Hoot Credit Union Ltd were named Social Enterprise of the Year, based in Victoria Street, they offer financial services for savings and personal loans.

CEO, Chris Canham, said:" We're very pleased with this."

Located off Victoria Square, it aims to grow the market penetration of the business from 2.5 per cent to five per cent of Bolton’s population.

It says this entails bringing more people into membership of the credit union and saving on a regular basis, whilst increasing the number of people taking out loans.

Its target customer base is a mix of the most financially challenged people, helping them get back into mainstream finance and away from illegal money lenders, plus ethical savers and borrowers who want to benefit from its products and services and help their community at the same time.

The company added: “We plan to grow the market penetration of the business from 2.5 per cent to 5 per cent of the population of Bolton, in doing so increasing membership to 7,500, increasing our income by 24 per cent.

“This entails bringing more people into membership of the credit union and saving on a regular basis, whilst increasing the number of people taking out loans.

“Our target customer base is a mix of the most financially challenged in the community, helping them get back into mainstream finance and away form illegal money lenders; plus ethical savers and borrowers who want to benefit from our ethical products and services and help their community at the same time.

“We have a community engagement and business development strategy and resource in place to help us achieve these goals.

“We are a community owned co-operative, run by elected representatives of our membership based on a set of co-operative values that include access to fair credit, promoting a savings habit, and improving financial education and well-being.

“As a co-operative, our profit is shared only amongst our savers in the form of a dividend.

“There are no city shareholders, meaning that our success stays in the local economy."

The award was sponsored by Leisure Guard Security.