Mamdani Selects New Mom & Pop Czar To Lead NYC Small Businesses and Slash Red Tape

Delia Awusi will lead Mayor Mamdani’s effort to cut fines and regulations small businesses face by 50 percent.

BY MELISSA ANGELL, SENIOR STAFF WRITER @MELISSKAWRITES

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Illustration: Inc.; Photos: Getty Images; Adobe Stock

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has found New York City’s new “mom-and-pop” czar that will serve as a North Star for the Big Apple’s small businesses.

Mamdani named Delia Awusi on Tuesday to the new position, which is focused on reducing frictions small businesses encounter when applying for permits, navigating inspections, and paying off fines. In her role, Awusi will focus on “ultra small” businesses that generate between $1 to $2 million in annual revenue.

“With Delia Awusi’s appointment, the smallest businesses will be represented at the highest levels of City government,” Mamdani said in a written statement. “Delia has spent her career alongside small business owners, understanding their struggles and their power. In this role, she’ll make sure City Hall answers to them, too.”

Awusi spent the last decade working at a women’s business center in Brooklyn, most recently serving as director where she was responsible for the center’s education, mentoring, and counseling services that it extends to local entrepreneurs. Women’s business centers are funded by the Small Business Administration, though the White House’s most recent budget for fiscal year 2027 blunts their funding.

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Awusi, who is a graduate of Temple University and has an MBA from Penn State, is also a founder herself, according to City Hall. It was not immediately clear what her small business is. Both Awusi and representatives for City Hall did not immediately respond to Inc.’s request for comment.

“Our smallest businesses have unique needs and now, they have a champion to look out for them in City Hall,” Awusi said in a written statement.

Awusi’s new boss is Julie Su, New York’s Deputy Mayor for Economist Justice who previously served as a labor secretary in the Biden Administration from 2023 to 2025.

Awusi’s appointment is the start in fulfilling one of the campaign promises Mamdani made, which is to reduce onerous regulations and fines businesses face by 50 percent. In mid-January, the Mayor released an executive order that laid out a framework on how to cut excess fees and fines small businesses encounter in the city. It also directed local agencies to assess their own fines that they hit entrepreneurs with.

Last month, Mamdani also appointed Kenny Minaya to the city’s Department of Small Business Services, which, among other things, is responsible for doling out grants to entrepreneurs in the Big Apple.

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