These new South Florida businesses missed ‘a big deal.’ Here’s what it means

When Jovany Appolon opened a second clothing store in July in North Miami, he was already familiar with what it took to run a business. But he missed a key part of doing business in the city.

Appolon had a license to operate in Miami-Dade County, but didn’t realize he also needed a license to run a business in the city of North Miami.

At a small business seminar in August at North Miami’s Joe Celestin Community Center, he learned about the requirements for having business licenses — and the perks that come with them.

North Miami business leaders say that an increase in minority-owned businesses has attracted more entrepreneurs who are learning about the requirements of opening up shop.

“If you go around Northwest Seventh Avenue and knock on the doors, you will see Black-owned business after business,” North Miami District 4 Councilman Pierre Frantz Charles told the Miami Herald.

Charles is an advocate for small business owners in North Miami and wants them to know about how they can secure business licenses and funding to sell their goods and services.

North Miami’s Seventh Avenue business corridor has become a popular location for Black businesses and Haitian-American entrepreneurs.

Appolon, 30, co-owns 1GR Urbanwear, a clothing store along the Seventh Avenue corridor. He said selling merchandise at the city’s business expo and putting eyes on his company were just as important as learning about compliance and registering his business with North Miami.

“We actually were just connecting with the compliance department,” he said. “It’s a big deal that we were missing and we just figured that out because I didn’t know that we needed a certificate with the city and the county.”

Appolon launched the business with a Daytona Beach location that he established with his uncle and business partner Bazile Bourdeau, 49. While the two men knew the types of products they wanted to sell, getting their paperwork in order was another story.

Like Appolon, North Miami resident Sabine Dessources learned about the importance of making sure her business paperwork is ironed out.

Obtaining a certificate of use and business tax receipt is mandatory to do business in North Miami.

Businesses that don’t have required licenses are issued violations by the city’s Neighborhood Services Department. If violations aren’t addressed, business owners can be fined and liens put on the property housing their businesses. In the worst case, businesses can be shut down.

In addition to complying with the law, there are other reasons to get licensed.

Dessources owns a mobile massage business and learned that registering her business with the city of North Miami could lead to funding opportunities. She operates her business throughout South Florida and at first wasn’t aware of the need to register her business.

By registering her business with the city, she became eligible for grants available to businesses within the municipality.

“The way they check is if you have your certificate of use,” she said, “So they’re looking at the certifications because they want to award the businesses within their city.”

For Appolon, a Haitian-American businessman from Liberty City, opening a store in North Miami is a way of staying connected with other people like him, and means more to him and his uncle than just making money.

“We want to build a business that’s going to serve our people,” he said. “We can make $1 million. But that’s not what we really focus on. We want to be a partner in our community. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

This story was originally published August 29, 2025 at 8:04 AM.

Michael Butler

Miami Herald

Michael Butler writes about minority business and trends that affect marginalized professionals in South Florida. As a business reporter for the Miami Herald, he tells inclusive stories that reflect South Florida’s diversity. Just like Miami’s diverse population, Butler, a Temple University graduate, has both local roots and a Panamanian heritage.