Authors

Abi joined Hiscox over five years ago, providing PR support and advice to the UK and wider Group as well as developing our social media channels. In fact one of her favourite projects was starting this small business blog. She has been working in PR and communications for over 12 years for a range of organisations and brands across insurance, food and drink and charity.

Alan Thomas is a small business expert at Hiscox, advising technology and media SMEs. He says: “Entrepreneurs fascinate me because they bring ideas to life. I work with them every day so I hear a lot about the challenges they face and I want to share that knowledge to help other SMEs succeed.”

As a Commercial Client Manager at Hiscox, Alex works closely with technology start-ups to help them understand, manage and insure against key risks, particularly as they look to scale.

Andrea Reynolds is the CEO of Swoop Funding. Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as an Account Information Services Provider (reference number 833145), Swoop is a business funding and savings platform enabling businesses to discover the right funding solutions across loans, equity and grants, and to identify and easily make savings.

Andreas Pouros has spent the last 14 years building, managing, and mentoring digital businesses to success. A digital marketing expert, he is also the co-founder and COO of Greenlight Digital (external link). His views and opinions have been quoted by publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and he is a regular contributor to Econsultancy.

Annabel Venner is Global Brand Director at Hiscox, she is also one of our Partners which she balances alongside being made a Fellow of The Marketing Society (external link) and winner of Financial Service Forum's Marketer of the Year 2012. Prior to Hiscox, she spent nine years at Coca-Cola establishing herself as a driver of growth. Venner is a regular speaker and judge at The Festival of Marketing (external link).

Keynote speaker and strategic advisor to companies and governments. Bernard is one of the world's most highly respected voices when it comes to data in business; LinkedIn have ranked him as one of the world's Top 5 Business Influencers. Marr is also the founder and CEO of Bernard Marr & Co (external link), an independent think tank and consultancy organisation.

Having spent 4 years at Hiscox, Charlie is a Development Underwriter for Hiscox Direct Commercial. Her responsibilities include underwriting, products and pricing to our customers directly, both online and via our customer experience centre. Previously, she worked for the Hiscox Broker channel in London and has also spent time in the claims and finance teams, as well as being seconded to underwrite in the San Francisco office.

Daniel Elkan is a freelance travel, science and business writer and founder of a small business, Snow Carbon (external link), an independent guide to how to travel to ski resorts by train. He has written for The Guardian, The Telegraph (external link) and New Scientist amongst others.

David Owen is a solicitor and claims underwriter specialising in Professional Indemnity, Directors & Officers and Corporate Legal Liability insurance at Hiscox.

Frustrated by the lack of clear, actionable information available to freelancers, Emma Cossey started The Freelance Lifestyle blog (external link). She has created a community to enourage and support those starting off on their freelance careers. Cossey is based in Bracknell, where she provides freelance business coaching and, social media consultancy. Her passion is helping freelancers and entrepreneurs up their social media game, when time is limited. If you're interested, check out her YouTube Channel (external link) or take one of her Freelance's Teabreak podcasts (external link) with you.

Emma Simon is an award-winning consumer journalist with over 20 years’ experience of writing about money (external link), property, travel and business. She is a former personal finance editor of the Sunday Telegraph, deputy money editor of the Daily Telegraph and personal finance correspondent at the Press Association. She writes for a number of national newspapers, including the Sunday Times, the Guardian and the Mail on Sunday.