Frequently asked questions

Like our customers, we are a small but perfectly formed diverse team bringing over 50+ years of combined experience in insurance, underwriting, claims, and digital product development. This, coupled with a background in technology and a passion for championing the underserved, means we are perfectly placed to support the small businesses we protect.

Lukango is helping today’s small businesses and entrepreneurs (you) realise their dreams by protecting their business with truly flexible, easy to understand insurance cover. Lukango puts business owners in control of how little or how much protection they have, and when that protection needs to be in place. It is this flexibility that gives our customers a truly personalised experience.

Lukango provides cover for many types of business. Just like you, we’re starting small with our first insurance products designed to cover online retailer businesses. Whether you sell: hand designed t-shirts, pet products, football memorabilia or 1990’s CDs (remember them), we aim to cover you.

As Lukango grows, our next generation of products will provide protection for even more businesses: media, creative, tech, data and wellness.

Business insurance can cover your company for financial losses if something goes wrong as a result of your day-to-day business activities. The type of cover you need will depend on what type of work you do, some examples include a customer being injured by your product, damage or theft of your stock, or sickness or injury to someone in your team.

There are many forms of insurance you can choose to cover your small business, including:

• Public liability insurance
• Employers’ liability insurance
• Product liability insurance
• Stock insurance

There are many other types of insurance you might want - check out our blog to find out more.

At Lukango we know that every business is different and has different insurance cover needs. This is why we work with you to build insurance policies perfectly tailored to your business.

Using our “flex” product, we can connect directly with your online business data to make sure that the correct levels of insurance protection are provided for your business needs. For example, we monitor your turnover levels and our product adapts to the growth of your business so you can be sure you're paying only what you need to.

For those that don't want to utilise our flex product, we also offer our “fix” product so that you know what you are going to pay upfront with the certainty that it won't change - that way you can plan your business finances.

Some insurance is optional but we think businesses should plan for every eventuality by protecting what is important to the successful running of your business . Many of your clients, partners and other companies you work with will need proof of insurance as a requirement before they work with you. A great example is that if your small business attends events, you will need the right level of public liability insurance when the event day arrives.

Did you know there is one form of business insurance that you are legally required to have? If your business has employees, then you must have at least £5 million of employers’ liability cover. Lukango can help you understand what you need and when you need it.

Yes, if you are in the process of setting up a new business you can purchase cover before registering your business - you won’t be required to have a company registration number or other registration details before buying. Your business might not be launched yet but if you have equipment, stock, or employees then you have risks you may want to consider protecting.

When you think about ecommerce, companies like Amazon that started way back in 1994, Alibaba and Ebay probably spring to mind. But to be an ecommerce business, you don't have to be one of those giants.

An ecommerce business (or online retailer), includes anything from selling secondhand stuff on Etsy, selling products on your own branded online shop built using a platform like Shopify, through to the techy business owners who sell stuff from their online shop they have built from scratch themselves. Lots of small businesses also sell through social media platforms or even social posts.

Ecommerce businesses benefit from all of the growing technology and tools that mean your customers can buy your products or services from the comfort of their laptops or mobile phones.  Want to get started selling online? Take a look at this blog.

Lukango has you covered. In a nutshell your insurance needs depend on what you sell online. At Lukango we offer:

Public Liability which will cover your customers for property damage or injury caused by your business. If you have lots of things to sell, Product Liability covers any injuries or damage as a result of using your products. Once you have people working with you, Employers' Liability which will make sure you are protected if one of your employees is injured or gets sick at work and if your money is tied up in your stock, we can help you to cover this should it get stolen or damaged with Stock Insurance.

The short answer here is that unless you have advised your home insurer that you are using your home, Dad's office or garage to store your business stock, then this policy is unlikely to provide the cover you need.

Our e-commerce policy provides insurance cover for both your stock and the products you sell, protection against any claims bought about through your interaction with the public or even if you have any employees

What insurance you will need depends on many different things such as what you sell, who you sell it to, where you sell it - to name just a few.

A core part of Lukango's offering for people who sell things online is product liability insurance. Whether you create, dropship or upcycle products, product liability coverage protects you and your business against the cost of compensation caused by injury or damage to property caused by a faulty product. We pair product liability with our public liability insurance. Public liability insurance offers protection for your small business to cover against accident claims and legal fees, if a member of the public is injured or their property is damaged, as a result of your business operations.

Whether it is for your home, mobile phone or valuable stuff, the core purpose of insurance is to cover you for damage or loss. The same applies to insurance for your business.

Public liability offers protection for your small business to cover against accident claims and legal fees, if a member of the public's property is damaged, or injured as a result of your business operations.

Did you know that the leading source of shopping inspiration online is Amazon and that the most common payment service in the UK is Paypal? With over 80% of UK consumers being digital online shoppers, if you are thinking of setting up shop online it may be interesting to know that the most commonly purchased items are clothes, shoes and clothing accessories!

Online is taking the world of shopping by storm and putting strain on our high-street chains. People love the idea of having something ordered and delivered right to their door whether it be that sought after clothing item or fast food delivery. That said, the pop-up and gig economy is booming with entrepreneurs setting up small businesses online to get much needed items to their customers.

The million dollar question that has multiple answers. These days platforms like Woocommerce, Shopify, Etsy and Facebook Marketplace make it easy for you to match the perfect platform with what you sell. The right online shopping platform can only be decided by you depending on how deep your tech knowledge of building an online shop is.

Online retail is booming with the recent announcements of well-known high-street shops like Paperchase and Argos having to rethink their brick and mortar store strategies. Online shoppers rave about just how easy it is to get what you need or desire by the click of a button. Shopping any time, anywhere and without the hustle and bustle of shops is a win for many people. Social apps like TikTok and Facebook even make it easy to purchase the products that are much loved by influencers and product experts.

Online retail is where you buy things on the internet without having to leave your house. It's like shopping at a shopping centre but you don't have to walk anywhere or talk to anyone. Win, win. There are many small businesses who are extending the reach of their customers by complementing casual market sales with online shops.

An online retail business is one that sells products or services over the internet. There are many ways to run an online retail business, but the most common way is to use an ecommerce platform like Shopify and sell products from your very own website.

There are two main ways to run your online retail business. The first is by selling products or services directly on your own website. The second way is selling products or services through a third-party platform such as Amazon or eBay, or even through a marketplace like Etsy.

The UK is fast becoming a nation of internet shoppers. But are we buying even more stuff online than we used to? The answer is a resounding yes according to Statista who early this year (2023) said over 80 percent of the UK population makes ecommerce purchases. This means that a whopping four in five UK consumers are digital buyers. The number of people who shop online has been steadily increasing over time, with a massive rise in recent years potentially because of COVID-19.

Online retail is a booming industry that is focused on the non-physical store or shop sales from online and mail order purchases. The rapid growth of online retail has been massively supported by an increase in smartphone usage and mobile commerce. Smartphones with apps like TikTok have increased the ability to make purchases online, online retail looks set to continue to grow. Consumers of all ages have become more comfortable with making purchases not just on a laptop or computer but also on mobile devices as retailers expand their digital offerings.

The internet has revolutionised how we shop. Small business owners trading as online retailers are able to offer a much wider range of products than brick-and-mortar shops, and they can do it at much lower prices. But there is more to online shopping than just convenience, a bigger selection of products and better prices. The speed with which you can buy goods online means that it’s easier than ever for people to do their shopping from home, or anywhere else in the world.

Online shopping has changed how we live our lives in many ways. It allows us to order groceries when we're hungry, clothes when we need them and even have someone else pick up our prescriptions at the pharmacy. Whatever products you create, make or sell to meet the needs of your customers can be the basis of your online retail shop.

As there is no legal requirement to have public liability insurance, there is no legal limit on how much cover you should have in place.

With Lukango, you can choose the amount of cover you have - £1m, £2m, £5m or £10m.

The lower the level of cover you have, the lower your premiums will be – but a lower cover limit can also leave you at risk if a large claim is made against your business.

Public liability offers protection for your small business against slips and trips, or property damage of a third party who comes into contact with your business.

Product liability insurance covers you for any damage or injuries that happen to your customers as a result of your product being faulty. This is different from public liability which provides cover should someone slip or trip when they come into contact with your business. Contact could be at your farmer's market, place of work, workshop or where you physically sell your products or services.

If that accident happens, and someone suffers an injury or damage because of one of the products you sell, then product liability coverage protects your business. It is important that you have insurance to cover the depth and scale of what it is that your small business does. This includes making sure you have coverage for any damage caused by your products.

Stock is any goods or merchandise for sale in your small business. This could be the finished product or the raw materials, like wool or glue, that you use to create and sell. Stock insurance covers your most important assets, the things you actually sell to customers, and can replace it up to its purchase value if that disaster happens.

Lost, damaged or stolen, Stock insurance is one of those insurance covers that puts many of the small business owners we know at ease.

This insurance cover needs some attention to detail! Stock insurance does require a little work from you to make sure that in the event of a problem, you have recorded your stock levels accurately so that your policy claim can be paid to the right level.

Stock insurance is typically an additional cover that focuses solely on the protection of stock in the event of theft, damage, fire or loss.

This part of your policy can costs less than a monthly Spotify subscription but has the flexibility to cover your most valuable assets - your stock that you have invested time, money and energy into creating. It is important to understand where the items are stored (i.e. safely and securely) and the value of the items will change the overall cost of the stock insurance.

Keep this in mind and always have simple, easy to understand records of your stock and its value. There could be penalties if your small business fails to make records that will be used in the event of a claim.

Employers' liability insurance covers the cost of compensating employees who are injured at or become ill through work.

You must get employers' liability insurance as soon as you become an employer - and it must cover you for at least £5 million.

Employers' liability insurance will help you pay compensation if an employee is injured or becomes ill because of the work they do for you

The wellness industry has a wealth of opportunities for small businesses. Whatever products or services keep the good old public fit mentally and physically would be classed as a wellness business.

With the effects of Covid-19 and the changes to the way we live our lives and work still being explored, the wellness industry is capitalising on digital wellness experiences broadening the types of wellness businesses we see in the future.

We can now add digital yoga studio owners, personal supper club chefs, life coach, and those of you who offer meditation retreats to the list of wellness businesses.

No matter how your small business focuses on the physical health, mental health and wellbeing of people, you might be thinking about the right insurance for you, your customers and those joy-makers that work with you. Here are some of the covers Lukango offers for wellness businesses?

• Public Liability: to reduce financial risk protect you should someone trip and fall during a Zumba class for example
• Product Liability: in case someone’s cosmetic treatment causes an unexpected reaction
• Employers Liability: to protect your small business if one of your pilates teachers takes a tumble (Negligence based - so would need to slip on water etc…)
• Stock Liability: if your latest batch of lotions and potions is water damaged
• Professional Indemnity: if you give any instruction or advice to your clients that is not as accurate as it should have been

You own a creative business if you make, design, create, bake or style your products or services for your customers.

From the great British bakers to the vintage clothing customisers, you are the artistic geniuses who share their joy of creating with the world.

You can make sure your business empire is protected by having insurance, here are a few covers that Lukango offers:

• Public Liability: to reduce financial risk should someone trip and fall during a Zumba class for example
• Product Liability: in case someone’s tasty treat causes an unexpected allergic reaction
• Employers Liability: to protect your small business if one of your creative-makers takes a tumble
• Stock Liability: if your latest personalised customer trainers is water damaged
• Professional Indemnity: if you give any instruction or advice to your clients that is not as accurate as it should have been

So many small business owners are lucky enough to work creatively doing something that they absolutely love. Professional Indemnity and public liability insurance are two of the most common policies for those working in the creative industry.

As with other types of small business, there are additional insurance policies like business equipment or stock insurance that might be a good fit for your business and if you have any employees, employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement.