The Brief Three more people are now proud owners of operating businesses in Detroit thanks to the city’s grant-matching program. Motor City Match selected three women-owned businesses as beneficiaries for tens of thousands of dollars. The new businesses are a hair salon, a design firm, and an ice cream shop.

Three more entrepreneurs now have their businesses up and running in Detroit thanks to the city’s grant matching program.

Motor City Match has dished out nearly $20 million in funding to aspiring business owners who need a little financial boost to get their companies off the ground.

Local perspective:

“We needed to upgrade our equipment,” said Christina Magana, wearing a giant grin on her face.

The co-owner of Modish Creative, a design firm in Detroit, she was the lucky beneficiary of a $30,000 grant from the City of Detroit’s Motor City Match program.

The money helped her move her company from California to the north end of Detroit.

She stood alongside Colleen Jackson, another business owner who moved her business – a hair salon – from Ferndale to Detroit. The $65,000 match grant helped with the move, as well as other expenses.

“It has helped me tremendously. It helped me finish paying for a whole lot of things that I had to pay for like construction, equipment,” she said.

Now she’s able to provide a apprenticeship program with the state for newly-licensed stylists.

Colleen Jackson (Left), Christina Magana, Marquita Dace.

Dig deeper:

Another woman at Monday’s ribbon-cutting was Marquita Dace, who felt tears in her eyes emerge while talking about the help.

“It’s been a long journey – you gonna make me cry – it’s been a long journey for me,” she said.

Dace owns an ice cream shop, managing to open it with a $65,000 grant.

“Their customer service was phenomenal from the beginning of the application to me receiving the grant,” Dace said. “So it’s been a tremendous help.”