CFO Services Group, a gay-owned D.C. financial services consulting company, is one of six D.C. small businesses to participate in a program launched in September by Mayor Muriel Bowser that allows small businesses to raise money by offering bonds at a price of $10 each to local community investors.

The D.C. Rebuild Bond Program, which is operating in partnership with the investment marketplace company SMBX, “will enable local businesses to build, expand, and innovate,” according to a statement released by the mayor’s office.

“Local businesses represent the dreams of D.C. residents and are the backbone of our city’s economy,” Bowser said in the statement. “This tool is one more way we can work together to create jobs and opportunities in all eight wards, support our favorite small and local businesses, and uplift entrepreneurs who are invested in our people, culture, and neighborhoods,” the mayor said.

The program, which will operate under the auspices of the Office of the D.C. Deputy Mayor for Business and Economic Development, is also aimed at helping small businesses struggling from the impact of the COVID pandemic, city officials said.

Manny Cosme, president and CEO of the downtown D.C.-based CFO Services Group, also serves as treasurer for D.C.’s Equality Chamber of Commerce, an LGBTQ business advocacy group. Cosme said he and his company are pleased to be among the first six local D.C. businesses to participate in the Rebuild Bond Program to raise capital for his company.

“Instead of going to a bank, we go to small investors in the community,” said Cosme, who noted that some of the investors in the companies participating in the program are loyal customers.

Annie Eser, an SMBX official who serves as the D.C. Rebuild Bond Program Director, told the Washington Blade that SMBX sets up the bond offerings for the businesses participating in the program. She said the company also helps recruit community investors and arranges for them to buy the bonds and receive a monthly interest payment from the business on their bond investment that could be between 4 percent and 7 percent depending on the details of the bond offering.

Brandon Skall, CEO and co-founder of DC Brau Brewing, a popular brewery in Northeast D.C. near the Maryland line, said he’s pleased to have used the services of SMBX to facilitate the sale of his company’s bonds to refinance an existing loan.

“The idea of taking this interest that we would be paying to a bank or to an institution and paying it back to people who actually support our business and other small local businesses was really, really exciting for us,” Skall told the Blade.

He said several of those who bought DC Brau bonds are regular customers at the brewery’s tap room.
“And through the pandemic, we were really kept in business by people who went out of their way to support us and other businesses they cared about,” he said. “But this is a great way that they can invest in an easy format and even have more ownership of the businesses they love.”

The statement from the mayor’s office announcing the D.C. Rebuild Bond Program says it will focus on historically disadvantaged businesses in Wards 5, 7, and 8, but would be open to businesses throughout the city.

“As part of the program, D.C. businesses listed on the SMBX marketplace will benefit from no private lending fees, zero origination fees, and no personal guarantees to secure their loans,” the statement from the mayor’s office says. “They will also receive direct support from the SMBX marketing team to help them reach their goals,” the statement says.

In addition to CFO Services Group, which is located at 1101 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., and DC Brau Brewing at 3178 Bladensburg Rd., N.E., the other local businesses participating in the D.C. bond program as of this week include El Tamarindo restaurant at 1785 Florida Ave., N.W.; Sticky Fingers Sweets & Eats at 1730 Park Rd., N.W.; Maketto restaurant and retail store at 1351 H St., N.E.; and Chaia Tacos at 615 I St., N.W.

More information about the program for potential investors and small businesses can be obtained through thesmbx.com.