#SMWLDN

Lauren Anderson has played an instrumental role in building the global collaborative consumption movement. Over the past three years, she has been a vital source of strategic knowledge and market insights for entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and government leaders; identifying technology, regulatory and consumer shifts and the implications for the space. Lauren has built a global network of ambassadors across 23 countries to share best practices and local news on collaborativeconsumption.com

Ali has spent the last 15 years dedicated to helping communities to travel more sustainably. In 1998 whilst in his final year at University, 2 weeks before Google was born, he set up liftshare.com – a clever website which helps people find others travelling the same way as them so they can share their journey.

What started in a university bedsit has grown steadily and now he and his team of 24 run the UK’s national network of over 600 liftshare schemes for communities and businesses. Membership hit 540,000 in 2012. Liftshare currently saves 120,000 car journeys a day.

He is sure that if we make better use of what we have by sharing then we can make huge reductions in the resources we need.

Ali and his team have been awarded the Queen’s Award for Innovation through Technology, The Ashden Award, Business Commitment to the Environment Award , Business in the Community National Award for Excellence, Essence of the Entrepreneur Award and the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Tess is Marketing, PR and Communications Manager at Streetbank – http://www.streetbank.com/

.Mark Walker is the UK General Manager of Zipcar, the world’s largest pay-as-you-drive car club. Under Mark’s leadership, Zipcar helps form part of a smarter transportation system in the UK, complementing public transport and reducing congestion by taking cars off the road. London is the largest Zipcar network in the UK, with thousands of cars across 31 London boroughs.

Debbie Wosskow is a serial entrepreneur and business strategist. A former management consultant, she launched her first business, marketing and communications consultancy Mantra, at the age of just 25.

In October 2011, when she was struggling to find accommodation for her family holiday that wouldn’t use up 80 per cent of their travel budget, Debbie took inspiration from the film “The Holiday” where Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz swap homes for the Christmas holidays, and conceived of the idea for Love Home Swap (www.LoveHomeSwap.com)

Love Home Swap is a socially connected home exchange site, providing travellers interested in a local experience with an inexpensive, yet stylish way to spend their holiday. Love Home Swap presents the best community of stylish home swaps ever assembled, with thousands of homes across more than 80 countries to choose from it’s now possible to swap your home for holiday wherever and whenever you want to go.