Mayor-elect Mamdani: New York businesses share their hopes and worries

By Ramishah Maruf, Gordon Ebanks, John Towfighi, CNN

New York (CNN) — New York’s wealthiest had warned of a business exodus if Zohran Mamdani won Tuesday’s mayoral race. But for small business owners like Kadjahtou Balde, Mamdani’s victory is a reason to stay in one of the country’s most expensive cities.

“As somebody who is a young person, who is a mom, who is an entrepreneur, who’s a (child of an) immigrant, existing in New York is something that is very difficult,” said Balde, who runs a modest thrift store in Harlem. “Mamdani is now another reason for me to actually believe that I can make it in the city.”

Mamdani’s meteoric ascent from local politics to City Hall was boosted by a base that often works behind the scenes in the ever-fast-paced, high-cost city.

“I speak of Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas. Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses. Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties,” Mamdani said in his victory speech on Tuesday night.

Among his small business proposals: cutting fines and fees for small businesses in half, speeding up permits, appointing a “Mom & Pops Czar” and increasing funding for a program for 1:1 support.

But some business leaders are worried about the lofty ambitions of the 34-year-old self-described democratic socialist. For example, Mark Jaffe, who leads the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, worries Mamdani’s proposals for city-run grocery stores would cut into business at bodegas.

Here’s what some local small business leaders told CNN about Mamdani’s election win.

Aliyyah Baylor, co-founder of Make My Cake and I Like it Black Coffee Shop

Aliyyah Baylor, the co-founder of Harlem bakery Make My Cake, was “celebratory” on Wednesday.

“I love my city,” she said. “I’m gonna be excited now.”

Baylor’s grandparents came to Harlem from the South as part of the Great Migration, a period when millions of Black families moved to the north and west hoping to find more opportunities and escape violence and disenfranchisement in the South.

But even after coming north, her grandparents encountered racial discrimination and struggled to find jobs. “So being able to be self-sufficient was really important, and I think it was just a necessity.” That in turn helped inspire her entrepreneurial spirit.

She hopes the new mayor will expand on programs started by Michael Bloomberg, who led the city from 2002 to 2013, that supported workforce development.

For Baylor, policies that make it easier to advocate for her 30-year-old family business — and even the playing field between small business and large corporations — are important.

Mamdani’s affordability-centered campaign made an issue of the city’s thousands of regulations that, he argues, have unnecessarily hobbled small businesses. He’s proposed speeding up permitting and cutting back on some red tape.

“I hope he also gets more people in positions to be able to help expedite opening up store fronts,” Baylor said, noting her difficulties getting inspectors when opening Make My Cake.

Serine Aklouche, pharmacy technician at Steinway Street Pharmacy

Serine Aklouche, a 33-year-old pharmacy technician in Queens, commended Mamdani’s focus on lowering prices: “When he speaks about the prices and everything, that’s really, really, really important.”

Aklouche has noticed customers struggling more and more to pay for medications.

“We’re not talking about clothing … we’re talking about medication and food,” Aklouche said.

Mamdani was the assemblyman for the 36th district in Queens, where optimistic business owners digested his victory on Wednesday. The mayor-elect even gave a shoutout to Steinway Street in his Tuesday victory speech.

Steinway Street is the home of New York’s Little Egypt and also hosts a hodgepodge of cultures.

“It’s nice to know that he supports all of these businesses, whether we’re Arab, whether Hispanic, any type,” said Aklouche, whose office sits on Steinway.

Kadjahtou Balde, Modify Thrift

Balde supports not only Mamdani’s plan for a small business czar but also other policies she says will improve how she runs her shop. She also noted the promised lower utility costs will help offset high rent.

Balde’s storefront originally belonged to her father, an immigrant from Guinea who ran an essential goods store. Her father used to work 10-hour shifts, seven days a week, and she watched him struggle to keep up with store expenses under three previous mayoral administrations.

“The language is a barrier, number one. But then having access to information around how to grow your business, how to scale your business, none of those things were available,” Balde said.

She expects that to change with Mamdani. Already, she has opened the first city’s Muslim-friendly thrift store at her dad’s store location, two months post-partum (Mamdani’s proposed universal childcare is a huge plus for the full-time store owner).

Balde said many of her friends have moved out of the city due to the high cost of living, but she intends to stay.

“I’m somebody who recognizes the legacy that my dad has built,” she said. “And so it has taken everything in me to want to continue being here.”

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