Kicking off Black Business Month, Overtown business owners team up to talk change and growth | Business
At Lil’ Greenhouse Grill in Overtown on Friday, some guests didn’t just walk in to enjoy the chicken and waffles or vibe to the live music — they came to talk business.
Kicking off National Black Business Month, celebrated every August, the Overtown Business Association (OBA) hosted its first “Friday Business Networker” event, inviting both established and aspiring business owners in the community to connect and brainstorm.
“The goal is for us to show love and appreciation to every single business and have other people come and do the same thing. Because what this does is it creates an opportunity for people,” said Metris Batts-Coley, executive director of the OBA.
Metris Batts-Coley introduces herself, and OBA’s mission, to lil’ Greenhouse Grill’s guests.
The Main Street approach
The OBA is a nonprofit that brings together local business owners and other nonprofits to promote commerce in Overtown, offering marketing, legal and accounting support to businesses of all sizes. Last week’s networking event was just one part of the organization’s broader effort to nurture local talent and boost business in the community while preserving Overtown’s historic identity, aiming to elevate it alongside South Florida’s other main streets.
Nicole Gates (right) and Batts-Coley pose in front of Lil Greenhouse grill.
Nicole Gates, creative lead for Lil’ Greenhouse Grill and a board member on the OBA, is one of those business owners. She feels that it’s her duty to help her community grow in any way she can.
Gates sees her involvement in OBA as a way of challenging the negative stereotypes sometimes associated with Overtown by shining a light on its collection of educated business professionals and entrepreneurs.
A sign welcoming business owners to the event adorns the restaurant’s tables.
“They think it’s dangerous, and it’s actually not dangerous at all,” Gates said. “Some people have a hard time coming into the area because of the lack of businesses that are available here. But that’s changing very fast, and that’s what the Overtown Business Association is doing.”
Batts-Coley believes a holistic approach that blends historical preservation, timely content creation, and access to resources is what Overtown needs to thrive as a business hotspot.
Through one-on-one sessions, she helps business owners assess their needs and provides tools like event evaluation forms to help with planning and growth, while also encouraging them to create content around city-wide events like Juneteenth and Miami’s Incorporation Day.
“We have some of the most creative community people here,” Batts-Coley said. “I am learning how to tap into it, how to be the thread that comes to say, ‘OK, you’re doing great, but let’s sew it together like this. Let’s make a quilt that’s a tapestry, that tells about all of what we do and brings everybody involved in the community.’”
Time and funding are OBA’s major hurdles. The organization is one of many in South Florida, but it still needs to build credibility and create impact to attract investments and funds.
To address this, Batts-Coley is crafting a plan based on the “Main Street approach,” which encourages community engagement to restore historic downtowns economically.
“It’s opening up doors and sitting down and not just having the initial conversation,” she said. “It’s the collaboration along the way. I think the more opportunities I have to talk about Main Street America and the model that it is, the more people will see how they fit into it.”
A network of information
Gates believes local business owners in Overtown need to communicate with each other to elevate one another. Friday’s network event aimed to create a space for those connections to form, and she wants it to be the first of many.
“People have become clustered in their own homes and in their own situations. We’re creating this event so that people feel more comfortable getting out, socializing with one another, networking with one another, and looking each other in the face as humans once again. Because that is where the real connection lies,” said Gates.
A closer look at Jackson’s calendar design.
Kenesha Jackson is an aspiring entrepreneur in the early stages of launching her own business selling products like calendars, mugs and more that feature her original graphic designs.
Still undecided on whether to sell on a third-party platform or to make her own website, Jackson came to the event to learn from other business owners. While she is conducting her own research, starting a business by herself has been a challenge.
“You’re trying to do something by yourself. It’s hard. It’s your first time opening up a business, and you don’t know which one to start,” said Jackson.
She stressed the need for would-be business owners to have access to concrete, actionable information rather than general advice.
“I’m all-in for the win,” said Jackson. “Not every business is a successful business, but I want everybody to win.”
In the spirit of promoting fellow businesses, Christopher Norwood poses next to the restaurant’s social media handle.
Christopher Norwood, head of the Ward Rooming House art gallery, believes local businesses lack a dedicated organization they can turn to to support themselves monetarily or help get their burgeoning businesses off the ground.
As Overtown continues to develop, he projects business owners in the community will need to stand up for themselves and link with each other to not be left behind. The OBA provides that network.
“We need to advocate for ourselves,” Norwood said. “To know the other business owners, to monitor the community, to share what’s happening — that’s the value for me.”
