SWOT City and Retail Services

Economic Impact Reports

Sofia Nieto and Christopher Warren
DukeEngage Detroit 2018 at TechTown Detroit
Our Goal
● Create retrospective 5-Year Economic Impact
Report for the Blocks Division’s SWOT City
and Retail Services
● Compile feedback from previous year’s Cass
Collective and the SHOP participants
● Identify gaps in data to guide survey in late
2018
SWOT City
● A support program for brick-and-mortar
businesses spanning all of Detroit
● Connects owners to network of funders, partners,
resources and experts
● Serves entrepreneurs through
● Open Office Hours
● Client Engagements
○ Continuous support for 6 months with
check ins and meetings to make sure
owners are properly guided
SWOT City - Methods
● Available Data
○ 2012-2013 Reports
○ 2014-2015 Excel Reports
○ MINOS Data
● Data Processing
○ Requested generation of certain reports on MINOS
○ Excel Reports and MINOS Data were combined
■ Used a macro which is code that can be put into
Microsoft Excel to check for duplicates
○ Metrics for ‘businesses served’ and ‘clients’ were recorded
○ Missing data was documented
SWOT City - Metrics
● ‘Clients’ and ‘Business Served’
○ Total Number
○ Neighborhoods
○ Industry
○ Demographics (Gender, Race/Ethnicity, Veteran,
and Immigrant)
● Funding
● Referrals
● Business Assisted in Launching
● Jobs Created
SWOT City - Notable Missing Data
● Client Veteran Status ● Client Immigrant Status
○ Each year, over ½ of all client’s veteran status ○ Each year, over ½ of all client’s veteran status
was not entered was not entered
○ This was also the highest recorded result from ○ This was also the highest recorded result from
2014-2016 2014-2016
SWOT City - Notable Trends/Information
● SWOT City has referred clients
over 1000 times, to 10 different
types of companies ranging
from Financial Institutions to
Community Partners
● The graph on the right counts
the number of unique different
entities that SWOT city has
referred clients to. In total
there were over 500 unique
entities that referrals were
made to
SWOT City - Notable Trends/Information
● This data represents the amount from
outside sources that SWOT City has
helped clients gain
● Each year starting in 2013, the value of
external investments more than doubled
until 2016
● 2017 saw a decline to under $1,000,000
but the projected value for 2018 is above
1.5 million dollars
Retail Boot Camp (RBC)
● 8 week program that prepares entrepreneurs
to open and maintain a brick-and-mortar retail
location
● Participants are
○ Taught essential skills through in
person sessions run by business and
retail experts
○ Provided access to start-up capital
○ Given expert business advising.
● Program culminates in pitch competition
where five graduates are awarded a $5000
prize packages to use in expanding their
businesses
Retail Bootcamp - Methods
● Available Data
○ MINOS Data
○ 2016, 2017, and 2018 Retail Boot Camp Survey Results
● Data Processing
○ Requested generation of certain reports on MINOS
○ Selected metrics were calculated
○ Missing data was documented
○ 2017 and 2018 survey results were compiled
Retail Boot Camp Minos Metrics
Demographics Engagement
Neighborhoods Industry
Gender Veteran

Impact
Race/ Ethnicity Immigrant Business Status
Retail Boot Camp Survey Results
Program Content
● Level of Effort
● Contribution to learning
● Program content
● Instructor Skill and Responsiveness
● Guest speaker feedback

Contribution to
Learning
 Day-to-Day Feedback Workshop Feedback

Cass Collective
● A shared retail space that hosts a rotating
selection of Detroit-based retail businesses
● Analyzed 2017 Survey Responses and
Workshop Feedback
Revenue

The SHOP
● A monthly retail pop-up held in TechTown’s
community space
● Analyzed responses from the May 2017 to
May 2018 feedback surveys Feedback
Suggestions SWOT City
General ● End of engagement feedback survey
● Open office hour follow up survey
● Minos Specific
○ Add area to categorize referrals
Retail Boot Camp
○ Add area to to denote if a client goes out of
business ● Entrance survey made requirement for program
○ Add area to denote when a former client ● Exit survey taken during showcase
should no longer be contacted
○ Add area to denote what capacity a client is
still operating in (pop-ups, e-commerce,
Cass Collective
wholesales, brick-and-mortar location, etc.)
○ Add area to track jobs maintained ● Required entrance survey
○ Expand neighborhood selection ● Required monthly earnings report while in the space
● Provide access to google form to allow
former and current clients to self report GDYT Intern
information
● Researching previous client’s business status
● Compiling founders helping founders statistic
Special Thanks to
Amy Rencher Sarah Donnelly Anne Marks