Historically, the Middle Eastern and North African community, often referred to as MENA, has been invisible in federal data collection. While changes are underway to add the minority group to the 2030 Census, that oversight has long had major and broad implications for the MENA community.
“Being invisible in the data has real consequences in the business sector,” said Lucine Jarrah, executive director of the Arab American Heritage Council, or AAHC. “We end up missing out on different resources, funding opportunities, and programs designed to support minority businesses and entrepreneurs.”
So not only did the AAHC participate in the Count MENA In led by the National Network for Arab American Communities – which led to the Office of Management and Budget’s 2024 decision to update its Race and Ethnicity Standards to include a new MENA checkbox – it looked for ways to address that gap locally as well.
Specifically, the AAHC teamed up with the Flint & Genesee Chamber to better reach and support MENA business owners and entrepreneurs throughout Genesee County. In late 2024, the two organizations launched the Middle Eastern and North African Business Committee with the primary goal of identifying and addressing the needs, challenges, and opportunities within the minority’s business community.
According to Jarrah, there’s a long history of MENA-identifying business owners in Genesee County. Take, for example, the 1980s, when Arab immigrants owned 98% of all grocery stores in Flint.
“Many people still remember Hamady Bros., which had 38 stores and employed over 1,500 people,” Jarrah said. “MENA-owned businesses have a long history in the area, and this has had a huge economic impact on the local community. Unfortunately, this impact is not often documented, and the stories of these businesses get lost as a result of our invisibility in the data.”
While that popular grocery store chain closed in the early 90s, there is still a considerable presence of MENA-owned businesses in Flint & Genesee, said Lina Azeim, an advocacy specialist at AAHC who is also heavily involved in the new Chamber committee.
“You can find many MENA-owned restaurants, salons, and cultural organizations here,” Azeim said. “There are also several MENA doctors who own their own practices in Genesee County.”
According to Azeim, when the committee first met in December, attendees were surveyed about the types of resources they were most interested in. One of the most popular responses was training for various technical skills.
“As a result, we plan to develop a training series covering topics like marketing, financial literacy, legal compliance, and social media, which is a big one,” Azeim said. “A lot of our community is not accustomed to marketing that way and have always relied more on word of mouth.” In partnering with the Chamber, the AAHC team now has a direct connection to many of the resources its community had previously been lacking. Among the most important, Jarrah said, is a seat at the table.
“We have to be in spaces where we can advocate for our community,” she said. “This is a big part of the way that we ensure our business community is supported and can continue to contribute to the growth of Flint and Genesee County.”
To learn more about the committee, which will meet on a monthly basis starting soon, visit FlintandGeneseeChamber.org/committees.