GABAWorks Application · The GABA Field Lab
Most programs end when the workshop ends. GABAWorks ends when your business grows.
Built around your schedule, not ours. Access resources, support, and connections on demand, at midnight if that's when your business needs you. No cohort. No waitlist. No scheduled start date. Just the support your business needs, the moment you're ready.
Apply Now
Your business is ready. So are we.
You've already done the hard part. You built a revenue-generating business in one of the most competitive environments there is. Complete our screening form and a member of our team will follow up to build the rest together.
GABAWorks serves revenue-generating businesses ready to grow.
What GABAWorks Actually Is
Not a training. A pathway.
GABAWorks is not a certificate or a cohort you attend and then figure out the rest alone. It's a structured pathway from where your business is today to where it needs to go, with real resources, real connections, and real accountability.
When needed, we provide the infrastructure your business needs directly. When you're ready for a market, we open the door. When you need capital, we make the introduction. And as GABA's field lab, what we learn alongside you shapes the research and policy that make the next business's path easier.
We don't ask entrepreneurs to figure out the rest alone. We stay until the work is done.
GABA delivers a commercial freezer to Family African Market, Detroit · 2025
Who GABAWorks Is For
Built for the owner running everything at once.
GABAWorks is designed for entrepreneurs who can't step away from their business to grow it. If any of these sound like you, you're exactly who we built this for.
Building a business between feedings and bedtime.
The business is real and the revenue is there. But every program runs on someone else's schedule. GABAWorks runs on yours, even at midnight if that's the only quiet hour in the house.
Carrying what the generation before them built.
Running the floor by day, keeping up the relationships their parents built, and finding space to take the business further, without stepping away from what keeps the doors open.
The business is real now. The revenue is there.
Still working full time while building something that has outgrown its original container. They need infrastructure to make the leap, but can't afford to stop while they build it.
Left the corporate world with expertise to build something of their own.
They have the network and the knowledge. GABAWorks connects the expertise they already have to the business infrastructure they need.
The demand is there. The next step is infrastructure.
Selling at festivals, markets, and pop-ups with a proven product and loyal customers. Now they need supply chain, documentation, and a pathway into retail, wholesale, or export.
Built something from scratch with expertise and drive.
The business is running, but navigating American systems, documentation, compliance, and markets alone is slowing growth. GABAWorks helps them move faster without doing it all alone.
The GABAWorks Pathway
Four stages, from readiness to real market access.
Every entrepreneur starts with an assessment. The strongest businesses progress into verified trade relationships with African and Caribbean markets locally, nationally, and internationally.
Business Readiness Assessment
A personalized intake identifies your specific gaps and builds your custom support plan.
Technical Assistance and Capacity Building
Hands-on support in pricing, compliance, finances, documentation, and operations, tailored to your sector.
Market Access and Buyer Connections
Structured introductions to buyers, investors, and partners sourcing from African and Caribbean owned businesses.
Transaction and Growth
For businesses ready to trade, we support execution. For local growth, we connect you to capital, infrastructure, and the Marketplace Center.
Who Should Apply
Built for businesses.
Our programming is rooted in the African and Caribbean entrepreneurial tradition and designed for the businesses standard programs have historically overlooked.
GABAWorks serves revenue-generating businesses. Majority African or Caribbean owned businesses are prioritized for our advanced global market access track.
What You Get
Real support. Not just advice.
Every participant receives a personalized support plan. What comes next depends on where your business is and where it's going.
Direct Support
When your business needs equipment, supplies, or infrastructure to grow, we provide it directly. Real resources that produce real results.
Personalized Technical Assistance
One-on-one consultations, customized learning pathways, and hands-on support where your business actually needs it.
Capital and Banking Connections
Introductions to banking relationships, credit-building tools, and funding sources historically out of reach.
Global Trade Pipeline Access
For eligible businesses, connection to buyers and investors sourcing from African and Caribbean businesses across the US, Canada, the Caribbean, and Africa.
Marketplace Center Access
Connection to the GABA Marketplace Center, Michigan's first African and Caribbean trade and distribution hub.
A Voice in Policy
Your experience becomes part of the evidence behind GABA's legislative agenda. We fight for the policy environment that makes your business possible.
What Happens Next
Simple. Direct.
Ready to Get Started
You built it this far. Let's take it further.
Complete our screening form, tell us about your business, and we'll take it from there.