Co-operative and Community Finance (CCF), a Bristol-based specialist fund supporting community-owned ventures, has won the Innovation Award at the Citi Microentrepreneurship awards.

As part of the award, CDF received a £20,000 prize in recognition of its creative mechanisms of providing finance to local communities. One of the projects was to design and develop a community share fund to support communities wanting to raise investment by a community share issue.

A number of community-owned ventures have applied for funding, including renewable energy projects, community-owned pubs, shops, and supporter-owned clubs. One of the enterprises that received financial support is the Fox and Hounds community pub, which is due to open at the end of this month.

Ian Rothwell, CCF’s development manager, said: “We are delighted to have won this new award, especially since it comes from the work we did during our 40th anniversary year. The fund has been created as a result of our collaboration with societies doing share offers, practitioners, financial authorities, and development workers through the Co-operative Enterprise Hub. I’m pleased that the award recognises the work of all of these people, and we’re proud that this has been a truly co-operative effort.”

The awards programme, organised by the Citi Foundation, aims to raise awareness about the importance of microentrepreneurship and microfinance in supporting the financial inclusion and economic empowerment of low-income individuals.

To bring the awards to the UK, the Citi Foundation partnered with the Community Development Finance Association (CDFA). The awards recognise excellence in community development finance institutions (CDFIs) that change lives and transform communities by providing finance.

Ben Hughes, chief executive of the CDFA, said the judges had been impressed with the “inspiring work” of CCF. “Their achievements deserve to be celebrated at the final of the first UK Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards,” he said. “The awards are an exciting opportunity to showcase the individuals and organisations that are changing lives, boosting economies and energising neighbourhoods.”

Set up in 1973, CCF is the oldest CDFI in the UK, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.