St. Paul small business owners are finding success, giving back at community-driven Mali Center

A hulking beige brick building near St. Paul’s North End houses a cluster of BIPOC and women-owned small businesses ranging from a clothing retailer and mental health professionals to an entertainment production company and a handful of personal trainers.

Despite the obvious differences in their businesses, the entrepreneurs at the Mali Center, which opened in June, all share three important details: They are deeply devoted to their community, they wear a lot of hats and they go way back with Tyrone Minor.

Minor, the founder and dreamer behind the Mali Center at 576 Front Ave., grew up in the Rondo neighborhood and attended St. Paul Central High School, Drake University and the University of Minnesota and now works as a physical education instructor in Osseo, Minn.

A gifted track and field athlete, Minor is also the owner of personal training business Chizel Inc. and health and fitness company the F.I.T. Lab, both of which are now part of the Mali Center.

“I am at that stage of my life where I am starting to think about the legacy that I leave,” said Minor, who recently celebrated his 54th birthday.

When a longtime landlord decided not to renew Minor’s lease for the F.I.T. Lab in 2023 — “after seven years of never missing a rent payment,” Minor said — he knew it was time to make the leap.

“When you own commercial real estate, you can provide opportunities for entrepreneurs,” Minor said. And that’s exactly what he’s doing at the Mali Center by offering business owners access to private offices, gym equipment, a conference room and an ecosystem of community-driven entrepreneurs.

‘Dream bigger’

“We met in the third grade,” said Erick Goodlow about Tyrone Minor.

Goodlow is now the president of the Fairway Foundation, a nonprofit organization that exposes Black youth to the sport of golf.

Golf teaches kids sportsmanship, integrity and ethics, Goodlow said, “because you have to call your own penalties.”

When Minor was renovating the 5,400-square-foot facility that would become the Mali Center, he asked Goodlow what the Fairway Foundation needed.

“A net,” said Goodlow, for the golfers to practice their swings. “He told me to ‘dream bigger.’ ”

The Fairway Foundation now has its very own golf simulator at the Mali Center. Much to the delight of the kids, the simulator will allow the golfers to continue practicing in the winter months.

Dr. Jermaine M. Davis, a motivational speaker, author and professor, was also approached by Minor to be part of the Mali Center.

“What would make you want to be a part of this?” he asked Davis.

Davis, who does a lot of traveling to give presentations and keynote speeches, said he wanted a place where he could teach and host workshops.

At the Mali Center, they call it the “ingenuity room,” and it is designed like a large conference room with desks, couches and the necessary tech.

Aneesha Kelly, a mental health professional who runs her company Purpose Health and Wellness from the Mali Center as she works toward her clinical license, also has hopes for the ingenuity room.

Kelly, who used to run track with Minor, said she hopes to use the ingenuity room to host group therapy sessions like grief group counseling and a group for first responders of color.

Dr. Sheila Sweeney, a psychotherapist, author and speaker behind Peaces ‘n PuzSouls, who first met Minor through his fitness classes, said she had a number of reasons to move her practice to the Mali Center.

Sweeney, who has a private office, said she can close her door when she needs privacy and also can collaborate with entrepreneurs like Kelly, Davis and Dr. Kasim Abdur Razzaq. “I’m in community when I’m here,” Sweeney said.

Razzaq, who is a speaker, author and psychotherapist, said he is working to bring more Black men into the mental health field.