HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021 Year End Report - Dakota County Open to Business
Clients Served YTD
Client Inquiry 13
Existing - Challenged 29
Existing -Opportunity 56
Pre-start planning 51
Start-up 35
Total 184
Business Owner Demographics YTD
Low-Income Owned 46
BIPOC or Immigrant
Owned 68
Woman Owned 95
Financing & Access to Capital YTD
Approved (YRLY Total) $ 5,000.00
Equity (YRLY Total) $133,000.00
Facilitated (YRLY Total) $268,600.00
Program Hours
TA Program HRS
1st QTR 288.25 318
2nd QTR 266.27 235
3rd QTR 250.25 241
4th QTR 264.00 274
Total 1,068.77 1,068
TA: Client Meetings, Providing Resources, Client Calls,
Client Deliverables, Loan Packaging
Program HRS: City Initiatives, Program Outreach, Public
Events, City Meetings, Research, Client Follow Up,
Data/Admin, General Inquiries
Dakota County Quarterly Report – 12.31.2021
Open to Business
3137 Chicago Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55407
612-789-7337
Industry Segment YTD
Construction / Real Estate 11
Food 30
Health/Fitness 13
Manufacturing 7
Consulting 20
Retail 41
Service 42
Technology 5
Wholesale / Distribution 4
Other 11
Total 184
Referral Source YTD
Bank Referral
11
Entrepreneur 7
Friends and Family 8
Municipality 87
MCCD Partner 22
Other 14
Web 35
Total 184
City YTD Business Resident
Apple Valley 19 15
Burnsville 23 19
Eagan 22 15
Farmington 22 21
Hastings 22 17
Inver Grove Heights 7 8
Lakeville 19 18
Rosemount 11 10
Mendota Heights 5 4
South St. Paul 13 10
West St. Paul 15 9
Other Dakota Co. 4 3
Other/ No Data 7 12
Dakota County Quarterly Report
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Direct Financing & Access to Capital*
Loan Closed Q2 - 2021:
Business Type: Dessert Vendor with Food Trailer
Location: Inver Grove Heights
Referred by: Partner Organization
OTB Financing: $5,000.00
Owner Equity: $6,000.00
Other Financing: $25,000.00
Overview: This 100% BIPOC-woman-owned dessert business sells sweets at festivals and pop-up events on a seasonal
basis. The business owner is growing her business by investing in a fully equipped food trailer. This investment will
result in new efficiencies for the business as she has been operating as a food stand and spends valuable time and
resources setting up, loading equipment, traveling back and forth to events, and packing up when weather is bad. The
new trailer will allow her to focus more time on her customers and give her increased flexibility.
The financing secured comes after working closely with Open to Business for approximately 24 months. In that time, the
business owner has built her branding, social media presence, budgeting skills, and financial projections in preparation
for the loan request with her credit union. The total funding is $36,000. OTB is directly financing the purchase of baking
equipment for the build-out of the trailer, as well as working capital for the overall project.
Loan Closed Q4 - 2021:
Business Type: Ethiopian Restaurant & Event Space
Location: Eagan
Referred by: Local Bank
Owner Equity: $99,000.00
SBA Financing through MCCD Partner, African Development Center: $231.000.00
Loan Packaged & Facilitated by MCCD
Overview: With more than 30 years of combined experience in the service and hospitality industries both in the US and
abroad, these BIPOC and immigrant entrepreneurs were driven to pursue their dream of opening an Ethiopian
restaurant, event space, and catering business in Eagan, Minnesota. The business owners were referred to MCCD’s
Open to Business by a banker contact in December 2020. The owners worked closely with MCCD for 8 months to flesh
out their ideas, prepare a well-researched business plan, produce startup financial statements and budget projections,
along with other documents necessary for underwriting the loan request. When the loan package was ready, the MCCD
team brought in a partner with SBA lending capabilities, the African Development Center (ADC), and facilitated the loan
request. ADC received approval from the SBA in late October and the loan was closed shortly thereafter in early
November. The business owners expect to create 6 jobs when the business opens in 2022.
Business Expansion Grants Received Q4 - 2021:
Business Type: Beauty Business
Location: Burnsville
Referred by: Municipality
Owner Equity: $28,000.00
MicroGrant: $2,600.00
Comcast Rise Investment Grant: $10,000.00
Grant Applications Facilitated by MCCD
Dakota County Quarterly Report
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Overview: Seeing a need for a local beauty supply store which caters to textured hair, this business owner felt that it
was her calling to open her beauty business in Burnsville. Her business ownership journey began when she opened her
first Burnsville location in 2019. Due to a combination of factors, she chose to close her brick and mortar space and
focus on her online store in hopes of reopening in a new and better suited location as soon as possible. The business
owner began working with Open to Business in fall of 2020 with the goal of obtaining funding and reestablishing her
physical store. Since that time, she’s worked closely with her OTB business advisor to achieve her goals. In April of 2021
the business re-opened in Burnsville and in Fall of 2021 two grants were received which will give the business owner the
capacity to grow her business and purchase supplies, inventory, new technology, and marketing materials.
“I just want to say thank you so much for everything you have done for me, and the business!
I am extremely grateful for everything!”
-- Burnsville Business Owner
*Does not capture COVID relief loans/grants/funding facilitated by MCCD staff.
Q4 Highlights, Networking, & Outreach
Fulbright Scholar at MCCD
• MCCD welcomes Eman Alaghbari, Humphrey Fellow and Fulbright Exchange Scholar from Yemen. Eman joins MCCD
on a part time basis until March 31, 2022 and will work closely with MCCD leadership and the Open to Business
team to learn about community and economic development strategies, tools, and resources. Eman will bring the
knowledge she gains in Minnesota back to Yemen to provide new strategies for Yemeni entrepreneurs who are
working to rebuild in light of the war that has been ongoing in the country for the past 7 years.
Staffing Updates
• MCCD is pleased to welcome our newest Business Advisor, Yoni Reinharz, who joins MCCD with a strong background
in digital content creation, communications, and marketing. Yoni is a business owner and long-time entrepreneur
and has worked with both for-profit and non-profit organizations and social enterprises. Yoni will be advising
businesses throughout the OTB service area with a focus on Minneapolis and the City of Northfield.
Programming, Partnerships, & Trainings
• Oct. 4 – 8: MCCD co-hosted the annual conference of the National Alliance of Community Economic Development
Associations (NACEDA) which was held virtually. MCCD organized sessions spotlighting economic development in
Minnesota on October 6th including a keynote address by Minnesota’s Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan and a session on
Building a Business Advisor Pipeline.
• November 17: MCCD hosted the 2nd virtual Q&A with the University of MN Law School. This free virtual event was
open to businesses at any stage. The event was at capacity with 15 businesses in attendance. The Q&A session was
recorded and is available for viewing here. Additional Q&As will be held in 2022.
• November 18: MCCD and Amplio (formerly Spedco) co-hosted a virtual panel discussion on non-traditional business
financing. The event was well attended by more than 60 people including many community bankers, city/county
employees, and community development non-profits. Presentations were made by MCCD, Amplio, the African
Development Center, the City of Minneapolis, and the City of South Saint Paul. The event was recorded and is
available for viewing here. We’re planning a similar event in Spring / Summer 2022, hopefully in person.
Dakota County Quarterly Report
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• January 28: We are pleased to invite our community partners to join a virtual community development focused
policy and advocacy training on January 28th from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM. MCCD's Co-Directors of Public Policy and
Field Building, Kadra Abdi and Kari Johnson, will walk through how to navigate local, regional, and state government
and guest speaker lawmakers will be present to provide their insights also. Additional information and registration
info here.
• February: In partnership with the MN Dept. of Labor, MCCD is hosting a live virtual Q&A session in February on
labor policies, regulations, and resources for small business owners. The event is open to businesses in any stage.
Event date and time to be announced. Registration information is forthcoming soon.
Advertising & Outreach
• Thank you for sharing out the recent ads about our programs and services. We are currently working on creating an
Ad Library with fresh ads on a variety of topics that can be used as you see fit. The library will be shared out soon
and will give our partners new flexibility to choose the ad and format that suits their needs.
• Meetings, presentations, and events that occurred in Q4 continued to focus on bank outreach to build and
strengthen those relationships and increase awareness around MCCD’s lending program. Meetings or outreach
occurred specifically with 21st Century Bank, American Investors Bank and Mortgage, Bremer Bank, Choice Bank,
Frandsen Bank, Genisys Credit Union, Home Federal Savings Bank, HomeTown Bank, Key Community Bank,
Merchants Bank, Minnwest Bank, Prime Security Bank, Spire Credit Union, Sunrise Bank, Think Bank, and Wells
Fargo. As a direct result of continued engagement and outreach, my Dakota County loan pipeline currently has 7
potential deals pending!
• In addition to banker outreach, I was a panelist at the NECEDA conference’s Building a Business Advisor Pipeline
session on October 6th and made presentations for the City of Farmington’s Coffee Connection event on Dec 2nd, the
Dakota County CDA on Dec 14th, and the City of Lakeville City Council on Dec 20th. Regular meetings occurred with
the Workforce Development Board’s Business Services/Economic Development Committee. Partnership or update
meetings occurred with the University of MN Law School, the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce,
African Development Center, the City of Eagan, the City of Farmington, the City of Burnsville, and the City of West
Saint Paul.
• Ongoing concerns around COVID variants has prompted MCCD to continue our virtual meeting policy for the time
being. The policy will be reevaluated on a month-to-month basis. My office hours will continue virtually although I
am available to meet in person with clients and partners on a case-by-case basis.
Selected Program Feedback
“We are blessed with having such great partners like MCCD.” – Local Banker, SBA Division Manager
“Thank you for offering such detailed feedback on the business plan. It really helped us to reevaluate and add additional
details based on your feedback that will make this a stronger business proposal.” – Apple Valley Business Owner
“As a small business owner, it’s great to have a place you feel can add value to your business and help with ideas.”
– Lakeville Business Owner
“Wow. Thanks so much for being so welcoming to us. We can’t wait to work with you guys!!!”
– Farmington Business Owner
Dakota County Quarterly Report
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MCCD Client Profile
Meet Open to Business client Annie Qaiser, owner of Silk Road Wellness (SRW) and the Dakota-Scott County Workforce
Development Board’s Entrepreneur of the Year for 2021. SRW is the first Halal certified natural skincare line made in
the United States. All products are handmade by this family-owned business based in Rosemount, Minnesota. SRW
products are sold at www.silkroadwellness.com and numerous brick and mortar locations locally.
Silk Road Wellness was built out of a desire to bring handmade, natural, high quality wellness products that are Halal
certified to Annie’s own family, the Muslim community, and beyond. In the 11 years since the launch of the business,
Annie has steadily and tirelessly committed to its growth in the face of challenges and adversity.
As a direct result of her tireless efforts, this family business has experienced tremendous growth particularly in the past
1.5 years including 8 new product placements locally. Earlier this year the business applied for and won a course-
changing opportunity: a retail space at the Mall of America’s Community Commons. Through these efforts a wider
audience was garnered for the products and Annie’s role in the business community grew exponentially. Today, Annie is
a small business leader, advocate, and innovator and Silk Road Wellness is paving the way for future entrepreneurs.
Annie receives the Entrepreneur of the Year Award presented by Natalie, Dec. 2021.
Watch the award presentation here.
“We consider ourselves fortunate and blessed to be surrounded by amazing
resources like MCCD and supportive people like you!”
– Annie Qaiser, Silk Road Wellness