Earlier this month Australian Anthill Magazine announced the winners of their annual Cool Company Awards.
Whilst insurance brokerages may not typically be thought of as being ‘cool’, one such firm managed to make the cut.
That firm was Brisbane-based Trade Risk, who provide both general insurance and life insurance services to the building and construction industry.
Australian Anthill had this to say about the companies who made the list:
“Cool Companies manage to stay one step ahead of the rest. They breed leaders who are rule-makers and rule-breakers. They are organisations that aspire to be admired. They are trend-setters in attitude and action. Quite simply, they are… cool!”
What makes Trade Risk a cool company?
Probably the fact that they are doing things a little differently to most other firms.
They have a strong focus on online marketing, and this has allowed them to build a great little business in far less time than traditional firms.
Whilst Trade Risk were the only insurance brokerage to make the top 100, there were a few other insurance and finance related businesses.
- Nimble – Short term lender
- OzForex – Foreign exchange provider
- Finder.com.au – Online financial comparison service
- Health.com.au – Health insurance provider
- Moneysoft – Online budgeting service
- Mozo – Online financial comparison service
One thing that all of the companies listed above have in common is their major focus on technology.
It would be great to see other insurance brokerages and financial planning firms make the list next year.
To see a full list of the 100 coolest companies in Australia follow this link.
Congratulations to the winners. I must say that I haven’t heard of any of these companies though.
Thanks for your comment Thomas.
They might not be household names yet, but some would be very close.
You must know the Nimble ads that are currently running on TV? The quirky ones with the two pregnant guys, or the one with the car that has a sauna for an engine?!
OzForex are a listed company with a market cap of around $700m.
Finder.com.au has been featured in the mainstream media plenty of times.
Health.com.au is a fully fledged health insurance fund with over 30,000 customers.
So I agree that plenty of people wouldn’t have heard of them yet, but they are certainly very serious companies, and I’m sure that at least a couple of them will become household names eventually.