• A nationally-recognized business competition born in the motor city

  • Take a minute to write an introduction that is short, sweet, and to the point.

  • Take a minute to write an introduction that is short, sweet, and to the point.

Motor City Match pairs the best businesses from Detroit and around the world with city’s best available real estate. Every quarter, Motor City Match provides $500,000 in competitive grants, loans and technical resources to help business owners grow from idea to open.

As Small Business Director and Strategy Consultant for the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, Michael Forsyth served as the program architect. He led program design, implementation and management of Motor City Match for its first three years. The program has had a revolutionary impact on entrepreneurship in Detroit’s neighborhoods.

Program Impacts:

  • Served over 2,000 businesses with business planning, site selection, design and funding. Entrepreneurs served are 81% minority-owned, 71% women-owned, 58% minority women owned and 68% Detroiters.

  • Awarded $18M in grants leveraging a total investment of nearly $100M. To date, nearly 170 businesses are open, with hundreds more under construction or in the process of securing financing.

  • Identified and marketed 367 vacant commercial spaces totaling nearly 3.1M square feet in development opportunity.

  • Raised and managed $7.25M in CDBG funds and $5M in philanthropic funds to support implementation.

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City of Akron