Afghan Food Mart and Grocery Awarded Grant Through Growth + Equity Fund

Ali Mohammad Babaie brought with him a decade of food service experience with him when he came to Syracuse from Afghanistan in 2016. He and his brother co-owned a successful restaurant in Kabul, and Babaie launched his own wholesale bakery operation that specialized in traditional Afghani bread, prepared foods and cookies. When he landed in Central New York, Ali noticed the area had limited access to traditional Afghan style baked bread and traditionally prepared foods.

He soon began dreaming of owning his own business. Babaie then connected with CenterState CEO's innovation and entrepreneurship team and worked with them to refine his business plan and secured a physical location for his business.

He's now the owner and operator of Afghan Food Mart and Grocery in Syracuse, where he supplies the community with fresh, traditionally prepared foods as well as a wide selection of traditional imported dry goods and groceries like rice, tea, and spices. Afghan Food Mart and Grocery is also the most recent recipient of a grant from the CenterState CEO Growth + Equity Fund (G+E Fund), a resource for entrepreneurs who are working closely with CenterState CEO’s small business development team or its partner organizations. The individuals utilizing the G + E Fund may have developed strong plans for starting their own business, but don’t have access to traditional sources of capital due to historical and societal barriers.  

The work of the G+E Fund would not be possible without the support of donors like John Peter, owner of Peter’s Discount Liquor. As a founding contributor to the Fund, Peter has gifted thousands of dollars through the CenterState CEO Foundation to help other small business owners.

"It is a great privilege to support Ali and his family business through the Growth and Equity Fund," said Peter. "I have been extremely impressed by the success of the business in such a short period of time. Ali is an exceptionally intelligent and hardworking individual who is also deeply committed to supporting his community. It is incredibly rewarding to meet someone who you know has the determination and vision to succeed, and that the grant is simply providing support along the way. I have no doubt that Ali and his business have a very bright future ahead."

The G+E Fund has distributed more than $488,000 in grant and loan funding to date, helping people from historically underserved communities access the financing they need for success. Learn more about the G+E Fund, the CenterState CEO Foundation and how to get involved.