Having started his career in the motoring industry before moving
into finance as a consultant, Giles Andrews helped to launch
peer-to-peer lending and borrowing marketplace Zopa in 2005.
Andrews started off as the company's CFO where he raised four
rounds of finance, then took the post of managing director before
moving to the role of chief executive in 2009.
Zopa is now the leading lending and borrowing organisation in
the UK and has expanded into the international market with branches
in the USA, Italy and Japan. In light of the recent credit crunch
they have received a lot of media coverage, Channel 4 deemed Zopa
as the "new way to save and borrow".
In this video interview Giles Andrews related to why Zopa has
been so successful by creating the right atmosphere of trust and
brand positioning. He speaks of how the company gained popularity
after the collapse of big banks such as Northern Rock and how Zopa
harnessed the trust advantage that banks once possessed. He offers
entrepreneurial advice, recommending launching a business into a
growing market and how greater competition helps to improve
business efficiency and performance.
Giles Andrews also speaks on how to market your business to non
conformists and what problems the recession has created in the
lending and borrowing marketplace. This video provides an insight
into the changing world of money lending and borrowing and the
shift in public use of banks to entrepreneurial organisations such
as Zopa.