Job Openings

Business Development Officer

Area: West Michigan FLSA: Exempt Reports to: CEO and Director of Lending

Position Summary: GROW is seeking a qualified Business Development Officer (BDO) for the West Michigan area. This position will require you to establish and develop relationships with a focus on our lending initiatives and related technical assistance. The BDO has overall client management responsibility for business consulting, coaching and lending in target neighborhoods, and assists clients with business startup and growth issues utilizing our internal and external resources. This position will require someone who has worked in economic development, is self-motivated, driven, familiar with reading and understanding financial statements, and has a strong ability for outside sales.

Key Responsibilities:

Work independently in the field in target neighborhoods to build alliances and referral base among small businesses, business associations, community partners and participate in community events.
Assess client needs and provide direct business advice through site visits and one-on one consultations to monitor business strengths and weaknesses.
Provide day-to-day business counseling services to clients.
Analyze business problems and assist clients with developing solutions.
Develop action plans for clients to achieve goals, monitor client progress and document outcomes.
Assist clients in creating cash flow projections and assist in financial analysis to provide guidance and options in making business management decisions.
Identify clients’ needs and business skill gaps in order to inform topics and content for GROW programs, seminars, classes, and specialized courses.
Educate staff on existing client resources and opportunities.
Help identify and recruit community members as program facilitators and volunteers.
Collect, track and enter client data in Salesforce database weekly as required by our funders and to ensure GROW meets its mission.
Track counseling hours; input them regularly into the Salesforce database.
Provide excellent customer service and fast turn‐around time to build client trust and GROW’s brand and reputation.

Loan Program Responsibilities

Assist local entrepreneurs and strategize with them to overcome business development issues
Provide advice to clients on loan application process and basic criteria used to determine credit worthiness
Assess loan applicants’ loan readiness and provide pre-loan technical assistance as needed.
Build pipeline and continually refer loan-ready applicants to Loan Coordinator.
Provide post-loan technical assistance to loan clients. Ensure monthly financial statements are submitted and continue to provide business assistance throughout life of loan.
Provide internal and external reports as required for executive management and the Board of Directors
Must possess ability to meet performance goals
Conduct proactive outreach to target underserved markets and communities to cultivate new lending opportunities

Requirements:

Strong financial skills required, including ability to develop and interpret financial statements prepared in compliance with business accounting and financial principals
Bachelor degree in business, finance or related field preferred
Bilingual skills required (Spanish)
Minimum of 2 – 5 years of lending experience required: formal credit training a plus
Small business lending experience required. Mortgage origination is not a substitute for this requirement
Prior work-related experience and knowledge of community development lending, Small Business (SBA) loans, and traditional and alternative loan programs is beneficial
Small business ownership experience and/or small business consulting experience
Demonstrated leadership to network with small business owners
Track record of community development work required
Ability to use own initiative and pay close attention to detail
Efficient, highly effective work-ethic: ability to work in a fast-paced environment, ability to learn quickly
Ability to work well individually, within a team, and leading a team to deliver exceptional results
Capable of hands on problem-solving, with ability to generate ideas and solutions
Dedication to the highest levels of quality and ethical conduct
Highly proficient with computers, Internet, CRMs, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Microsoft Outlook
Strong communication skills in all forms including written, oral, email, telephone, and presentation
Ability to listen to and understand client circumstances and context, and respond with appropriate solutions
Ability to understand client needs and coach-ability, able to establish productive boundaries and to say no or step away when necessary
Ability to maintain accurately tailored documentation (i.e. presentations, proposals, brochures, etc.)
Ability to pick up the phone and conduct cold/warm calls for meetings; ensure diligent and timely follow-up
Strong client management skills
Ability to travel as necessary to meet with clients / build business relationships
Bilingual (English/Spanish) preferred

Work Schedule & Conditions:

Normal work hours are Monday – Thursday, 8:30AM – 5PM, Friday 8:30 – 1:00PM
May be asked to attend non-work hours events or meetings as it related to engaging and representing GROW’s mission to cultivate community partnerships and promote lending activities.
Occasional travel during business and non-business hours is required as authorized by the CEO or Director of Lending
Fast-paced environment subject to multiple interruptions, changes in workload, competing priorities, varied and/or extended hours, and deadline situations. Exposed to and expected to respectfully interact with a variety of attitudes and personalities.

Salary will be commensurate with experience, benefits to include health, life and dental insurance, long-term disability, parking, paid time off and 1 to 1 match simple plan. Please send resume to bnawara@growbusiness.org, along with a cover letter and salary requirements before July 20, 2020 Please put BDO position in the subject line.