In the ‘era of the entrepreneur,’ Miami-Dade’s growth should lift every business | Opinion

When I was sworn in for my second term as mayor of Miami-Dade County, I made a simple but urgent promise: to build an economy that works for everyone.

In 2020 and beyond, our community became synonymous with a tech boom. Investors arrived. Startups flourished. Headlines celebrated Miami as the next frontier of innovation. But for too many longtime residents, small business owners and neighborhood entrepreneurs, that growth felt out of reach. Prosperity cannot be real if it is not shared.

So we ushered in a new era in the 305: the Era of the Entrepreneur.

I directed our economic development team to take a community-centered approach — one that treats a family-owned yogurt shop with the same respect and urgency as a multinational corporation. Because in Miami-Dade, small businesses are not “small.” They are the backbone of our neighborhoods, the heartbeat of our main streets and the engine of generational wealth.

This approach is delivering results.

We partnered with our municipalities to streamline permitting, installing virtual kiosks in municipal building departments to help entrepreneurs navigate the process quickly and efficiently. The results speak for themselves: We are seeing some of the fastest permitting times in our history. One new yogurt shop secured its permit in just 16 days. That is not just a bureaucratic win; it is a family opening its doors sooner, hiring neighbors sooner and serving customers sooner.

Through our Miami-Dade RISE loan program, we provided $10.4 million to 262 local small businesses in 2025 alone. That is capital reaching the people building our economy — restaurant owners expanding into second locations, contractors buying new equipment, childcare providers increasing capacity for working families. Access to capital should never be the barrier that stops a good idea from becoming a thriving enterprise.

We are also cutting red tape that no longer serves our community. In collaboration with our County Commission, we are eliminating a 1972 requirement that businesses print and display paper licenses on their walls — a rule that made sense before the internet but not in 2026. Government must evolve alongside the people it serves.

At the same time, we are working to modernize provisions in a 2018 federal consent agreement related to grease traps — protecting our precious waterways while pursuing more affordable, practical solutions for small businesses. Environmental stewardship and economic opportunity are not opposing forces. In Miami-Dade, we are proving they can move forward together.

Our efforts have helped earn Miami-Dade the distinction of being ranked the #1 county in America for small business growth. But growth alone is not enough. Sustainability is what matters.

That is why we are prioritizing contracting with small and local businesses whenever possible. When we keep taxpayer dollars circulating within our community, those dollars multiply — supporting local suppliers, local workers and local families. An economy rooted at home is an economy that endures.

And now, Strive305 — a free initiative designed to help entrepreneurs in Miami-Dade start, grow and scale their business — has officially joined the Miami-Dade Beacon Council as its dedicated small business initiative. This ensures that our county’s official economic development partner not only recruits national and international corporations, but also champions the entrepreneurs who already call Miami-Dade home. Local businesses will no longer be an afterthought; they will be central to every growth strategy we pursue.

This is what neighborhood-level economic leadership looks like.

The Era of the Entrepreneur in the 305 is about more than permits and programs. It is about people. It is about opportunity. It is about making sure that whether you are launching a tech startup, opening a bakery, or expanding a landscaping company, your county government is a partner — not a barrier.

My vision is clear: a Miami-Dade where innovation rises from every ZIP code, where small businesses scale into legacy companies and where prosperity reaches every household.

We are not just building a booming economy — we are building one that works for everyone.

Daniella Levine Cava is mayor of Miami-Dade County.