Life At Anansi: Meet Alex Cooper-Smith, Head of Insurance

Next up in our #Life at Anansi series we meet Alex. We caught up with our Head of Insurance, king of banter and all round great guy and asked him a few questions.

Read on to find out to hear the reasons Alex joined Anansi, the challenges the role brings, and what it’s like working in a remote, global team.

Please introduce yourself, tell us where you are based and what you do here?

I’m Alex, based in the UK south of London in leafy Surrey.  I’m all things Insurance! I manage our relationships with insurers, be it new ones or managing existing ones. I’m also goto Insurance expert within the business.

Which team do you work in and what’s the team’s overall goal?

I work in the insurance team. Our goal is to source long term insurance partners that support our ambitions and geographical expansion plans  as well as product growth.

What are the top 3 things you enjoy about working at Anansi?

Firstly, I really enjoy working for a start-up. It’s great to be able to  shape things and  influence future strategies.  I enjoy getting involved in the wider business decisions working beyond my immediate area. I also like the fact that there is almost a blank page attitude in which we look to innovate and do something new rather than follow a tried and tested model.

And finally, I like our remote working environment which spans multiple countries and brings a great/different working culture.

What’s been the biggest challenge working here and how did you overcome it?

Probably the daily conundrum of where best to focus time. There is so much to do across multiple departments. With the business at such an early stage it’s important to try and prioritise working on items with the biggest impact. Rather than focusing on the finer details.

What attracted you to working at Anansi?

The fact that we’re looking to address an underserved market and doubling down on a niche industry rather than going after several.

How would you describe the company culture?

Relaxed, empowered and trusted. We are all experts in our areas and feel empowered to work and own our work streams.

Tell us what day to day working in a remote team looks like?

It’s a really mixed bag. From speaking to insurers about our proposition; to writing/tweaking policy wordings, investigating regulatory updates to working with the tech side of the business to make sure they have the insurance context/solutions for the issues they are dealing with.

What are you most excited about for the future of Anansi?

The opportunity is big both from moving up the value chain – evolving the product. To expanding geographically- into different markets. They will both bring challenges but in a good opportunistic way! 

If you were to give yourself an alternative job title, what would it be?

Corporal Compliance! As Head of Insurance I have to make sure things are compliant. Part of this responsibility requires that I make sure my colleagues do their required amount of training!

What three things would you take to a deserted island?

• Swiss army knife 
• Fishing net 
• A pack of cards 

If you’d like to learn more about #lifeatanansi drop us a line or head over to our careers page to view our open roles.