Motor City Match celebrates business opening 205 with ribbon cutting celebration for Little Liberia

• Ameneh Marhaba, owner of Little Liberia, draws from her upbringing in Liberia and Lebanon to introduce authentic Liberian cuisine to Detroit

• Little Liberia features traditional dishes including whole red snapper, roasted goat and groundnut stew, alongside rice-based meals central to Liberian culture

• Motor City Match awarded Marhaba $80,000 to support construction and buildout of the restaurant

• While Little Liberia has held a soft opening in March, this ceremony marks the official Motor City Match milestone and brings together Mayor Sheffield, DEGC and the ecosystem partners who played a role in the restaurant’s journey from pop-up to brick-and-mortar

MAY 15, 2026 (DETROIT) – Mayor Mary Sheffield and the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) today celebrated the opening of Little Liberia, a full-service restaurant founded by Detroit entrepreneur Ameneh Marhaba. The establishment is supported by an $80,000 Motor City Match cash grant and marks the program’s 205th ribbon cutting.

Marhaba held a soft opening when Little Liberia first opened in March, but this ceremony brought a broader circle of supporters to East Warren. Mayor Sheffield and the DEGC officials who played a direct role in her journey from pop-up to brick-and-mortar joined her for the Motor City Match milestone. The celebration also featured programming that was not part of the earlier event. The Liberia Association of Michigan Cultural Troupe, Duhtroit’s live art installation and Shatila Bakery’s ice cream service gave the afternoon a scope and cultural depth the first ribbon cutting did not have.

“Ameneh didn’t ask Detroit to come to her,” Sheffield said. “She brought Liberia here, planted it on East Warren and said this is home now. Detroit keeps rising because of people willing to do what she did.”

Motor City Match’s 205^th ribbon cutting

Little Liberia’s celebration marks a milestone for the Motor City Match program, which has delivered more than $21 million in cash grants across 31 rounds and helped leverage $116 million in total investment across Detroit’s neighborhood corridors.

Marhaba received an $80,000 Motor City Match grant to support the restaurant’s construction and buildout. She completed all four Motor City Match tracks, Plan, Develop, Design and Cash, alongside the ProsperUs Detroit Entrepreneurship Program, the 2022 Comerica Hatch Detroit Contest and the Bank of America Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell University. Little Liberia currently employs 17 people, with nearly half living in Detroit and the surrounding area.

“We put Ameneh through every track in this program,” said Sean Gray, DEGC senior vice president of Small Business Services, which manages the Motor City Match program. “She showed up every time, took every note and did every single thing we asked. Entrepreneurs like her don’t need a handout. They need an opening. That’s what Motor City Match is.”

“When Invest Detroit and our small business ecosystem partners rallied behind Little Liberia, we saw an entrepreneur who exemplifies what vision, perseverance and preparation truly look like,” said Derek Edwards, SVP Lending, Invest Detroit. “Amenah's resilience, adaptability, and hands-on leadership at every stage of this journey made her exactly the kind of founder this ecosystem was built to support.”

A story told through food

Born in Liberia during a period of civil unrest, Marhaba spent part of her childhood in Lebanon before her siblings and father relocated to Detroit in 2010. Her love for cooking began early, helping her mother run a small restaurant. She started with pop-ups in 2016 before transitioning to a full-service brick-and-mortar.

Little Liberia’s menu is rooted in traditional Liberian cooking, where rice anchors most meals. Signature dishes include whole red snapper, roasted goat and groundnut stew, all paired with rich sauces made from cassava leaves and collard greens. Lebanese influences appear through preparation techniques and small plates including kafta skewers.

“Food is a universal language,” Marhaba said. “Little Liberia is about sharing my culture, telling our story and creating a space where people can connect over something as simple as a meal.”

The restaurant is housed within The Ribbon, a mixed-use development by Detroit-based developer Edward Carrington along the East Warren corridor. DEGC supported the project with a Brownfield Tax Increment Financing plan and a PA 210 tax abatement, tools the nonprofit has used to attract private investment to Detroit’s neighborhood corridors. Its design draws from the warmth and natural light of the Liberian coast.

Little Liberia joins a growing cluster of Motor City Match recipients along East Warren, including Terri’s Detroit, Morningside Cafe, Next Chapter Books and Agape Love Child Care Center. The corridor is a focus of broader revitalization efforts by DEGC and the City of Detroit, with public incentives and small business investment working in tandem to rebuild commercial activity along one of the city’s most storied stretches.

Not long ago, Marhaba’s mother made the journey from Lebanon to join her in Detroit. Now the two work side by side in the kitchen at Little Liberia, preparing the same dishes that first taught Marhaba to cook. For a woman who built a business out of carrying her culture across the world, it is about as full circle as it gets.

A celebration built around culture

The celebration at 16530 E. Warren Ave. featured a traditional dance performance by the Liberia Association of Michigan Cultural Troupe, a live art installation and exhibition by Detroit creative collective Duhtroit, a DJ set, food samples and remarks from key development partners, making for a celebration as layered and community-rooted as the restaurant itself.

The programming is a direct expression of what Marhaba has built since opening her doors, a space where community, art and food are inseparable. The Liberia Association of Michigan Cultural Troupe opened the noon program with a traditional dance performance before remarks from City, DEGC and ecosystem partners.

Duhtroit’s "Roots & Renaissance" exhibition and live painting, a photo booth and a live DJ set shifted the celebration into an open, community-centered atmosphere that ran through 2 p.m. Shatila Bakery, the celebrated Dearborn dessert institution, served ice cream on-site, a fitting nod to the cross-cultural identity Marhaba has woven into every corner of the restaurant.

Through 31 rounds of Motor City Match:

• Total cash grants: $21 million

• Total leveraged investment: $116 million

• 83.7 percent are minority-owned businesses

• 72 percent are women-owned businesses

• 70.2 percent are businesses owned by Detroit residents

• 2,315 total businesses served

About Motor City Match

Motor City Match is a small business incubator supported by a partnership between the City of Detroit, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) and Economic Development Corporation of the City of Detroit (EDC). The program awards cash grants and provides planning, design and development support to entrepreneurs looking to open or expand a brick-and-mortar business in Detroit. Applications are accepted quarterly. More information is available at www.MotorCityMatch.com.