If you’ve been following our Apprentice reviews you’ll likely already know that the winner is 26 year old fashion designer Sian Gabbidon with her line of swimwear. She has bagged a quarter of a million pounds. Sian, we salute you.
The last few weeks saw a slim down of candidates and Lord Sugar stating he was: “looking for workers, not shirkers” what followed were gruelling interviews and the expected “Why I fired them episode”…so all that remained to be seen was to select the finalists. From the final five: Sabrina Stocker, Khadija Khalifa, Daniel Elahi, Camilla Ainsworth, Sian Gabbidon. Let’s take a re-cap…
Sabrina Stocker
Dubbed the most enthusiastic candidate to date, Sabrina brought bucketfuls of positive energy. The young tennis player had her sights set on the £250k with her tennis events business: ‘My Tennis Events‘. Lord Sugar was concerned in the final hours that not having her own space could jeopardise the business and failed to see it’s USP / growth rate.
Khadija Khalifa
After walking away from a future as a lawyer, Khadija went out to work as a cleaner taking her newborn daughter with her. Describing herself as a: Mumpreneur. She claims to have built a business from twenty pounds in her pocket. Now running her company, it’s been some time since she herself picked up a mop. She was hoping to take London by storm and clean up with the £250k investment. Lord Sugar who clearly had respect for all she’s achieved eventually chose not to invest in Khadija’s business.
Daniel Elahi
The business owner of lifestyle brand which consists of vitamins sachets, which claim to give you a natural high and essentially, cure a hangover. Lord Sugar was concerned that the business may promote binge drinking and despite Daniel impressing Lord Sugar’s advisor Claude, with his business acumen from having achieved in selling an arm of the business as a franchise; sugar told him: You’re fired.
Camilla Ainsworth
Driven by her lactose intolerance and having worked on a dairy farm, Camila developed her own nut milk and nut milk flavours which she grew into a business and even delivers herself. She was looking to tetra-pack the liquid and sell in volume on supermarket shelves.
Sian Gabbidon
Leeds born Sian who started out in life keen on sports quickly turned her attention to fashion. After spotting what she believed was a gap in the market for swimwear to wear both on the beach and to pool parties, she set about designing, manufacturing and selling her creations and launched her label: Sian Marie.
The Final:
Camilla Ainsworth and Sian Gabbidon were chosen to go head to head for the highly prized £250,000 and to become Lord Sugar’s business partner. Camilla Ainsworth was pitching for her nut milk brand Mylk Plus, Sian Gabbidon for Sian Marie swimwear.
You’re Hired:
A close call between the two business women, that saw victory snatched by Sian. The 26-year-old designer turned businesswoman from Leeds was quoted as saying on her Instagram of the win: it has been a “rollercoaster” and she was “overwhelmed” but “very excited”.
All that remains is to watch this space for this year’s winner Sian.
