and private, philanthropic and nonprofit sector leaders.

Access and Inclusion Statement

DMB is committed to providing a path to business ownership, neighborhood stability, inclusive employment and upward mobility for all Detroiters. We do that by supporting business initiatives that remove economic barriers based on social injustice, discrimination and racially biased practices. With a team that is diverse and representative of the communities we serve, DMB is working to eliminate the inequity that can block economic opportunity. This is an important step toward eliminating poverty, creating equal access to generational wealth and creating a small business ecosystem focused on entrepreneurial success.

North Star Goals

Detroit Means Business is dedicated to the relentless pursuit of a robust neighborhood-based economy. The DMB coalition has set an ambitious set of key performance indicators to reach by 2025:

  • What is Detroit Means Business?
    Detroit Means Business is a coalition of small business owners, support organizations, large corporations and public entities in Detroit coming together to support the evolution of an equitable, best in class small business environment that allows Detroit to thrive. Now positioned within the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC), in partnership with key stakeholders, the coalition will exponentially increase the impact of the existing small business support ecosystem. Informed by Detroit small business owners and designed specifically to identify and remove systemic barriers to their success, DMB represents an important new mechanism for addressing the need for shared prosperity. The DMB coalition aspires to help small business owners quickly adapt to the rapidly changing COVID-driven reality and become the primary go to hub to help Detroit small businesses stabilize, grow, and thrive.
  • Why is a program like this needed at this time?
    Small businesses are the primary drivers of our city’s job creation and productivity growth. Those under 50 employees located in cities like Detroit often do not have access to traditional capital or resources and often are overwhelmed by the number of resources found online. Providing trusted and vetted resources through an accessible site will accelerate their ability to operate safely and save business owners’ time.
  • Which businesses are eligible for this program?
    Small businesses that are operating in the city of Detroit with under 50 employees that are currently serving customers or in the process of reopening according to the Governor’s Michigan Safe Start Plan.
  • Are there any resources available to small businesses operating outside of the city of Detroit?
    The partners and funders behind the Detroit Means Business program intend to serve Detroit-based small businesses, but some of the resources compiled and created for this program are accessible to all businesses regardless of geography, including webinars, reopening playbooks, and online informational resources.
  • How are businesses learning about the program?
    There are 34 partners helping to spread the word of this program. They include business support organizations, chambers, and member associations with Detroit-based clients and members. In addition, the program is promoted through social media and radio ads.
  • What partners are involved in outreach?
    There are 34 nonprofit business service organizations, chambers of commerce and membership associations that have trusted relationships with small businesses, particularly those owned by women and people of color.
  • What organizations are providing resources and support?
    A collaboration of experienced nonprofit organizations, Community Development Finance Institutions, microfinance programs, and corporate partners is providing financial and technical assistance support.
  • Who is managing this program?
    This program is being led by the Small Business Services team at the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC). It was conceived by a collaboration of the City of Detroit, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and private, philanthropic and nonprofit sector leaders.

Impact

DMB has delivered tangible resources to thousands of Detroit small businesses and provided a lifeline throughout the pandemic.

  • What is Detroit Means Business?
    Detroit Means Business is a coalition of small business owners, support organizations, large corporations and public entities in Detroit coming together to support the evolution of an equitable, best in class small business environment that allows Detroit to thrive. Now positioned within the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC), in partnership with key stakeholders, the coalition will exponentially increase the impact of the existing small business support ecosystem. Informed by Detroit small business owners and designed specifically to identify and remove systemic barriers to their success, DMB represents an important new mechanism for addressing the need for shared prosperity. The DMB coalition aspires to help small business owners quickly adapt to the rapidly changing COVID-driven reality and become the primary go to hub to help Detroit small businesses stabilize, grow, and thrive.
  • Why is a program like this needed at this time?
    Small businesses are the primary drivers of our city’s job creation and productivity growth. Those under 50 employees located in cities like Detroit often do not have access to traditional capital or resources and often are overwhelmed by the number of resources found online. Providing trusted and vetted resources through an accessible site will accelerate their ability to operate safely and save business owners’ time.
  • Which businesses are eligible for this program?
    Small businesses that are operating in the city of Detroit with under 50 employees that are currently serving customers or in the process of reopening according to the Governor’s Michigan Safe Start Plan.
  • Are there any resources available to small businesses operating outside of the city of Detroit?
    The partners and funders behind the Detroit Means Business program intend to serve Detroit-based small businesses, but some of the resources compiled and created for this program are accessible to all businesses regardless of geography, including webinars, reopening playbooks, and online informational resources.
  • How are businesses learning about the program?
    There are 34 partners helping to spread the word of this program. They include business support organizations, chambers, and member associations with Detroit-based clients and members. In addition, the program is promoted through social media and radio ads.
  • What partners are involved in outreach?
    There are 34 nonprofit business service organizations, chambers of commerce and membership associations that have trusted relationships with small businesses, particularly those owned by women and people of color.
  • What organizations are providing resources and support?
    A collaboration of experienced nonprofit organizations, Community Development Finance Institutions, microfinance programs, and corporate partners is providing financial and technical assistance support.
  • Who is managing this program?
    This program is being led by the Small Business Services team at the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC). It was conceived by a collaboration of the City of Detroit, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and private, philanthropic and nonprofit sector leaders.
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How you can help:

Looking to mentor a budding entrepreneur? Have information or news you’d like to share with business owners? Want to make a donation or sponsor DMB programming? Click here to reach out.

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