Yankie Markowitz found a serious gap in the marketplace and a genuine opportunity for the right entrepreneur when he was searching for a federal government-backed business loan for his small business.

He was sure that there would be someone he could find to help him navigate the bank requirements and government paperwork. He searched for months for an expert to guide him, to no avail, and it took eight months to discover that he could not secure the loan.

Markowitz decided that since he had developed the expertise he needed to get the loan, he could apply it to help others. In 2012 he founded SBA Loan Group and the company has become an essential partner to hundreds of small businesses, assisting them in collectively securing over $1 billion in Small Business Administration (SBA) loans.

Markowitz brings a lot of expertise to his role as CEO of SBA Loan Group. He is an executive board member of the Regional Business Assistance Corporation, an SBA affiliate, and a member of their loan committee, working on hundreds of SBA transactions each year. He is also a board member of CHYE (Crown Heights Young Entrepreneur), a nonprofit that offers a full service business resource center.

Banks or non-bank lenders can provide small business improvement loans that are backed up to 75% by the federal government’s SBA. The banks can also provide SBA-backed loans for up to 90% of the financing for an entrepreneur to buy a business and SBA-backed loans for up to 100% of the financing for a small business to acquire a new property, up to a cost of $5 million.

The key to securing each of these three loans is to understand the records the business owner needs to submit to qualify for the loan(s) from the SBA and at each bank. And that’s where SBA Loan Group comes in.

SBA helps business owners understand each SBA loan product and how each bank operates these loans. Markowitz described SBA Loan Group as providing “sort of a shidduch process,” by assisting the business owner in seeking the right SBA loan for them and the bank that best meets their needs. SBA Loan Group has developed a familiarity with over 50 bank systems in the United States and has worked with bank branches in all 50 states.

Markowitz stated that while SBA Loan Group has worked with a wide range of businesses, they often deal with lots of e-commerce companies. They have worked with companies in manufacturing, food services, catering, logistics, warehouses, Amazon sellers, tech companies, and 3PLs (third-party logistics). They have also worked with doctors’ and dentists’ offices.

SBA Loan Group now employs 16 staff members and works with businesses all over the United States. They generally advise businesses that it can take six weeks to three months to secure a loan depending on how quickly the business can secure the information needed for the loan application forms. The quickest business loan they secured came in 11 days.

When SBA Loan Group staff speak with a new client, they stress to them that the SBA is a cash flow lender, meaning that they will back a loan based on the business’ current income and expenses. SBA Loan Group helps each client business to assess whether they qualify for an SBA loan and how much of a loan they are qualified to receive.

Yossi Lang at Cell Distributors, a client of SBA Loan Group, told The Jewish Link: “Yankie is beyond wonderful. We’ve worked with SBA Loan Group since 2017 and we’ve received several loans with their help. They really know their stuff!”

Mendel Pinson of Brooklyn Brokerage, another client, told The Jewish Link: “They were incredible and very efficient. Everything they promised us, they came through. We got a new property for our business and the loan came through in 60 days. SBA Loan Group was very pleasant to work with.”

For more information on SBA Loan Group, visit sbaloangroup.com.

Harry Glazer is the Middlesex County Editor of The Jewish Link. He can be reached at [email protected] and he welcomes reader feedback.