JPMorgan Chase CEO reaffirms commitment to Miami’s small firms, diversity in tech sector

JPMorgan Chase CEO and Chairman Jamie Dimon came to downtown Miami Wednesday to announce the global company’s plan to hire 125 bankers by the end of the year to better serve the city’s small business community.

As housing prices remain unaffordable for many in America, especially in cities like Miami, and a possible U.S. recession looms, that presents two vexing challenges for operators of small companies who depend on local workers.

Dimon, who has said recently he expects an economic downturn, was forthright about how JPMorgan will serve Miami’s small businesses “through thick and thin.” The global financial services giant plans to hire another 375 bankers nationwide to cater to small companies.

The CEO’s words reflected a banking giant essentially doubling down on a commitment made a year ago to get behind small enterprises in Miami and also spend millions to help improve diversity and inclusion in the area’s blooming tech sector.

“One of the biggest pieces of advice I give to small businesses here is to be prepared,” he said, in an interview with the Miami Herald. “The most important thing you do for any business or client or community is being [present]. No matter what happens, JP Morgan will be here.”

The hiring commitment will increase the banking company’s South Florida workforce to at least 2,525 by the end of the year.

Hundreds of local small business owners attended Chase Experience Miami at The Miami Wharf on Wednesday for marketing workshops and meetings with banking consultants to better understand how they can expand their businesses.

Six Miami small enterprises that bank with Chase showed their products. Vivianne Guarisma, 36, is a partner behind Mima Market, one of the businesses present that focuses on using locally sourced goods for gift bags.

“It’s important to engage people and support local businesses,” she said. “It’s part of the city and we encourage people to know there are really good products made here in Miami.”

Gasline Dessources, 41, owns Threaded by Lavish and Lavish Touches Hair And Spa Inc. She is based in Cutler Bay and also works in Miramar. Dessources learned about Experience Miami via a weekly huddle she participates in through Thrive305.

Dessources came to network with other business owners and learn more about how she can develop her company into storefronts. Not understanding how to use money obtained during the pandemic like the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program has meant little if small business owners don’t know how to use the dollars, she said.

“When there are opportunities available for small business, you cannot grow if there are no financial literacy programs in place to help you do it,” the Black businesswoman said. “Without Black business, there is no business.”

To that end, Chase opened a Little Havana community financial center in June 2022 to better engage inner-city Miami about financial literacy. In November 2022, it announced a Special Purpose Credit Program to assist Black and brown customers that have had challenges accessing credit to more easily build it.

With centers like the Little Havana branch, Dimon predicted that small businesses in communities of color nationwide will have a better opportunity to succeed.

“A lot of small business owners will tell you advice is more important than money,” the CEO said. “They are learning from us.”

Nearly a year ago, Dimon was in Miami when JPMorgan Chase announced it was committing $10 million toward the $100 million Tech Equity Miami initiative to support greater inclusivity in Miami’s growing tech industry.

On Wednesday in Wynwood, other JPMorgan Chase executives met with founders and initial beneficiaries of four groups it backed that are focused on bringing in underrepresented Miamians in the tech sector. BrainStation, CodePath, Rebrand Cities and YWCA of South Florida, in partnership with gener8tor, have each received $500,000.

“The community need [for greater inclusion] is so big and the chance to really have maximum impact and set the foundation in a community really could be one of the growth centers of the United States for a long time,” JPMorgan Chase CEO of commercial banking Doug Petno said.

County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who attended and met with the executives, said greater inclusion in the Miami-Dade tech sector is something the county is well-positioned to tackle.

“They are talking about it and bringing money to the table,” she said of JPMorgan. “This is what we want.”