- July 13, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
Abdilahi Omar, owner of Ainu-Shams Grocery, and Hte Hte Hta Rue, owner of Chaw’s Asian Market, are two of the five 2021 graduates of Elevate, a community-based business academy with the mission to elevate businesses for success through education and mentorship. The program is aimed at helping underserved and female identifying entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color.
“The program is to elevate, exactly as you can see its name, and support our business owners and the new businesses starters,” said Abdusalaam Hirsi, an assistant instructor for Elevate. Funded by the Southwest Initiative Foundation (SWIF), the first Elevate cohort started class in March of 2021 and classes were all virtual. The five students of Elevate, Abdiqani Mahamed, Abdilahi Omar, Hte Hte Hta Rue, Stephanie Thompson and Abdiweli Yusuf, all graduated on June 16. They were known as The Fabulous Five.
In the speech during the graduation ceremony, Scott Marquardt, senior vice president of…