A cultural shopping center built to showcase the potential and contributions of African immigrant businesses in the Twin Cities held an open house Tuesday, more than a year after breaking ground for construction.
Located on North Snelling Avenue, in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood of St. Paul, Little Africa Plaza features retail space, an African museum, and new headquarters of African Economic Development Solutions (AEDS), the microlending and business development nonprofit behind the plaza’s construction.
“The vision is to not only to support existing businesses, but to bring more businesses to the area,” said Dr. Gene Gelgelu, executive director and founder of AEDS. “So, if there’s a doctor here, if we have a restaurant here, if we have other business, they shop from each other. That how they can build local economy.”
The construction of Little Africa Plaza is the latest development in an immigrant community that is increasingly becoming important to the economic and cultural fabric of the state of Minnesota. Since 2000, the population of Black immigrants living in the state increased by 274% to around 100,000, making Minnesota among the top 10 destinations, according to the Pew Research Center. In 2018, African immigrant households had a spending power of $1.8 billion, after they paid more than $640 million in federal, state, and local taxes, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
“We’re not small,” Gelgelu said. “We have big numbers.”
For capital, African immigrant entrepreneurs in the state often rely on community financial institutions like Africa Development Center, and AEDS, whose mission to strengthen the role of Africans immigrants in the economy, culture, and livelihood of the Twin Cities. AEDS offers a list of services like business lending, business development, homeownership education and community building. The Plaza will centralize AEDS’s resources, operating at the heart of Snelling, home to notable African immigrant businesses like Snelling Café.
Gelgelu said the museum was one of gems of the plaza and AEDS was working with African community leaders, professionals, and supporters from outside the community to envision what it should look like.
“They are the one who make everything happen every single day,” Gelgelu said.
Author
About Jasmine Webber, Mshale Photojournalist
Jasmine Webber is a photojournalist at Mshale. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota.
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