Background
Gloucestershire Development Loan Fund Limited (GDLF) was set up to help a target market of Gloucesterhsire based clients who have little or no assets. We receive support from many local organisations including Gloucestershire County Council, Gloucester City Council, Forest of Dean District Council, Cheltenham Borough Council, Stroud District Council, Business Link, Barton & Tredwoth Developments Ltd, Princes Trust, Co-Operative Futures, Gloucester Ethnic Minorities Business Association and Vertex Financial Services.

Present
GDLF are dedicated to helping businesses in deprived areas, women, ethnic minorities, ex-offenders and over 50s to help set up in business. Businesses must approach the usual mainstream lenders before applying to us, but we are always happy to consider partnering with banks, other CDFIs like us, or the Princes Trust. We have loaned over £350,000 to almost 50 Gloucestershire-based businesses, creating and protecting over 100 jobs in the process. If you add in the 'leveraged funding' from other lenders, we have helped facilitate over £1m of funding for our community since we started. Throughout the course of a loan, our clients have access to our Business Advisors for assistance and support. We also conduct quarterly business reviews with each of our clients to measure their progress and help them sort out issues they may have before they become major problems.

Future
In order to continue to serve Gloucestershire's business community and to build on the work we have started, we are now looking to bring additional committed organisations and individuals on board. Together with our existing partners, our aim is to improve our service to gain financial inclusion and social inclusion for our clients throughout Gloucestershire.