Funding came at a critical time for Hamissi Mamba and his team. In return, Baobab Fare now offers East African specialties and a passion for giving back.

My wife, Nadia Nijimbere, and I started Baobab Fare after coming to Detroit as refugees from Burundi. With the help of Freedom House, we settled in the United States. Naturally, we began looking for ways we could contribute. Our path forward was food.  

A few years later, our East African food concept won $50,000 in the Hatch Detroit small business contest in 2017. With that award, we set our sights on transitioning from pop-up food service at festivals and on the street to a full brick-and-mortar restaurant.  

Then COVID-19 impacted the world as we knew it. In a time of great need, we weren’t eligible for the majority of funding available to small businesses as we had not been operating prior to the onset of the pandemic. Businesses in the process of opening, like Baobab Fare, did not qualify for many grants or relief funding. The only funding we were able to secure was TechTown’s Detroit Small Business Stabilization Fund grant. This saved us. We used it to pay bills at our building, for utilities — for everything. 

Baobab Fare’s Hamissi Mamba (left) and Nadia Nijimbere. He says the restaurant’s success is an example of the difference TechTown programs can make for a small business. They are opening their second and third locations.

We finally opened in 2021, and we had no clue what to anticipate. We had significant expenses just getting the business up and running, and we didn’t want to go bankrupt before we even launched. 

Now, Baobab Fare is thriving. We’ve been operating for three years — and successfully. We’ve been named one of the best restaurants in the country two times, and James Beard-nominated three times. Next year, we’re opening two more restaurants, right here in Detroit (one in Eastern Market and another in the East Warren neighborhood), to serve the community that has welcomed our family with open arms.

Celebrating refugees through food and service  

When you come to a place as a refugee, you no longer have a country. Your home is where you live. I’ve found that you have to embrace that. As a refugee, you often have to prove your good intentions. We are hard workers, and we deserve equal treatment and opportunity. This is very important for me. 

That’s why we focus on hiring people from Freedom House, which helps refugees build lives here in the United States. This is Baobab Fare’s number one focus: to build community and inspire others on how they can get started. The hardest thing as a refugee, which nobody talks about, is to get the first job in the U.S. You come here and have nothing. It often means nobody will help you or feel they can trust you.  

Baobab Fare is really a bridge. It’s a pipeline that people can come through and land their first job. From there, they can decide where they’re going and what they really want to do. 

We tell their stories to everyone. If you look at our newsletter or Instagram, we are telling these stories of who we are and why we are here. 

Mamba says the “unconditional love” Detroit has shown his family inspires him to give back. They give back through food, of course, but Mamba also mentors other up-and-coming business owners.

Finding mentorship and giving back through TechTown  

The biggest challenge we have is that we’re new in this country. We’re still learning about the culture. We’re still learning everything. Other businesses and individuals we’ve connected with through TechTown help us to understand the culture and how to operate as a business in the U.S. They’re from here. They’ve been doing this for a long time. This is truly a community that has embraced us and helped us. 

As Baobab Fare has grown these last few years, I have seen more new businesses trying to open by people who look like us. That’s one thing I love about TechTown, the diversity we have here. You have people from all over the world, and sometimes they’re struggling to understand how to start. So, on one hand, I get my advice from people who have studied and understand how to operate in the U.S., and on the other hand, I also help and mentor other people trying to open businesses. It’s very important for us to be part of Detroit and, ultimately, to contribute to the city that has given us unconditional love.

Baobab Fare and the restaurant’s Waka food truck specialize in East African favorites, and their Soko market sells a curated selection of coffee, chocolate, sauces other items.

Building a strong community

As business owners, our next phase is to stabilize. We see ourselves focusing on our three locations, making sure we do it right, before we can expand further. But the sky’s the limit. If we have a team that is growing with us, and they need a fourth or fifth restaurant, we are going to do that. We’re here to serve the community and make sure we are there for them.

If TechTown can help to change someone’s life the way it has done for us, my message is, “Do not stop!” Let’s help somebody next in line. This is how we build a strong community. We are on the right path. We are going to empower the minority.

To those who stand by TechTown and want to continue seeing it help small business owners just like myself and Nadia grow our family, business and community, the most important thing you can do is make a donation. TechTown’s work is only made possible by generous donors who pour back into the community. You can donate today at techtowndetroit.org/donate.