DETROIT  — Detroit leaders and community partners gathered at Rosa Café in Detroit this week to announce the city’s new Capital Hub — a one-stop online platform designed to connect entrepreneurs with financing and business services. The tool aims to make it easier for small businesses to find the resources they need without spending months knocking on doors.

The launch drew city officials, nonprofit partners, lenders and small business owners who claim they have been asking the city for years for a simpler way to access capital. Speakers described the hub as both a practical resource and a symbol of Detroit’s commitment to its small businesses..

The Capital Hub matches business owners with lenders, technical assistance and service organizations in one central place. Leaders say it will cut down on confusion, save time and keep more small businesses rooted in Detroit.

“Finally, the city that I love is building processes around small business and not making small businesses try to figure out city processes,” said Charity Dean, president and CEO of the Michigan Black Business Alliance.

Dean, who also owns Rosa Café, has been pushing for this type of system since the early days of the pandemic. She recalled the long, weekly meetings where public and private partners scrambled to figure out how to help struggling entrepreneurs. Out of those talks, she said, came the idea of building a single spot where business owners could turn.

“How can we have one spot, one spot where entrepreneurs can go to access capital — and to look at where we are today. I am super excited,” Dean said.

Speakers echoed the same point: small businesses are central to Detroit’s economy, but too many stall out because financing is so hard to secure. Dean said her organization’s mission is to help close the racial wealth gap by creating opportunities for Black entrepreneurs, and the hub is a step toward that goal.

Rosa Café itself was chosen for the launch because of its deep ties to the neighborhood. Dean named the shop after her great-grandmother, who was a member of one of the first Black families to move into Rosedale Park in the 1970s.

“This coffee shop is a reminder of my great-grandmother’s perseverance,” Dean said. “So this is Grandma’s house. Welcome to Grandma’s house.”

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