Essex Round Up

I love the Apprentice. Alan Sugar lives in Essex, his HQ is in

Debden Essex* and the whole show is filmed in London or so I am lead to believe

Amstrad Towers is currently being turned into a Luxury  Hotel according to my twitter buddy @bigalessex

It’s so mainstream, they have moved it from BBC2 onto BBC1 and now the whole world watches it. Instead of being about business, its about fame and fortune again. The good thing about the show is its filmed in November, and the results are kept under lock and key until the final episode. This means the contestants are out of the public eye for a few weeks before the likes Max Clifford etc swarm them with newspaper deals.

And Sir Alan is right, it had better be good. Or Else.

Although one of the contestants claim to be known as ‘the mouth of the year’ I notice she is from Surrey not Essex or East London. The track record shows he has never liked lawyers much, so I dont know why they even bother entering the contest.

Names and biogs, courtesy of the Guardian, the full article is there

Anita Shah
Age: 35
Career: Business strategist
Qualifications: LLB in law and postgraduate diploma in legal practice
Lives: Birmingham
A cricket fanatic, qualified lawyer and self-confessed perfectionist. Anita led a team to win at the Visa Business School in 2008 and, inspired by Dragon’s Den judge James Caan, believes you can be successful by investing in relationships and being nice to people. Anita considers herself to be a humanitarian with a Bridget Jones alter ego.

Debra Barr
Age: 24
Career: Senior sales consultant
Qualifications: BA in English Literature
Lives: Surrey
Buckinghamshire-born Debra considers herself to be a direct and driven saleswoman with a passion for business. She has had to fight illiteracy in her youth and, aged 10, had the reading age of a six-year-old. Embodying her belief in overcoming obstacles, Debra went on to study English Literature at university. Inspired by Bill Gates and Sir Richard Branson, she is a go-getter who would rather ask for forgiveness than permission.

Kate Walsh
Age: 27
Career: Licensing development manager
Qualifications: BSc in psychology and management
Lives: Hampshire
Staffordshire-born Kate is confident and resilient. She is an indie music fan who is interested in cooking, snowboarding and gym workouts. Kate, who says she regrets not applying to Oxbridge, describes herself as a highly motivated and ambitious professional with an educated opinion on most issues.

Kimberly Davis
Age: 33
Career: Marketing consultant
Qualifications: BA in music management
Lives: London
Born in the Bronx, New-Yorker Kimberly is an accomplished musician and business owner who launched a highly successful marketing and development business. Kimberly has performed Mozart at Carnegie Hall and toured the US East Coast playing violin with the Essex County Chamber Orchestra. A strong believer in karma, Kimberly insists she has no poker face and lists Tiffany & Co, Chanel and Apple as her most inspiring brands.

Lorraine Tighe
Age: 36
Career: National accounts manager
Qualifications: NHC in business studies
Lives: Kent
Mother-of-two Lorraine was born in London and left school at 16. Since then she has gone on to be the top salesperson in every company she has worked for and admires Victoria Beckham for being resourceful when doubted for having “not much talent”. Talkative Lorraine admits to having very little education and sums up her attitude to business as the ability to drive a dead horse to the winning line.

Mona Lewis
Age: 28
Career: Senior financial manager
Qualifications: A-levels
Lives: Kent
Born in Karachi, former Tanzanian beauty queen and mother-of-one Mona counts Tesco as one of her most admired businesses. She sees herself as shrewd and honest in business and believes that personal emotions should never interfere with decision-making. Mona chose to apply for The Apprentice to step out of her comfort zone and change the lives of her and her son.

Paula Jones
Age: 29
Career: Human resource consultant
Qualifications: Masters degree in industrial relations and human resource management
Lives: Walsall, West Midlands
Paula is an academic with a love for interior design. Born and raised in Walsall, Paula, a self-confessed scatterbrain, was a four-star sergeant in the army cadets and represented the army at county level in shooting.

Yasmina Siadatan
Age: 27
Career: Restaurateur
Qualifications: BSc Economic history with population studies
Lives: London
Highly ambitious restaurant owner and marathon runner Yasmina was born in Hull and spent time living in Los Angeles and Iran before settling in London. Yasmina, who first experienced the world of business in her dad’s restaurant, describes herself as dominaant yet adaptable and believes that business is about spotting a gap in the market and filling it better than anyone else can. She admires Sir Richard Branson’s attitude to personal service and would love to have been the brains behind Microsoft.

Ben Clarke
Age: 22
Career: Trainee stockbroker
Qualifications: BA (Hons) economics and business
Lives: Belfast
Belfast born and bred, Ben is a rebellious stockbroker. The former Gavin Henson lookalike cites Hugh Heffner as one of his most admired business figures. Rugby-playing Ben admits to being “cocky” but insists he takes business very seriously.

Howard Ebison
Age: 24
Career: Retail business manager
Qualifications: CIMA part-qualified accountant – BSc (Hons) maths and business studies
Lives: Derby
Born in Surrey, Howard is an enthusiastic businessman, award-winning dancer, self-trained musician and area manager to 10 pubs. Howard hopes one day to set up his own consultancy specialising in customer service.

James McQuillan
Age: 32
Career: Senior commercial manager
Qualifications: MA (Hons) economics
Lives: Surrey
Football referee, sports fanatic and former child chess champion James lists Al Pacino and JK Rowling as inspirational figures. James has worked as a labourer, trolley collector and a nightclub doorman before finding his niche in commercial management. He describes himself as likeable and selfless and would love to have been the brains behind The A-Team.

Majid Nagra
Age: 28
Career: Business development manager
Qualifications: BSc computer science
Lives: Coventry
Reformed rebel Maj sees himself as loyal and believes business is the backbone to the world. Born in Coventry, Maj was expelled from school for wayward behaviour but now works with youth centres and charities while running his own car hire business. Describing himself as funny and talkative, Maj says he never shies away from the spotlight.

Noorul Choudhury
Age: 33
Career: Science teacher
Qualifications: GTTP, CIM
Lives: Rochdale
Science teacher Noorul hopes to become a property development millionaire. He aims one day to start up a men’s tailoring business. Describing himself as a straight-talking leader, he loves being kept on his feet and confesses to always putting work first. He believes business is a cut-throat, dog-eat-dog game that you must play to win.

Phillip Taylor
Age: 29
Career: Estate Agent
Qualifications: NEBS Certificate in Management
Lives: County Durham
Born and raised in County Durham, Phillip, who describes himself as “confident and charming”, believes he can deal with people on any level. A self-confessed control freak, he is passionate about all projects he involves himself in and considers himself to be a nice guy who people can relate to.

Rocky Andrews
Age: 21
Career: Sandwich chain owner
Qualifications: N/A
Lives: North Yorkshire
Rocky is this year’s youngest candidate and already earns more than the six-figure salary on offer from Sir Alan. He left school at 16 to pursue a career in football with Middlesbrough but was diagnosed with arthritis. Aged 17, Rocky started up a sandwich business – which now includes 15 shops across north-east England.

Having looked at the list, and not having seen any of them live, my money is on Anita Shah and Kate Walsh. I notice two contestants are from over the bridge in Kent, so I may have to root for them
I reserve the right to change my mind after having watched the first few episodes. I do think the woman from the bronx will be the first to quit…

If you want to share your thoughts tell me who you think will win, two names and who will be the first to quit in your comment.

Sarah

*edited as I first said Brentwood as that’s where Amstrad used to be, but it was sold a while ago and my brain is still updating… thanks Richard Alvin for reminding me

Related articles by Zemanta

• Sir Alan Sugar urges shoppers to buy British (telegraph.co.uk)

Related posts:

1. The Essex Contender from the Apprentice
2. Social Media Bullies – Ecademy -what to do when they step across the line
3. The Essex Rich List
4. A Night on the Town, Networking
5. My Experiences of Poverty. Blog action day for Poverty – 2008

Friday, March 20th, 2009, 7:17 am   |   ELEP witterings  |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback