Thirty years in finance and still asking the questions no one else does: meet Sonja Pfitz

By Broker Codex Editorial Team

Sonja Pfitz is a commercial finance broker and advisor at Pfitz Financial, based in Eltham, Victoria, working with business clients across Australia. With more than 30 years in finance, including being part of the founding teams of two non-bank lenders and turning around a third, all later sold, Sonja now supports Australian SMEs ranging from startups to businesses turning over $120 million. She specialises in working capital finance, and her practice is built on empathy, directness, and deep business understanding before any numbers enter the conversation.

Sonja Pfitz has seen more sides of Australian finance than most brokers will ever see.

She helped build two non-bank lenders from the founding team up, then was brought in to turn around a third. All three were later sold. She's run large portfolios and staff bases across Australia and New Zealand and consciously returned to working for herself from 2016. Thirty years into finance, she's still curious, still direct, and still one of a small number of women focused specifically on commercial finance in the Australian market.

Who does Sonja work with?

SMEs across Australia, from startups through to businesses turning over around $120 million.

Most of her clients are B2B: manufacturers, wholesalers, transport, labour hire and recruitment firms, engineering businesses, mining firms, defence suppliers, and clients in the medical space. Occasionally she also supports directors with personal finance needs, but her core focus sits firmly in commercial lending.

What energises her is the exposure to industries moving fast. Robotics, AI, surgical technology, and the sheer pace of invention in Australian businesses. "You get to see how much technology is elevating entire industries," she says. "It's exciting work."

What does she specialise in?

Working capital finance is her specialty.

For most Australian SMEs, cash flow is the lifeblood of the business, and getting the right working capital structure in place is the difference between a business that can grow and one that constantly has to pull the handbrake. Sonja's depth in this area, combined with her care in understanding how a specific business actually runs, is what sets her practice apart from brokers who work in the same space.

She also handles business loans, trade and receivables finance, and asset finance, giving her clients access to full-service commercial lending through one trusted relationship.

What does Sonja's first client conversation look like?

Not what most people expect from a commercial finance broker.

Sonja's first conversation with a new client is deliberately not about the money. It's about the business. Where they've been. Why they do what they do. How long they've been operating. The challenges they've faced. What they really need. Where they want to go in the next few years.

Only once she has that picture does the conversation move to the financial side. From there, she maps out what the business actually requires, which is often very different from what the client walked in thinking they needed.

That shift, from the facility a business thinks it needs to the facility that would actually serve the business best, is where her depth of experience shows up. She explains the reasoning behind every recommendation and why the right structure might not be the obvious one.

How does she stay close to her clients?

Long-term relationships, actively maintained.

Sonja checks in with her clients regularly, every couple of months, either in person or by phone. She stays directly involved in facility reviews well ahead of renewal dates, rather than finding out things need refinancing a week before they expire. For many of her clients, she's also involved in bigger strategic decisions: selling the business, restructuring, or acquiring other businesses to bolt into their existing operation.

Her approach is empathetic, which she sees as a strength women often bring into commercial finance that the industry can be slow to value. She combines that with directness. No fluff. No dressing bad news up to make it easier to hear. For Sonja, full transparency is non-negotiable, even when her honesty isn't what the client was hoping for.

What advice does Sonja give most often?

Two pieces of advice that commercial clients consistently find hard to hear.

Be finance ready. Clients come to her needing funding yesterday, often with tax returns from previous years not yet lodged and the last few quarters of BAS incomplete. Her consistent message: have your financials ready before you need the funding. It removes delays and widens the lender options available to you.

Significant tax arrears narrow your options substantially. A business with $500,000 in tax arrears, even on a documented ATO payment plan, is not as bankable as its directors tend to assume. Sonja is direct with clients about this because they need to understand their position before they chase funding that may not be available to them.

Her broader philosophy, well beyond business finance, is one she shares freely: as a woman, own your own financial independence. Build your village of support, but make sure you can stand on your own feet when you need to.

The through line

Sonja mentors other women in commercial finance alongside running her own practice because she believes in paying it forward. Thirty years into the industry, she's still representing women in a space that doesn't have enough of them, still asking the questions most brokers skip, and still showing up for her clients long after the facility has settled.

For Australian SMEs wanting a commercial finance broker who will dig into the business properly before touching the numbers, Sonja is worth a conversation.

Sonja Pfitz is a commercial finance broker and advisor at Pfitz Financial, based in Eltham, Victoria. She has over 30 years in finance, including being part of the founding teams of two non-bank lenders and turning around a third. Sonja specialises in business loans, working capital, trade and receivables finance, and asset finance, working with Australian business owners nationally to secure the right funding with the right lender.