1 00:00:10,500 --> 00:00:17,460 Johny Fernandez: All eyes are on Miami as it's becoming the main attraction for the tech world. The man behind the movement, Mayor 2 00:00:17,460 --> 00:00:26,370 Francis Suarez, a second generation Miami politician. The mayor sat down with deBanked to discuss the tech movement and how Miami is evolving. 3 00:00:26,730 --> 00:00:31,470 Mayor Suarez, what does it mean for you to connect with our viewers and with our company deBanked? 4 00:00:31,950 --> 00:00:36,840 Mayor Suarez: It's incredible. It's a great opportunity to be able to connect with your audience and for them to understand what's going on in 5 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:41,070 Miami. You know, this is like we say it's a moment that we're trying to convert into a movement. 6 00:00:41,430 --> 00:00:47,430 Johny Fernandez: The movement he's talking about started back in December. That's when he received a tweet about turning Miami into a 7 00:00:47,430 --> 00:00:50,880 tech hub. His response was simple. How can I help? 8 00:00:51,170 --> 00:00:57,560 Mayor Suarez: I never thought when I sent the tweet that it would have that would it would reverberate in that way. It got over two and a half 9 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:05,840 million impressions. You know, the remaining part of that month, which was I think, was December 4th, or 5th all the way to December 31st. I 10 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:11,570 tweet over 800 times because I realized that there was a clear runway, for me as a public official to do something that I've been trying to do 11 00:01:11,570 --> 00:01:18,650 for 10 years, which is to grow the technical system in my city, understanding that the path to prosperity of our city goes through 12 00:01:18,650 --> 00:01:19,310 technology. 13 00:01:19,490 --> 00:01:25,910 Johny Fernandez: Suarez called this movement, his 10 year passion project. He believes Miami's future is in technology. 14 00:01:25,970 --> 00:01:31,730 Mayor Suarez: The path to prosperity of our city goes through technology, whether you like technology or not, whether you think 15 00:01:31,730 --> 00:01:38,210 technology is you know, is doing the right things from a political perspective or not. You have to acknowledge that technology is part of 16 00:01:38,210 --> 00:01:45,530 our everyday choices. It's part of how we make decisions every single day. And it's part of it's going to be part of creating an economy that 17 00:01:45,530 --> 00:01:53,150 is going to serve not just my generation, but my children's generation and their unborn children as well. Johny Fernandez: He believes the future is technology. 18 00:01:53,240 --> 00:02:02,150 Even when it comes to its currency. Mayor Suarez: The Commission approved my resolution, which did three things. One is it allowed for us after after 19 00:02:02,150 --> 00:02:12,470 review from our city manager to give our residents an opportunity to pay for fees and taxes in crypto, it allowed number two employees to have an 20 00:02:12,470 --> 00:02:18,710 opportunity to get paid a portion of their salary in crypto. And number three, it allowed us to study the possibility of holding crypto as an 21 00:02:18,710 --> 00:02:25,610 asset. So that's what they approved. And I'm really grateful that they did that. You know, obviously, you know, you know, some of them have 22 00:02:25,850 --> 00:02:34,460 concerns which are totally understandable about engaging in a new frontier on something that is, you know, new and exciting. But it's 23 00:02:34,460 --> 00:02:41,450 something that also has created a lot of enthusiasm among the financial community and financial tech community and the crypto community about 24 00:02:41,450 --> 00:02:43,220 the fact that we're on the vanguard of this technology. 25 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:50,580 Johny Fernandez: The mayor says since December, more than a dozen tech companies have already agreed to call Miami home. He says his goal is to 26 00:02:50,580 --> 00:02:57,060 bring Miami up to the level of other cities, especially when it comes to things like transportation and education. 27 00:02:57,060 --> 00:03:03,270 Mayor Suarez: The other thing that's changing as cities Miami is no different is kind of going to a 15 minute walkable city model, where 28 00:03:03,270 --> 00:03:10,950 you have neighborhoods within the city, that where people can work, where they can live and where they can play all within a 15 minute walking 29 00:03:10,950 --> 00:03:17,190 radius. So that's also happening in our city. And the third thing I would say is we're looking at Transportation Technology. So I'm meeting 30 00:03:17,190 --> 00:03:25,230 with Elon Musk, about tunnels and Boring his Boring Company to see if there are inexpensive, efficient ways to bore tunnels so that people can get 31 00:03:25,230 --> 00:03:33,960 from one part of the city to the other. I just had a conversation with the former Google executive who's talking about flying cars. So we are 32 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:40,080 on the cusp of transportation technology to make sure that to the extent that there are technologies out there that make it more efficient 33 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:43,080 for people to get from point A to point B, we want to be on the vanguard of that. 34 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:50,370 Johny Fernandez: The mayor shared with me he's not only opening Miami to the tech world, but also would like to see other companies here too. New 35 00:03:50,370 --> 00:03:56,940 York State specifically is putting up hurdles when it comes to small business lenders and merchant cash advance companies. Would you want 36 00:03:56,940 --> 00:03:59,430 those companies from New York to relocate here to Miami? 37 00:03:59,490 --> 00:04:07,200 Mayor Suarez: Absolutely. And we definitely want to make sure that you know that small business merchants and lenders are able to capitalize 38 00:04:07,230 --> 00:04:13,890 small businesses in our community, Miami's a very thriving small business community. A lot of our you know, one of the things that people 39 00:04:13,890 --> 00:04:20,970 have criticized us for is we don't have those big massive companies. We're actually really built on small businesses. So for us, having 40 00:04:20,970 --> 00:04:27,630 fluidity of capital, liquidity of capital, access to capital are enormous things in terms of scaling. And I think that's one of the things that 41 00:04:27,630 --> 00:04:33,540 we're seeing change now is we're getting because of technologies. We're getting a tremendous amount of access to capital that we weren't getting 42 00:04:33,540 --> 00:04:33,990 before. 43 00:04:34,140 --> 00:04:39,570 Johny Fernandez: With so much happening in Miami, the mayor shared with me his plans to retain talent here in the Magic City. 44 00:04:39,570 --> 00:04:45,270 Mayor Suarez: I think part of that has to do with you know, the deals that are done here, having made sure making sure that there's an 45 00:04:45,270 --> 00:04:51,870 adequate deal flow, making sure that there's an adequate talent pipeline and we're working very hard on that. We created an office called Venture 46 00:04:51,870 --> 00:04:59,340 Miami. That is meant to be a launch point for companies that are deciding to come here that gives them all kinds of concierge services 47 00:04:59,550 --> 00:05:08,850 from domiciling all the way through to finding employees. To making sure that they understand what the incentives are. So we are making it easy 48 00:05:08,850 --> 00:05:11,460 for someone who wants to come and set up a company here. 49 00:05:11,850 --> 00:05:18,000 Johny Fernandez: His goal is to make sure everyone in Miami can benefit from the changes, old and new business owners alike. 50 00:05:18,330 --> 00:05:22,620 Mayor Suarez: We've made it easy for people to do business in the city since I became mayor, we first of all, we created something called 51 00:05:22,650 --> 00:05:30,060 ePlan, which allows people to transmit plans and permits with the city electronically. Then we did something we followed up on that with 52 00:05:30,060 --> 00:05:37,380 something called eStart. So now you can start a business in the city of Miami, basically, on your phone or off your laptop, you never have to go 53 00:05:37,380 --> 00:05:44,250 into a government building. It's fast, and it's easy. So we've been implementing a variety of pro business policies for small businesses, 54 00:05:44,280 --> 00:05:50,610 they've remained open. So they're incredibly happy. In fact, most of the time when I go to a small business or a restaurant, they're extremely 55 00:05:50,610 --> 00:05:53,070 happy about the fact that they've been open throughout this pandemic. 56 00:05:53,100 --> 00:06:00,930 Johny Fernandez: What would you say to any small business owner, or small business lender merchant cash advance? That is in another state, 57 00:06:00,930 --> 00:06:05,970 but is considering moving to Miami whether it's in the FinTech world, or just a small business? What would you say to them? 58 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:11,660 Mayor Suarez: I would say that, that they should move that the question shouldn't be after hearing this, you know, why should you move to Miami? 59 00:06:11,660 --> 00:06:20,030 The question should be Why haven't you already moved to Miami? I think the you know, Miami has been a financial powerhouse for many decades. And 60 00:06:20,030 --> 00:06:25,730 now we have an opportunity to be a financial tech powerhouse. And I think that's important because every single industry is being 61 00:06:25,730 --> 00:06:34,850 revolutionized by tech finance, in particular, where you're going to have digital tools, as a small business owner, as someone who which will 62 00:06:34,850 --> 00:06:41,060 give you access to the same tools that you would have if you were a major business owner, or had a major banking relationship finding 63 00:06:41,330 --> 00:06:51,590 democratization of financial assets, is something that is going to change and allow for a lot of upward mobility and a lot of wealth 64 00:06:51,590 --> 00:06:52,100 creation. 65 00:06:52,610 --> 00:06:55,910 Johny Fernandez: In Miami. I'm Johnny Fernandez with deBanked News.