How entrepreneur Nawal Noor is building hope

How entrepreneur Nawal Noor is building hope

From a childhood promise to a community legacy, Nawal Noor is a ground-breaking entrepreneur.

She’s not just constructing buildings — she’s creating spaces where families thrive and building a more inclusive workforce. Noor, a graduate of Elevate Hennepin’s CEO Next and HR Next programs, is founder and CEO of Noor Companies, the largest certified woman and minority-owned general contractor in Minnesota.

Her company is both a for-profit business and social enterprise that develops real estate, including affordable housing, and constructs commercial buildings while training and employing people who have not traditionally worked in development and construction.

Noor’s growth as a business leader accelerated when she joined CEO Next cohort, a Hennepin County-supported cohort program focused on helping successful second-stage businesses continue growing. At the time, her company had just crossed the $4 million revenue threshold. She was leading without a formal leadership team, juggling strategy and operations on her own.

Through CEO Next, she gained critical tools and insights, especially from a customized market study that helped her pivot from small-scale development to large-scale development and commercial construction. “It became the baseline for a lot of our strategic decisions,” she said.

Guest speaker sessions with entrepreneurs from across industries also left a lasting impression. “Hearing their stories of success and failure helped me realize I wasn’t alone,” she said.

Noor Companies partnered with Redesign Inc. on Wadaag Commons, a 39-unit affordable housing development with units designed to meet the needs of large families. Hennepin County provided $1.26 million in capital funding for the development through the competitive Housing Development Accelerator and Affordable Housing Investment Fund programs as part of the county’s affordable housing strategy.

Wadaag Commons is more than just a building. It’s a symbol of what’s possible when development is driven by community needs. “We build neighborhoods where families flourish,” she said. “Where children grow up believing anything is possible – because I’m a testament to that.”

Her family’s first home when they arrived in Minnesota had lead-based paint on the walls, and asbestos tiles but it was home. “Every night at that place, I made myself a promise: someday no family should have to choose between dignity and affordable housing,” she said.  

Despite the long hours and steep challenges, she remains undeterred. “Business is not a straight line,” she said. “But every hill builds your foundation. And eventually, you look back and realize how far you’ve come.”