Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how CS Ventures Group Ltd, trading as Proven Professionals, collects, uses and protects personal information.

Proven Professionals connects ambitious food and drink businesses with senior food and drink experts. We collect personal information when you contact us, submit an enquiry, apply to join our expert network, communicate with us, or use our website.

1. Who we are

Proven Professionals is operated by CS Ventures Group Ltd.

Company number: 16932569

For the purposes of UK data protection law, CS Ventures Group Ltd is the data controller for the personal information we collect through this website and related communications.

Contact email: hello@provenprofessionals.co.uk

2. Information we collect

We may collect the following information.

Information you provide through our website forms may include:

• name
• work email address
• phone number
• company name
• company background
• current or most recent role
• LinkedIn profile
• area of expertise
• years of senior experience
• stage of growth
• type of support needed
• details about your business challenge, experience or application

Information from communications may include:

• emails, messages and correspondence
• notes from calls or meetings
• information you choose to share with us

Website and technical information may include:

• basic usage information about how people interact with our website
• information collected through essential cookies or similar technologies where required for the website to function

If we later add analytics, advertising pixels or marketing tracking, this Privacy Policy will be updated and, where required, cookie consent will be requested.

3. How we use your information

We use personal information to:

• respond to enquiries
• understand what support a brand or business may need
• assess whether an expert may be suitable for the Proven Professionals network
• communicate with clients, prospective clients, experts and applicants
• make relevant introductions where appropriate
• manage our business relationships
• improve our website, services and processes
• keep appropriate business records
• comply with legal, regulatory or accounting obligations

We do not sell personal information.

4. Our lawful basis for using your information

We only use personal information where we have a lawful basis to do so.

Depending on the situation, we may rely on one or more of the following lawful bases.

Legitimate interests

We may rely on legitimate interests to respond to business enquiries, assess expert applications, manage relationships, improve our services and operate Proven Professionals as a business.

Contract or steps before entering into a contract

We may rely on contract or pre-contractual steps where we are discussing or agreeing potential work, introductions, engagements or commercial arrangements.

Legal obligation

We may rely on legal obligation where we need to keep records or process information to meet legal, regulatory, tax or accounting requirements.

Consent

We may rely on consent where we ask for consent for a specific purpose, such as optional marketing communications or non-essential cookies, if these are introduced.

5. Sharing your information

We may share information with:

• service providers who help us run the website, email, forms, hosting and business systems
• professional advisers, such as accountants, legal advisers or insurers
• prospective clients or experts, but only where relevant to a potential introduction or engagement
• regulators or authorities where required by law

Our current business systems may include website hosting and forms through Webflow and email services through Google Workspace.

We only share personal information where it is necessary, relevant and appropriate.

6. Expert applications and business enquiries

If you apply to join the expert network, submitting an application does not guarantee acceptance into the network or any future work.

If you submit a business enquiry, this does not guarantee that we will be able to introduce an expert or provide support.

We may use the information you provide to assess fit, understand relevance and decide whether further discussion is appropriate.

7. How long we keep information

We only keep personal information for as long as necessary.

As a guide:

• General enquiries may be kept for up to 24 months.
• Expert applications may be kept for up to 36 months.
• Records relating to active clients, experts, introductions or commercial relationships may be kept for the duration of the relationship and for up to 6 years afterwards where needed for business, legal, tax or accounting purposes.

We may delete information sooner if it is no longer needed.

8. Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you may have rights to:

• access the personal information we hold about you
• ask us to correct inaccurate information
• ask us to delete your information
• ask us to restrict how we use your information
• object to certain uses of your information
• request a copy of your information in a portable format
• withdraw consent where we rely on consent

To exercise your rights, contact: hello@provenprofessionals.co.uk

We may need to verify your identity before responding.

9. Security

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure or alteration.

No website, email system or online service can be guaranteed to be completely secure, so we encourage you not to send highly sensitive information through website forms.

10. Cookies

Our website may use essential cookies or similar technologies required for the site to function.

If we introduce analytics, advertising pixels or non-essential cookies, we will update this Privacy Policy and provide appropriate cookie information and consent options where required.

Non-essential cookies and similar technologies generally require consent, and users should be able to enable or disable them easily.

11. Links to other websites

Our website may include links to third-party websites, including LinkedIn.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of third-party websites. You should read their privacy policies before providing personal information to them.

12. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we use your personal information, please contact us first at:

hello@provenprofessionals.co.uk

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK regulator for data protection.

13. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.

The latest version will always be published on this page.