UK General plans to repeat format in October
Five brokers have been chosen to share in more than £100,000 to help them develop their schemes products, following the launch of a Dragons’ Den style event by UK General at Biba.
The five businesses – Best Insurance, Square Mile Insurance Services, Ryan Insurance, New Moon Insurance Services and The Warranty Company UK – were selected to share in the fund from 18 entrants.
The six-figure funding will also invest in resources that will provide the firms with business plans, IT, web development and compliance support.
UK General now plans to repeat The Schemes Seat initiative in London in October, while a potential regional roll-out of the initiative is currently under discussion.
The initiative is open to UK brokers with new or existing schemes where the investment would be used to grow the business or new product ideas where a market need has been identified.
At the inaugural event of The Schemes Seat initiative during the Biba conference, seven shortlisted brokers had initially pitched their personal lines schemes ideas to a panel, before the final five were chosen.
The panel included former Dragons’ Den panelist Richard Farleigh, UK General chief executive Peter Hubbard, schemes managing director Karen Beales, director of marketing and communications Gary O’Brien and Thistle Initiatives co-founder and director James Dingwall.
Beales said: “The success of this process as a means of identifying unique scheme opportunities has proved extremely popular, demonstrating there are brokers out there with fantastic scheme ideas but need the support of a specialist and niche insurer to bring them to life and realise their full potential.”
“The successful brokers were those who could demonstrate a clear customer need and the benefits their products would bring to their target market. I’m sure there are still a number of hidden gems out there.”
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