The Apprentice 2013 – The Result
July 17, 2013 2 Comments
The Apprentice 2013 – The Result
Apprentice winner, Leah Totton. Courtesy of BBC
In the end, Lord Sugar surprised us with the brave choice of Leah Totton as his business partner. Brave, not because of Leah herself, but because her idea of aesthetic clinics takes Lord Sugar into unknown territory. The safer option would have been Luisa’s baking wholesale brand. This decision will be seen as just reward for Luisa who was, frankly, awful for long stretches of this season. Yes, she did improve as the series went on, but when she was bad she was rotten. This possibly accounted for why Luisa only got Neil as her first choice team member ,where as Leah got all of her first choices. I for one am pleased that she lost.
Having said that, we saw a different side to Leah, who so determined and set on getting her way, that she almost ignored good advice from her team around her brand name.
Leah was very clear in her business proposal, and had researched the market thoroughly. She may be new to business, but she has the clinical credibility to see it through. Don’t be surprised to see Lord Sugar get his wish and Leah become not only the face, but the name of her business. “NIKS” could easily become “Dr Leah”. Not only does she have professional credibility, but she is photogenic.
It is probably Leah’s passion and conviction, backed up with solid numbers (something that Luisa was a little vague on) that helped to convince Sugar to go with the aesthetics business. One other factor was Luisa’s vagueness about what would happen to her 3 other businesses. Sugar may be recruiting a business partner, rather than a member of staff, but he expects 100% of their attention in return for his £250K.
It will be interesting to see how this business idea progresses, but don’t be surprised to see The Baker’s Toolkit also become successful, with alternative investors.
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Having just seen more of the programme, it is interesting to note that the business IS to be called DR LEAH
Having looked into Luisa’s other businesses a bit, I had to say I was unimpressed. That’s not to say she couldn’t succeed with this venture, but as Sugar mentioned in the boardroom most wholesale businesses are dependent on volume as margins are slim. I’m not sure that, given the numbers she talked about in her pitch, she will ever make enough to satisfy Sugar’s need to make a return on his investment. I could well be wrong, as I only have a passing knowledge of the food services industry, but from what I know of wholesale in general, it’s a tough gig.
My full final recap is here – bring on the next series:
http://slouchingtowardstv.com/2013/07/17/the-apprentice-bake-off-versus-faceoff/