Employee training and mentoring are crucial for SME growth. 

68% of employees prefer to learn at work, with 90% of employees saying they won't quit their role if they receive training. 

76% of UK businesses say mentoring has been vital for growth, 60% note a boost in strategy, and 66% improve survival chances. 

Combining bespoke training with tailored mentoring delivers essential upskilling and the supported application for long-term sustained growth.

Here are some of the common hurdles I've helped leaders like you overcome.

➡️The daunting task of keeping up with digital advancements and AI integration
➡️The constant battle to generate new, consistent, qualified leads
➡️A pressing need to empower and upskill your team, especially in the realms of digital and AI marketing
➡️Striving to get sales and marketing aligned
➡️The isolation in decision-making roles, craving for support and guidance
➡️Increasing difficulties in recruiting and retaining top talent 

I'm Emma Ellse (BA (Hons.), PgDip IDM, PgDip DigM, PgDip HE, ILM7, FIDM, FCIM, FHEA, FABM

⭐️Deep-rooted marketing expertise from senior roles across B2B and B2C sectors since 2003
⭐️Trusted, Experienced and Qualified Consultant, Coach, and Mentor since 2015
⭐️Trained over 1100 SME Business Leaders and their teams
⭐️Qualified HE Academic Practitioner & Senior Consultant Business Lecturer

Here's how we can work together:

1. Book a 15-minute Call
For business leaders looking to upskill their teams or education /  business support hubs looking for training for their clients. Book in a chat let's get the ball rolling on your bespoke programme. 

2. Work with me privately 
To work with me directly on AI, marketing and growth strategies send me a message with the title 'Private'  and a little more info about your business and I'll send you some details. 

3. Talk to me about peer facilitation
Does your business support SME leaders? I run engaging peer to peer support circles where peer learning is collaborative, fun and value driven. 

4. Need an engaging speaker for your event? 
Everyone wants to know how AI can help them become more engaging. My talks are fun  engaging, informative amd loaded with value and takeaways. 

Hear from those who have worked alongside me. Scroll Down👇🏻

Emma Ellse

Today's Glimmer moment. 

Sometimes all you need for a reset is an early morning beach dog walk. 

Up and out at 6:30am this morning to catch the peace, tranquility and morning light. 

With so much going on in the world it's good to pause, breathe and make time each day for a glimmer. 

#Glimmer #Peace #MentalHealth #Reset

AI Training for SMEs | Founder, AI Business Growth Academy | AI Adoption & Business Resilience Trainer & Mentor. Workshops, leadership sessions and strategic mentoring for SMEs navigating AI-driven change and uncertainty

5:30am train, coffee in hand, bleary eyes, headed to Liverpool.

Today I’m delivering AI Leadership training to partners and senior leaders at a large law firm. 

My train journey is mostly deer spotting and thinking about the most important message I'll share today. 

AI adoption is not about the latest tools or shiny tech.

It’s a change management process.

The firms that get this right aren’t the ones chasing every shiny new tool…

They’re the ones building the right foundations:

I call it The AI Foundational 4 Ps: 

• People: mindset, skills, and confidence to actually use AI

• Processes: where AI fits into real workflows (not just experiments)

• Platform: choosing the right tools for your business, not just what’s trending

• Policy: governance, risk, and responsible use (especially critical in legal)

Today instead of focusing on “what tool should we use?” we'll work though; 

"How do we embed this into how we already work?"
 
"How do we identify the bottlenecks in our operations work out what's appropriate for AI and then embed AI where it will have the biggest impact?"

"How do we lead our teams through this change and grow more efficiently?"

#AI #AITraining #AILeadership #Leaders #AIAdoption

There are some rooms you walk into and you just know something special is happening.

Today in Liverpool was one of those days.

I've had the pleasure of delivering Day 1 of a bespoke AI Adoption programme created specifically for the partners and senior leaders at MSB, on behalf of MyPD. 

What stood out for me today wasn’t just the strategy…

It was the people.

Genuinely warm. Welcoming. Engaged. And most importantly truly supportive of each other.

As is always my way, we didn’t just sit and “learn AI.”

We talked, shared, listened and challenged ideas because AI adoption isn’t about jumping straight into tools. It’s about taking the time to step back first.

We focused on:

*Leading AI adoption responsibly and ethically
*Putting safety first, especially with teams already experimenting
*Taking a strategic approach before any tech decisions
*Identifying the right tasks to optimise before choosing tools
*Bringing people with you on the journey, not leaving them behind

I left the day feeling really energised (even after a 4:30am alarm) and already looking forward to Day 2. 

Thanks for a great day MSB I can’t wait to come back, hear your progress and build on what we’ve started.

#AI #AIleadership #AIAdoption #AIStrategy #AITraining

No AI Today!! 

Today I'm flying solo, no AI to assist me in this little (massive) DIY job.  

Suns out, drills out, tunes on .. garden makeover is a go go 😎🪛🔨

What’s the main AI platform you’re using right now?

I use ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot, each have different strengths and I use them for different jobs.

Until recently though, my go-to all-rounder for running my business was ChatGPT.

But I’m now shifting more of my workflows to Claude (especially for integrations + automation potential).

The Claude outage on Monday was a timely reminder for me to also revisit my contingency planning. 

If you’ve got business-critical workflows running on one LLM, you need a contingency plan for when it goes down.

Before you roll AI across your business, sort the boring stuff:

Who owns the workflow (and who fixes it when it breaks)?

What’s the fallback (second model, manual process, or “good enough” template)?

What’s your minimum service level (what must keep running no matter what)?

Do you have a back up plan for when your favourite AI tool has a wobble?

#AI #AIGovernance #SME #Productivity

If you were a biscuit what biscuits would you be? 

Me? apparently, according to my two lovely teens, I'd be a Jammy Dodger 😂💖

Yesterday was spent mostly eating this amazing cheese cake they made me. 

AI can't make cheesecake (day 2 of my 'No AI weekend') 

#Family #Cake #NoAIDay

Sabine VanderLinden

Activate Innovation Ecosystems | Tech Ambassador | Founder of Alchemy Crew Ventures + Scouting for Growth | Chair, Board Member, Advisor | Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow-Bayes Business School

I don't just talk about innovation, AI, workforce or digital transformation— I build the bridges that make things real.

As Founder & Venture-Client Partner of Alchemy Crew Ventures, I run global R&D + Adoption Labs that connect Fortune 500 insurers and corporates with the most brilliant tech ventures on the planet. Think of us as the “fast lane” between startup brilliance and enterprise adoption. My themes include FinTech/ InsurTech and deploying AI at scale responsibly. 

What this looks like in numbers:
📍 Accelerated 160+ ventures and sourced 55,000+ startups worldwide
📍 Invested in 35+ early stage startups
📍 Delivered exits like FitSense → Zurich (2018), MyFutureNow → L&G (2019), and Tia Tech → Sapiens (2020)
📍 Created Insurer-led Acceleration and Scaleup programs that turned pilot purgatory into scalable commercial success

But the real story? I help founders land their first million-dollar client, build authentic personal brands, and help corporates cut through the noise to adopt tech that drives real growth.

My world revolves around:
📍 Venture Clienting 2.0 & Corporate Innovation Frameworks
📍 AI (ethics, adoption, emerging risks)
📍 Climate Resilience, Risk Futures & Sustainability Transformation
📍 The Future of Work (where humans + tech thrive together)

Beyond Alchemy Crew:
📍 Co-editor of the bestselling INSURTECH Book
📍 Wrote forewords for the Future of Insurance and Momentum
📍 Lecturer on Corporate Venturing at Bayes Business School
📍 Board + advisory roles across VCs, Scaleups (The CareVoice), foundations (Women to Watch), standards (ACORD Solutions) & global insurers
📍 Top 10 Business Podcast "Scouting for Growth" 
📍 Recognized with 10+ awards, including Most Influential CEO – Insurance Corporate Ventures (2024/2025)

My channels beyond LinkedIn:
x.com: @SabineVdL
instagram: @sabinevdlofficial
Medium: @sabine_vdl
Podcast: Scouting for Growth and Beyond Tech Frontiers
Newsletter: alchemycrew.ventures

What drives me?
Creating value where others see friction.
Turning hype into measurable outcomes.
And making sure technology becomes a force for good, not just another buzzword.

Award List (10+): Insurance Times-Tech & Innovation Awards Winner (2018), Grant Thornton-Face of a Vibrant Economy (2018), Business Insurance-Women to Watch Honoree (2019), Corporate Vision-Venture Validation Firm of the Year (2021), Finalist Women in Insurance Perseverance Award (2021), Awarded Perseverant Company to Watch in (2021), ACORD Awards (2020/2023), Most Influential CEO-Insurance Corporate Ventures (2024/2025).

Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer & Venture Partner

Delivering venture labs that accelerate, industrialize and democratize the way tech ventures engage with corporations. These labs apply acceleration, co-creation, and commercialization techniques to de-risk the way insurers and financial institutions collaborate, grow, and scale their venture-led growth initiatives.

Also, systematizing for a select group of growth ventures the way their engagement with corporations.

You can find out more 👉🏽 https://alchemycrew.com/

🌟 74% of enterprises are racing to deploy agentic AI.
Only 21% have the governance to handle it.  Where do you sit?💫

Some say this is part of a slow but controlled demolition.

Here's what's happening. Deloitte's latest State of AI in the Enterprise report confirms the stampede: three-quarters of companies plan to deploy agentic AI within two years. 

But the #governancegap is staggering. Half of all projects (as we know) are stuck in pilot purgatory. And Gartner now projects the AI governance market will hit $1 billion by 2030 because the cost of getting this wrong is existential.

What does this reveal? As shared with you before, we're entering the era of the Frontier Firm. Organisations that don't just adopt AI, but rewire their entire operating model around human-AI collaboration. 

Microsoft and McKinsey & Company agree: the bottleneck isn't the technology. It's leadership. 

Harvard Business Review calls it "AI angst": a predictable, industry-specific pattern of fear that stalls adoption from the inside out.

The opportunity... and challenge is this: the companies that govern first and scale second will define the next decade. The rest will become cautionary tales in someone else's case study.

Soooo, here are 5 things to act on now:

📍  Govern before you scale. A governance framework isn't bureaucracy. It is actually your licence to move fast.
📍  Address AI angst head-on. Your people aren't resistant to change. They're waiting for you to lead it.
📍  Bridge the pilot-to-production gap. Find partners who deliver governed, production-ready solutions 😊... not just demos.
📍  Industrialise your venture-client model. The best startups solve the problems you haven't staffed for yet.
📍  Measure velocity, not just speed. Controlled, strategic acceleration beats reckless momentum every time.

Think of it this way: everyone has a ticket for the AI rocket ship. But only a few have actually checked the engineering.

Which side of the governance gap is your organisation on? I'd love to hear what's working... and what's not. 

Let's debate below.

And today, I just decided to pick Deloitte Research to support my thesis.

Deloitte-State of AI

🌟 70% of AI pilots never scale. 💫

So why do we keep celebrating experiments instead of outcomes?

Today at 11AM ET/ 4PM GMT, I'm moderating a Reuters Events Insurance conversation that cuts through the noise with leaders who've actually moved GenAI from slide deck to underwriting floor.

🎙️ Win with GenAI: Transform SME & Mid-Market Underwriting for Speed, Accuracy, and Scal.

I'll be joined by an exceptional panel:

Caroline Thompson, Chief Underwriting Officer, AtBay 
Frank Neugebauer, VP of Generative AI, Cincinnati Insurance 
Alex Bibic, Head of Products (Technology), CFC 
Nicole Ricci, Head of Commercial Gen AI Underwriting Assistant, Verisk

We won't talk about what AI could do. We intend to unpack what it's already doing across data governance, human-agent teaming, and ecosystem design at scale.

Because boardrooms don't buy pilots. They buy scaled outcomes.

The real question isn't "Do we have an AI strategy?" -> it's "Where are our results?"

If you lead underwriting, transformation, or technology in insurance, this one's built for you.

🔗 https://lnkd.in/eMuNP3G5
Today, Feb 26 | 11–12PM ET/ 4-5PM GMT

#GenAI #Underwriting #AITransformation #ReutersEvents

Reuters events. Today's webinar

Win with GenAI: Transform SME & Mid-Market Underwriting for Speed, Accuracy and Scale

I look forward to meeting insurance executives, transformation leaders, and tech innovators in Istanbul for the Silk Road Insurance Forum at the end of March 2026. 

We will unpack what innovation looks like for the Silk Road Insurance countries, dive into SAS's four insurance futures, and discuss the Agentic Frontier Transformation Playbook.

Across insurance markets, the challenge is no longer whether to adopt AI — but how to operationalize it at scale.

Sabine VanderLinden will share how AI-enabled transformation actually works in practice across insurance organizations.

Request an invitation via our website:  https://lnkd.in/d5eJb_Ma

#SilkRoadInsuranceForum #InsuranceLeadership #TechBridge #FutureOfInsurance #BuildingBridges

🌟 The countdown to 2027 has begun, yet most insurance leaders are still looking in the rearview mirror. 💫

Check out the compelling post from Karl Grandl about the EUDI Wallet (the European Digital Identity directive), and it struck me how few in our industry have this on their strategic roadmap. 

We often talk about the current transformation as a distant goal, but with EU Regulation 2024/1183 (eIDAS 2.0) already in force since May 2024, that specific "future" is arriving faster than many realize.

We have seen the number: Less than 20-30% of digital transformations succeed, often because they lack a standardized, secure foundation. 

The EUDI Wallet is the state-verified digital identity that will finally bridge the gap between corporate legacy and startup agility.

By the end of 2026, every EU member state must provide this wallet. 

By 2027, it will become mandatory for industries requiring strong customer authentication, and insurers are right at the top of that list. For those building the future of our industry, this is transformational. 

Imagine a world where we can:

📍 Simplify: Onboard customers in minutes, not days, with instantly verified identity and driver’s licenses.

📍 Standardise: Issue policies instantaneously as customers authenticate via EUDI.

📍 Share: Handle claims without media discontinuity, no paper, no friction, just verified digital documents. (This is what Miss Moneypenny Technologies does by the way)

However, the real risk isn't the technology. 

Today, we have to admit... It's the wait. Those who prepare their customer journeys now will gain a significant strategic advantage. Those who wait will be forced to follow suit under immense time pressure, risking the very failure rates we strive to avoid.

Karl is doing incredible work at the Bitkom Working Group "Digital Insurance & Insurtech" to map out these implications. 👇🏽

#DigitalIdentity #EUDIWallet #eIDAS2

EUDI Wallet - die Europäische Digitale Identität kommt

Ende 2026 muss jeder EU-Mitgliedsstaat eine EUDI Wallet bereitstellen. 

Ab 2027 wird sie für Branchen mit starker Kundenauthentifizierung verpflichtend — und Versicherer stehen ganz oben auf der Liste.

Die meisten haben das noch nicht auf dem Schirm.
Die EUDI Wallet ist nicht einfach eine weitere App. Sie ist die staatlich verifizierte digitale Identität — für jeden EU-Bürger, auf dem Smartphone.
Was das für Versicherer konkret bedeutet:

→ Kunden-Onboarding in Minuten statt Tagen. Identität, Wohnsitz, Führerschein — alles verifiziert, alles im Wallet. 
→ Policen-Ausstellung wird instant. 
Kfz-Versicherung? Kunde authentifiziert sich per EUDI, teilt Führerschein und Fahrzeugdaten. Fertig. 
→ Schadenmeldung ohne Medienbruch. 
Verifizierte Identität + digitale Dokumente = kein Papier, kein Call Center.

Die EU-Verordnung 2024/1183 (eIDAS 2.0) ist seit Mai 2024 in Kraft. Die Implementing Acts sind seit Dezember 2024 veröffentlicht. 

Der Countdown läuft.

Wer jetzt anfängt, seine Customer Journeys darauf vorzubereiten, hat einen strategischen Vorsprung. 
Wer wartet, wird unter Zeitdruck nachziehen.
Ich beschäftige mich als Vorstand im Bitkom AK "Digital Insurance & Insurtech" intensiv mit EUDI und den Implikationen für unsere Branche. 
Was ich sehe: Die wenigsten Versicherer haben das Thema auf ihrer Roadmap — dabei wird es das Kundengeschäft der nächsten Dekade prägen.
Wenn ihr tiefer einsteigen wollt — was EUDI konkret für euer Geschäftsmodell bedeutet, welche Use Cases jetzt schon realistisch sind und wo die regulatorischen Fallstricke liegen: 
Schreibt mir eine Nachricht oder kommentiert einfach kurz. 
Ich teile gerne, was wir im Bitkom dazu erarbeiten.

#DigitalInsurance #EUDI

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The Battle

Emma Ellse

Sabine VanderLinden

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Emma Ellse's LinkedIn Performance

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