Nine Mothers, One Vision: How a Shared Dream Became a Shared Business

Building Hope Blog | AEDS Spotlight Story

I want you to picture something.

It’s a Saturday afternoon. You step into a small grocery and deli, and before you can even take in the room, you smell the coffee. Rich, familiar, comforting. Someone is roasting fresh beans, and the aroma reaches you first, almost like an invitation.

In the back, a few people are gathered around. A woman pours coffee from a jebena, the clay pot used in a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. The cups are small, but the moment feels full. Someone is laughing. Someone else is sharing something that happened during the week. A neighbor leans in and says, “You should talk to her about that idea you mentioned.”

It doesn’t look like a formal meeting. There’s no agenda, no registration table, no one calling the room to order. But something meaningful is happening. People are connecting. Trust is being built. Ideas are being shared. Support is showing up naturally, the way it often does in strong community spaces.

That is part of what nine Ethiopian mothers created together. And their story started long before the store ever opened.

Where it began

Each woman brought her own journey into this partnership. Some had spent years working in jobs where their talents were overlooked. Others had carried business ideas quietly for a long time, holding onto recipes, visions, and hopes for something of their own. All of them were balancing the weight of everyday life: raising children, caring for family, managing a household, and finding their footing in a country that does not always make space for immigrant women to lead.

They did not wait until everything was perfect.

They started with what they had, and most of all, they started with each other.

Yes, they pooled resources. But they also brought experience, instincts, and strengths that had been shaped over many years. One understood supply chains. Another knew how to build relationships with customers. One was strong with numbers. Another knew how to make people feel seen and welcome the moment they walked through the door.

Piece by piece, they built something together that would have been hard to build alone.

More than a store

Their grocery and deli offers the foods, ingredients, and flavors that help Ethiopian families feel connected to home. Injera. Spices. Staples that are not always easy to find in larger chain stores.

But what makes this place special is not only what is on the shelves. It is what the space holds.

The weekly coffee ceremony is a big part of that. In Ethiopian culture, coffee is not only about drinking coffee. It is about gathering, slowing down, talking, listening, and being with one another. It creates room for conversation that might not happen otherwise. Someone shares a challenge. Someone else offers advice. A connection gets made. Encouragement is passed around as easily as the cups.

You can watch someone walk in as a customer and leave feeling like they belong to something. You can hear a woman mention she has been thinking about starting a business, and within minutes, others are sharing ideas, offering contacts, or telling her not to give up.

That kind of environment does not happen by chance. It reflects what these women value and the kind of business they wanted to build from the beginning.

What their story reminds us

So often, entrepreneurship is talked about as a solo journey. One person with a dream, working late nights, carrying everything on their own, pushing through in silence. That story is real for many people.

But it is not the only story.

These nine mothers show us another version of entrepreneurship, one rooted in community, trust, and shared responsibility. Their model makes room for the fullness of who they are. They are business owners, yes, but they are also mothers, neighbors, cultural keepers, and women deeply connected to their community.

They did not separate those parts of themselves in order to succeed. They brought all of it with them.

That matters.

For many immigrant women, there is often pressure to stay quiet, work hard, adjust, and carry a great deal without asking for recognition. There is an expectation to keep moving without taking up too much space.

These women chose something different.

They built visibly. They led together. They created something that reflects who they are instead of shrinking themselves to fit someone else’s idea of what a business owner should look like.

And for younger girls and women watching them, that example carries weight. It says you do not have to become someone else to build something meaningful. You can lead as yourself. You can bring your culture with you. You can build with others and still be strong.

The ripple effect

What began as a shared investment between nine women is already reaching beyond them. The store offers cultural foods that help people feel rooted. The coffee ceremonies bring people together. New relationships are forming there. New ideas are being born there. The business itself stands as a real example of immigrant women creating opportunity, not only for themselves, but for the wider community around them.

And maybe the most powerful part is this: they did it together.

Not because it was trendy. Not because it made for a good story. But because it was true to how they already lived, by supporting one another, showing up for one another, and understanding that one woman’s success does not take away from another’s.

This Women’s Month

This Women’s Month, we celebrate these nine mothers for more than what they have built as business owners. We celebrate the way they have built it. With care. With courage. With culture at the center.

They remind us that a business can be a place of belonging. That leadership can be shared. That motherhood and ambition are not in conflict. That community can be part of the business model, not separate from it.

Every Saturday, the coffee beans roast. The jebena is filled and poured. People gather, talk, laugh, and encourage one another.

And in that circle, something continues to grow.

Not only a business.

A community that knows its value.

Mama's Market & Deli

678 Snelling Ave N

Saint Paul, MN 55104

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African Economic Development Solutions (AEDS) builds economic, community, and social wealth in African immigrant communities in the United States through culturally grounded support, lending, technical assistance, and community-centered placemaking. To learn more or support our work, visit aeds-mn.org.