For small businesses like CERO, a Dorchester-based composting cooperative, $100,000 can go a long way — especially during a pandemic. At the end of 2019, CERO was approved for a $100,000 loan from the Boston Ujima Project‘s Ujima Fund, which paid the loan out over two installments in 2020. “It came in handy to help us with cash flow while we waited for PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] help and some other things to get us through the pandemic,” said Lor Holmes, CERO’s general manager and a worker-owner. “Even more importantly, we used some of that money to make the investment in growing our sales staff. We were able to hire an additional person onto our sales team, which has been tremendously helpful.”