About

Who we are:

Small Business Finance Institute (www.SBFI.org), is a non-profit business education enterprise with the mission to teach small business owners how to manage the money they have and find the funding they need.

Based in Atlanta, GA, the institute aspires to provide a national training platform to enable entrepreneurs to succeed with better financial skills, tools, and capital.

Why we started:

An estimated 15 million U.S. jobs have disappeared over the past four years, effects from everything from the housing bubble, manufacturing flight to developing countries, new technology, and a resizing of the U.S. economy. Going forward, millions of people will have to create their own job to be employed.

In the face of the new urgency for entrepreneurship, the reality is that the capital markets are still suffering from the 2008 crisis, that has seen hundreds of bank closings and bank mergers, and a remaining 800+ banks identified as problems by the FDIC.

How are these new businesses going to get financing to launch and grow these businesses?  They have to start with their own ingenuity, good luck, and training.

How with SBFI help with this feat?

With several initiatives to teach:

STEPPING UP TO BUSINESS – a 1-day conference presenting 14 different workshops to provide attendees with instructions from practicioners who do what they teach. Classes range from how to write a successful business plan to where to find angel capital. The lunch time panel discussion will be “Thinking Outside the Bank,” a presentation of four new innovative companies that provide financing “through unique approaches unlike the antiquated banks we are all accustomed to.” The 2nd Stepping Up To Business conference will be February 29, 2012 in Atlanta.

FINANCIAL B%T CAMP  - a 2-day workshop that is limited to 15 participants, Boot Camp is an extensive work out in how the numbers define a business, how third-party funders decide on where to place money, and of all the information needed by a small business owner for managing their own business. Dozens of distinctive funding sources are defined and how to qualify for that funding is disclosed.

MONEY TALK – a 10-set webinar series will be introduced in the first quarter 2012 to provide one-hour learning opportunities to a wider audience through the internet. Each presentation will provide a thorough discuss on particular topics of financial management (How to Read a Financial Statement, How to Forecast Profits and Cash Flows, etc.) to the various avenues to getting funding (SBA Loans, Angel Investors, Micro Loans, etc.).

These new features are planned for 2012:

Ask Charles Green – submit your own question about a financial topic from an answer directly from the expert.

Finance Speak – an online dictionary of financial terms written by someone who uses them more than Mr. Webster.

Financial Toolbox – an online source for spreadsheets to help dissect business performance just like the banks do – and gather more intelligence to help owner understand financial results.

Financial Briefcase – an online source of dozens of briefing papers on topics ranging from cash flow to bootstrapping to improving a credit score.

Who started SBFI?

Atlanta veteran banker Charles H. Green launched the Small Business Finance Institute to provide education resources to small business owners about finance.

Who is he?

Charles Green began working in his parent’s small business at age 8 and attended many dinner hour “board meetings.” Today he is a recognized small business authority with over 30 years of advising, financing and investing in entrepreneurs. He regularly consults with business owners and bankers, writes about financial topics and teaches finance through seminars and conferences produced by a non-profit enterprise he founded, the Small Business Finance Institute (www.SBFI.org).  

His experience as a commercial banker, venture capitalist and advisor yielded clients in more than 30 countries. He founded and served as President/CEO of Sunrise Bank of Atlanta. Charles has served as corporate director for several businesses in the U.S., Mexico and Europe including a NASDAQ-listed company, and presently serves as Chair of the Governing Board of Atlanta Medical Center, a $250 million for-profit hospital owned by Tenet Healthcare Systems.

Charles authored several books and articles about business financing including bestselling The SBA Loan Book 3rd Edition (Adams Media) and the new Get Financing Now (McGraw-Hill).

He earned a B.S. in Finance from the University of Alabama, completed the Stonier National Graduate School of Banking, and Executive Education at Harvard Business School.  He serves as Chair of the Fulton County Arts Council and has served on several non-profit community boards. In 2005 he was named the Financial Services Champion by the Georgia District of the U.S. Small Business Administration.