Miami does not have a starting problem. Walk through any neighborhood in this city and you will find people who built something from scratch — a restaurant, a salon, a logistics company, a clothing brand — often with limited resources and no roadmap. Entrepreneurship is part of who we are here.
What Miami businesses do struggle with is growing. Moving from surviving to scaling: getting access to the right capital at the right moment; finding training that is practical, not theoretical; building the kind of network that opens doors.
That is what Elevate Miami was built to address.
A track record, not a promise
Mayor Higgins did not design Elevate Small Business Miami from scratch. Before taking office, she launched and ran a version of this program at the county level, and the results were clear. Over three years, more than 1,000 entrepreneurs were reached. Nearly $3 million was invested in free programming, grants, and loans. Businesses received hands-on training in marketing, technology, financial management, and AI tools. The AI marketing training alone returned $13 in business revenue for every $1 invested. Nearly 40% of participants came in with annual revenue under $50,000, meaning the program was reaching the businesses that needed it most, not just the ones already positioned to win.
What Elevate Small Business Miami offers
The citywide program is designed to meet business owners where they are and help them get to the next level. That means:
- Hands-on cohort training, focused on what drives revenue growth: operations, marketing, customer acquisition, and business planning
- Access to capital including microloans and connections to funding sources that work for our local businesses, even if they do not qualify for traditional bank loans yet
- AI and digital tools that are practical and immediately applicable, not just ideas and buzzwords
- Peer networks so you build alongside other entrepreneurs, not in isolation
Whether your business is two years old or twenty, there is a place for you in this program. Elevate is here to help Miami businesses grow their revenue. We’re not here to just serve more businesses or hold more trainings. Grow revenue — measurably, over time, across every neighborhood in the city.
If that is where you are trying to go, we want to help you get there.
Visit elevatesmall.biz to learn more and apply.