When you walk into a coworking space in Farmington Hills, you’ll be struck by a wall of over 100 classic Ebony magazine covers.
Gerrard and Racheal Allen wanted to set the tone for Black excellence upon entering Centric Place. The Allens, who are married and co-own the business, designed the space to support Black professionals in many ways.
The building has three large event spaces, a gym and two kitchens. It also has several private offices, tables for working together and a multimedia room where people can work on photography or podcasts. The couple’s goal is to have an event space to fulfill the work that Gerrard Allen wants to do, and to have space for Racheal Allen to grow her small business consultancy firm, Opsidia.
“This is the first time we have been able to combine our passions together to support each other in the right way without the parameters of someone in another position (telling) us what we can or cannot do, ” Gerrard Said Allen. “So now we have the freedom to do it because we have each other to support each other.”
The couple found a building at 36216 Freedom Road in Farmington Hills and opened it in November. They wanted to bring a Black space to the suburbs because they had never seen anything like it before. Now, the couple is being asked to create similar spaces in other parts of the country.
The 10,000-square-foot coworking space is located on a 12-acre compound filled with buildings, Airbnbs and homes. The couple hopes to expand its services by 12 hectares and wants to continue copying the space in other states, and even countries.
“That is very important to us to say that we are a part of growing these cultural spaces and business areas for other Black people who are Black-run,” said Gerrard Allen.
In the meantime, the Allens want Centric Place to become a center for Black entrepreneurship in Oakland County and its surrounding suburbs.
School of Operations
The one thing that kept the large groups of people moving in and out of the space on Monday and Tuesday nights was the Operations School of Racheal Allen’s business consultancy.
Racheal Allen, who owns the business consultancy firm Opsidia, conducted her first group program in the space with 100 participating entrepreneurs. Business owners commit to the six-week program for free, and then they remain connected to the consultancy for 18 months for data collection purposes.
As entrepreneurs arrive in the space, the Allens spend time connecting participating businesses with opportunities to contract labor, such as catering.
“It’s really exciting for us because when people become connected to our community, they immediately start to see some tangible results from being proximal,” said Racheal Allen. “So when people ask about some of the coaching and support we provide, we tell them ‘just come here’ and you’ll get there. Even though I’m talking to you at the watercooler, you’re getting something that you really don’t get when you’re at some of the other places.
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The curriculum of the program comes from the Allens’ own experiences in 2017. She said that she and her husband often found while participating in other programs, they were learning how to start a business, but not how to operate it. By 2019, Racheal hosted workshops on how to use automation systems and strategies to delegate tasks.
Today, the participants of the new program learn about the inclusion of systems, automation and people in their daily operations, but also how to change a person’s thinking, keeping up with technology , gain time management skills and learn how to balance a day job and business. Business owners can choose between two courses: Get Your Business Legit, where they learn about operations, or Run Your Business Like A Boss, where they are taught how to be efficient CEOs .
Lynnette Rogers and Omar Raines are the owners of The Nacho Grill, a food truck based in Ferndale. It is known for its amazingly large plates of nachos with a pair of gloves to keep oneself clean from the mess of eating nachos. One of its dishes includes chicken shawarma nachos, which consists of cheese sauce, feta cheese, diced pickles, pico de gallo, garlic sauce, smoked chicken, lettuce and of course, chips.
Businessmen learned about Facebook’s Operations School, and decided to enroll with the hope of improving their skills when it comes to running a business.
Raines said they learned about keeping up with taxes, making sure the business is in good standing with the state, writing a news release and finding funding.
“There was a week where she (Racheal Allen) talked about how to know when you’re ready to scale,” Rogers said. The couple has big dreams and wants to grow, so Racheal Allen leaves them with a question to ponder: “Are you ready?”
“We want to make sure everything is aligned with our goals and how we see things,” Rogers said. “One of the biggest takeaways for me was growing up. I saw that it was possible.” The group completed the program on March 20 with graduation on April 8. Another group will be launched in August and the waitlist form for the program is available.
To learn more about the coworking space, go to www.centricplace.com.