Abandoned GR furniture factory now bustling International Entrepreneurial Center

As an immigrant to the United States, entrepreneur Bing Goei knows the challenges minorities face when they start a business. His dream to create a place where minority and women business owners can support each other as they grow their businesses became realty with last week's opening of the International Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence at 818 Butterworth, Grand Rapids.

Goei, the CEO of Eastern Floral, unveiled the renovated 80,000-square-foot former Kindel Furniture factory at a dedication event Nov. 11. Eastern Floral's headquarters, production and distribution center and an 8,000-square-foot events center occupy most of the building. But the 7,000-square-foot entrepreneurial center could be the portion that changes the face of the Grand Rapids' business community.

"Small business owners who happen to be women or minorities trying to make it in West Michigan have special challenges to overcome," Goei says. "We want to encourage them to stay."

Seven of the eight business spaces are occupied already: three businesses are African-American owned, four are women owned.

Each space has an enclosed office against the outside wall for privacy, with a wide-open center where people can interact. Plants mark each business's boundaries, instead of walls.

"We offer them a below-market rate and an opportunity to be connected to and supported by other small business owners," Goei says.

Goei plans to provide opportunities where the business owners can meet people who can help them in their business. It might be by being part of an Eastern Floral event at the events center or by hosting tours of the entrepreneurial center.
 
"I think that's really what most small business owners need," he says. "We say they need mentoring or this or that, but sometimes what they're lacking is access – access to capital, access to markets, access to customers. They sometimes need that more than capital."

Source: Bing Goei, Eastern Floral; Michael Zalewski and Kris Westman, Seyferth & Associates

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].