Business Navigator

Colorado Enterprise Fund; Denver (CO); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, vision, dental and life ins.

Parental leave

Disability coverage (short & long term

Hybrid work stipend

403(b) retirement plan with employer 5

Paid holidays and vacation

Job summary

Colorado Enterprise Fund (CEF) is a nonprofit lender empowering Colorado’s small businesses and entrepreneurs, including underserved groups. The Business Navigator role focuses on pre-loan analysis, loan readiness, and post-loan coaching to improve profitability and operations.

The position blends in-person collaboration at the Denver HQ with a hybrid/remote model, requiring Colorado residency and regular team engagement.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to analyze small business financials and loan readiness.
• Identify client needs and guide through loan requirements.
• Strong credit analysis and advisory skills for portfolio clients.
• Experience using CRM systems to document consultations and follow-ups.
• Proficient in Excel and basic financial modeling.

Responsibilities

• Pre-Loan duties include comprehensive financial analysis for small business owners.
• Evaluate loan requests for completeness and fit with requirements.
• Provide initial creditworthiness assessments and guidance.
• Post-Loan duties include monitoring portfolio health and advising on improvements.
• Coordinate cross-functional tasks to support borrower success.

Skills

Financial analysis

Credit analysis

Small business coaching

CRM systems

Excel

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

Excel

CRM software

Job description

Description

Are you passionate about supporting Colorado's small business and entrepreneurial community?

Colorado Enterprise Fund (CEF) is a nonprofit business lending organization dedicated to supporting the success of small businesses in Colorado. We provide access to capital for entrepreneurs who are unable to secure traditional financing. Our primary focus includes business owners who may be low-to-moderate income, minorities, women, or veterans. We’re committed to creating meaningful impact in Colorado’s communities by providing equitable and affordable business financing for entrepreneurs who cannot access bank loans or other financial resources.

Why This Role Matters

At CEF, we see our community impact through job creation, wealth building for disadvantaged populations, and the growth and success of the businesses we fund. As a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), we offer loans, grants, and free business coaching to entrepreneurs to help them succeed.

Colorado small business owners and entrepreneurs seek assistance from our organization in moving towards the major step of asking for financial loans that they have not been able to find from traditional resources such as banks.

Our Guiding Principles

• Collaborative: We achieve more together than alone.
• Continuous Improvement: We are always learning and getting better.
• People-Centric: We put people--borrowers and colleagues--at the center of everything.
• Simplify & Remove Barriers: We make it easier for people to access what they need.
• Open & Direct Communication: We say what we mean and mean what we say.
• Flexibility / Agility: We adapt quickly and stay effective when things change.
• Impact Driven: We measure success by the difference we make.

Mission-Focused Team, Real Community Impact

The team, led by the Director of Business Navigation, provides coaching, tools, and resources for entrepreneurs to help them position their businesses for success, before and after the loan. This coaching includes assisting clients in the Denver Metro region face-to-face with setting up financial documents such as cashflow or profit and loss statements, building their workforce, reviewing operations for increased profitability, and devising marketing strategies for a variety of business sectors. Business Navigators are provided with tools and templates to use with clients and are also encouraged to bring their unique set of skills and resources to their work.

The Business Navigator role requires strong borrower-facing communication, technical acumen, and genuine commitment to our mission.

CEF offers a hybrid work environment with a blend of in-person connection and opportunities to be remote. Employees must be Colorado-based and can expect to travel to our Denver headquarters a minimum of one day per week to maintain on-site cross-functional collaboration with peers and leaders.

At Colorado Enterprise Fund, we believe in a skills-first approach to recruitment and employment. This means focusing on what you can do and how you can grow, rather than traditional metrics alone. We are committed to adhering to anti-exclusion practices, removing barriers to access, and enhancing opportunities for all individuals based on merit and potential.

Requirements

On a given day, your work will include these essential duties:

Pre-Loan

• As requested by loan officers, conducting comprehensive financial analysis for small business owners and entrepreneurs.
• As CEF’s Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) provides assignments, analyze inquiries from prospective customers for completeness and good fit with requirements, then guide applicants through the requirements for loans.
• Utilize credit analysis skills to make preliminary decisions about the credit worthiness of loan inquiries.
• Ability to uncover business needs not immediately perceived by the business owner.
• Identify unmet business needs and guide owners through steps to achieve loan-readiness.

Post-Loan

• Proactively contact assigned portfolio clients, as assigned, to quickly assess business health and offer assistance with improvements. Follow up with support sessions as needed.
• Assess borrowers’ progress towards business maturity using the CEF tools provided.
• Exercise independent judgment by offering business consulting advice to CEF borrowers including but not limited to the following areas: best practice in sales, marketing, people management, and financial management that impacts overall business growth.
• Identify financial risks and needs for process improvement through a detailed review of small business owners’ profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and business practices.
• Coach on accounting reporting and accounting system support in systems such as QuickBooks.
• Stay current on tax regulations and legal concepts to detect possible issues and refer borrowers to appropriate professionals as needed.
• Converting business needs expressed into action plans, in priority order, to address the next best steps intended to accelerate the progress of the business.
• Build strong, long-term relationships with assigned CEF clients.
• Conduct meetings with clients online or in person, based on their needs.

Workshop Development & Community Outreach

• Plan, develop, and execute webinars, events, and workshops designed for Colorado’s small business owners.
• Execute specific job program requirements associated with specific grants or initiatives to support targeted communities.
• Design and implement innovative practices to expand borrower engagement within the local community.

Team Contribution

• Collaborate regularly with Business Navigators’ peers and leadership; participate in team meetings, contributing to problem-solving and continual improvement.
• Demonstrate our guiding principles in all aspects of work and engage constructively in problem-solving.

Technical Acumen

• Proficiency in using business software applications, including but not limited to Microsoft Office Suite, and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems to document customer consultations and interactions.
• Navigate customer records across our internal CRM system modules and manage contact/leads stages to allow internal stakeholders to review progress towards setting departmental goals.
• Experience working with spreadsheets (Excel or Google Sheets), including creating formulas and formatting for readability, and supporting others in using them.
• Manage and track borrower consultation tasks weekly, ensuring timely follow-up, reminders, and completion.
• Coordinate cross-functional task handoffs across multiple departments to ensure efficient workflow and consistent borrower support.
• Schedule and manage borrower appointments weekly using Microsoft Bookings.

What You Bring:

• Minimum of five years’ experience as a small business owner, or other relevant entrepreneurial experience.
• Minimum of three years’ experience as a small business coach.
• Financial Communication: Advanced level business communication skills to teach financial literacy, relaying financial concepts and strategies in an understandable manner to clients with varying levels of experience.
• Credit Analysis: Strong understanding of the fundamentals of credit analysis, to make preliminary decisions about the credit worthiness of loan inquiries.
• Small Business Knowledge: Comprehensive understanding of small business operations, best practices and potential challenges and hazards affecting entrepreneurs. Solid working knowledge of small business financial documentation and accounting practices.
• Cultural Awareness and Emotional Intelligence: Ability to recognize key cultural differences in the population CEF addresses, along with flexibility and agility to respectfully work across a broad range of cultures, backgrounds, personalities, and working styles.
• Bachelor’s degree related to business, or equivalent work experience.
• Experience working in an accounting, or a commercial lending environment is a plus!

As an established CDFI, we offer the following benefits:

• Health, vision, dental and life insurance, paid parental leave, as well as 100% employer-paid short-term and long-term disability coverage.
• CEF also offers a monthly hybrid work stipend, and a 403(b) retirement plan with employer match up to 5% of an employee’s contribution.
• Our paid time off policies include ten (10) paid holidays per year, fifteen (15) days paid vacation to start, with an increase in year two, along with paid health and wellness time.