Changemakers: Steven Mendel

Steven Mendel is one of the most open people you could wish to meet. It is a quality that defines him personally as much as the company he founded in 2012 with business partner Guy Farley to provide insurance to niche sectors ignored by mainstream suppliers.

Prior to starting Bought By Many, Mendel had spent his working life with financial services institutions, beginning as a pensions actuary with AON Consulting, then spending six years with McKinsey as a management consultant, followed by eight years in wealth management with a number of blue-chip corporations in the sector.

The idea for Bought By Many came as a result of trying to buy private medical insurance after leaving a company scheme and being shocked to discover that continued cover for himself and his family would be four times the cost of the corporate scheme. Realising that individuals are at a big disadvantage when buying insurance upset his thoroughly egalitarian sensibilities:

“Everybody’s different. It’s what makes us human. So why should being different make insurance difficult and more expensive to get?”

He had noticed a trend for group buying in other sectors, such as utilities and telecoms. The idea of applying collaborative buying to the insurance market was born. The original business model worked by using millions of lines of insurance search data to identify demand for specific insurance needs. Bought By Many then created online groups for people with these needs and negotiated deals and discounts for them with established insurers.