Featured Content
Watch all our video content by subscribing to our YouTube channel, where you will find our interviews, video features, and events.
For more than two years, we have been showcasing the people, companies, and ideas pivotal to Greater Miami’s economic future. Since the beginning, we have been producing videos in many forms, and all of that content is available to watch on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@opportunitymiami.
There you can find all of our Interviews since the first one was posted on November 13, 2021. You can also find our video series we call On Site, where we visit local entrepreneurs and businesses in their factories, workshops, and studios building the future of Miami.
TALENT GOALS
Opportunity Miami also holds monthly events, such as our climate tech meetup in partnership with Miami-Dade County. You can watch our tenth meetup here, which includes the business proposals of three South Florida climate tech companies focused on floating wetlands, solar energy, and vertical farming.
More recently, we began hosting more intimate gatherings with community leaders in various industries such as venture capital (watch our conversation with Henri Pierre-Jacques of Harlem Capital here) and climate tech (such as with Daniel Betts of Blue Frontier here and Seedcamp Founder Reshma Sohoni here.)
Many of you asked us to begin recording these events – and we have. This includes our latest gathering with the Academic Leaders Council announcing our community's goal to increase educational attainment by 20% in less than two decades across Miami-Dade County. You can watch the full event here. These talent development goals serve as a generational opportunity to build the most uniquely diverse, skilled regional workforce in the hemisphere.
“We do research that increases our understanding of the world around us and at its best leads to innovation that then businesses take up to produce solutions for society’s challenges,” University of Miami President Julio Frenk said at the event. Universities have that first interaction with entrepreneurs and business leaders. “We encourage our business leaders to co-invest with us in the production of knowledge and technological innovation.”
The event was hosted by Miami Dade College President Madeline Pumariega, who is also the chair of the Academic Leaders Council, or the ALC, which consists of all the presidents of the colleges and universities in Miami-Dade County as well as the Superintendent of Schools.
The average age of graduates from the artificial intelligence program at Miami Dade College is 44, which Pumariega said shows these are second careers for many who are leveling up. “We are in a knowledge economy. I don’t think we can microwave talent,” she said. “We’re going to need to be slow, methodical, strategic and then we’re going to have to be open to educational technologies and business partners that maybe get to market faster.”
The members of the ALC include Frenk and Pumariega, along with Barry University President Mike Allen, David Armstrong of St. Thomas University, Florida Memorial University’s Jaffus Hardrick, Kenneth Jessell of Florida International University, and Jose Dotres, Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
AI FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
BizHack Academy offers free digital marketing training for small business owners and professionals funded by Miami-Dade County. The latest BizHack-Strive 305 masterclass series centers around AI for SEO content. Find their free training sessions on their YouTube channel.
PITCH US
If you have a company, entrepreneur, or idea to suggest that relates to building Miami’s future, email us at next@opportunity.miami. We invite you to subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch our Interview and On Site video series featuring leaders shaping Miami's future. Please also follow us on our social media channels. If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can subscribe by clicking here. And if you are new to Opportunity Miami, you can learn about our mission and work here.
— Suzette