Enigma Strategic Communications
Special projects and strategic communications consultancy founded in 2019 by Sven Hughes and Olga Kurushina; successor entity to Verbalisation Consultancy Ltd; promotes “ethical influence”; proprietary methodologies including Ethion® and the Enigma Engine®; commercial and governmental clients
| Enigma Strategic Communications Ltd | |
|---|---|
| Type | Strategic communications / special projects consultancy |
| Logo | |
| Founded | 4 September 2019 (as Verbalisation Consultancy Ltd; renamed 9 October 2019) |
| Founder(s) | Sven Hughes, Olga Kurushina |
| Dissolved | |
| Registration ID | |
| Status | |
| Headquarters | Suite G04, 1 Quality Court, Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1HR |
| Location | |
| Area served | |
| Services | |
| Registration | |
| Key people | Sven Hughes (CEO and director); Olga Kurushina (director / Head of Client Services) |
| Website | enigmastrat.com |
| Remarks | |
Enigma Strategic Communications Ltd is a UK special-projects and strategic communications consultancy founded in 2019 by Sven Hughes and Olga Kurushina. It is the successor entity to Verbalisation Consultancy Ltd (the short-lived second incarnation of Verbalisation). The firm describes itself as delivering “actionable intelligence” and “intelligent actions,” with a focus on “ethical influence,” audience analysis, brand repositioning and campaign solutions for commercial and governmental clients.[1][2]
Company history
The company was incorporated on 4 September 2019 as Verbalisation Consultancy Ltd (company number 12188078). Its name was changed to Enigma Strategic Communications Ltd on 9 October 2019. Initial registered office address: Unit 3 Merchant, Evegate Business Park, Ashford, Kent, TN25 6SX. Subsequent addresses have included 29 Forthbridge Road, London SW11 5NX; Tumble Down, Guildford Road, Westcott, Dorking RH4 3NR; and (from 2025) Suite G04, 1 Quality Court, Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1HR.[2]
Directors since incorporation have been Sven Rolf Hughes (born January 1974) and Olga Kurushina (born January 1980). Both are listed as persons with significant control. The firm is a private limited company (SIC 82990 – other business support service activities not elsewhere classified). Accounts are filed as total exemption full; shareholders’ funds stood at approximately £143,443 as at 30 September 2025. Employee numbers reported in recent accounts are low (around 2).[2]
Positioning and methodology
Enigma describes itself as a “multi award-winning special projects consultancy” that “shapes public perception through impactful and purposeful communication” and whose “proprietary methodologies set new standards within the international strategic communications sector.” It promotes “ethical influence” for both commercial and governmental clients, including peacekeeping forces, and has launched products including Ethion® (described as an AI-powered ethical influence system) and the Enigma Engine®. The firm’s language and tools continue the behavioural/language-analysis approach developed at Verbalisation (including RAID®).[1][3]
Client testimonials on the company website include references to audience profiling and brand repositioning for commercial clients, political slogan work, and counter-violent-extremism activity associated with Hughes.[4]
Awards
The firm and its leadership have received multiple SME and entrepreneurial awards, including:
- Rising Star of the Year 2026 (UK Elite Business Awards)
- Top 50 / Top 100 UK SMEs (Elite Business list, multiple years)
- Best Enterprising Business 2025 and Business of the Year (under 50 employees), SME Surrey Business Awards
- Businessperson of the Year 2024 (Central South Business Awards and Surrey Business Awards) – awarded to Sven Hughes
- Creative Entrepreneur of the Year 2023 (Great British Entrepreneur Awards) – Sven Hughes[1][5]
People
- Sven Hughes – co-founder, CEO and director (from 4 September 2019). Former founder and CEO of Verbalisation; former Head of Elections at SCL Group and New Century Media; former ISAF PsyOps consultant in Afghanistan; British Army psyops reservist.
- Olga Kurushina – co-founder, director and Head of Client Services (from 4 September 2019). Previously at Verbalisation (business development / client service / strategy, 2011–2019) and earlier at Grey worldwide / G2 Moscow. Also co-director of the dissolved Petrushka Limited with Hughes and Michael Raimes Jones.[2][6]
Connection to Verbalisation
Enigma is the direct corporate continuation of the short-lived Verbalisation Consultancy Ltd entity created in September 2019 as Verbalisation Limited entered voluntary liquidation. Hughes and Kurushina carried the behavioural-communications approach (language analysis, audience profiling, “precision-engineered” influence) into the new firm under the “ethical influence” branding.[7]
See also
- Sven Hughes
- Olga Kurushina
- Verbalisation
- Global Influence
- Michael Raimes Jones
- SCL Group / Strategic Communication Laboratories
External links
- Enigma Strategic Communications website
- About page
- Companies House: Enigma Strategic Communications Ltd (12188078)
- Elite Business Magazine profile
- Surrey Chambers award coverage (18 July 2024)
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 About – Enigma Strategic Communications.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Companies House: Enigma Strategic Communications Ltd (company number 12188078).
- ↑ Enigma Strategic Communications Ltd – Elite Business Magazine.
- ↑ Enigma Strategic Communications homepage.
- ↑ “Another prestigious award win for Enigma Strategic Communications”, Surrey Chambers, 18 July 2024.
- ↑ Companies House: Enigma Strategic Communications Ltd officers and Petrushka Limited officers; prior career summary from LinkedIn / professional listings (Head of Client Services, Enigma; previously Verbalisation 2011–2019 and Grey / G2 Moscow).
- ↑ Companies House filings: Verbalisation Limited (07713869) and Verbalisation Consultancy Ltd / Enigma Strategic Communications Ltd (12188078); see also Evening Standard, 16 October 2015 and the Verbalisation page summary of the 2019 name change and liquidation.