About

BCDF is a not-for-profit social enterprise specialising in finance for new and growing businesses. Our core function is providing founders throughout the UK with access to the funding they need at all stages of their journey and helping them navigate the finance landscape with confidence.

Since 2019, we have raised over £2 million in finance for small businesses in the ‘everyday economy’, many of whom were unable to acccess funding through mainstream providers. We believe access to affordable finance is critical to the success of any business – however, obtaining it is often listed as one of the biggest challenges that founders face.

We are here to change that!

For aspiring founders and new businesses, we provide a range of support through our Complete Business Start Up Programme. This start up training is available throughout the year and caters to a variety of learning styles through online courses, interactive workshops, intensive one-to-one mentoring and an exclusive networking community. 

The ‘CD’ in our name stands for ‘Community Development’. We want to make careers in enterprise more accessible to communities that are excluded or underrepresented in business. Our aim is to help develop a strong and sustainable independent business community in Bristol, that we can all be proud of. 

The Three Pillars of BCDF 

Finance – We arrange finance, such as loans and other solutions for new and growing businesses throughout the UK. 

Learning – We help people learn about enterprise and self employment, enabling them to launch their own business.

Community –  We make careers in enterprise more accessible to communities that are excluded or underrepresented in business.