Time for my second (and last) post on the Apprentice, which will cover the final, which was between the last two women standing, Luisa and Leah, both of whom are different personalities with different business plans, and both of them were competing to become Lord Sugar's business partner.
So in the final Lord Sugar gave them their final task which was launch their businesses and come up with a brand and a campaign to promote their business. Luisa's plan was to sell to members of the baking trade, while Leah's was to set up a chain of cosmetic surgeons. Both ladies also had to select from a list of previous candidates in the process, with Leah getting the pick of the bunch with Francesca, Myles, Alex and Uzma. Luisa however was not happy with her choice of teammates especially as Leah had beat her to it for the candidates that she wanted, although she managed to get Neil and Natalie, she was less than happy with getting Jason and Zeeshaan.
Despite any fears that Luisa wouldn't get on with her team, she actually did really well at working with them and they all got on well together, although her brand label design was a bit on the pink side and seemed to be aimed primary at the female market. Leah on the other hand was actually a bit snappy with her team as she felt the pressure of the event, but she also did well at asserting herself and sticking to her decisions. The brand for her business was however a bit bland looking and the same NIKS (which is of course skin backwards) in the feedback from people on the street was pretty negative, as NIKS sounded too close to a nick when you cut yourself shaving. Leah then decided to say the name as the initials and the not the word, although team mates were not so happy the choice of name or the design of the label which was pretty straight forward and dull.
At the night of the presentations, Luisa went on first and she stumbled at the start of her pitch by fluffing her words, but she managed to recover it, although she was put on the spot when asked what her projections would be after five years and couldn't come up with a proper answer. Luisa afterwards was in tears as she felt the pitch was terrible and didn't go down well, but her team mates reassured her. Leah next however was in full control of her pitch as she was very professional, not to mention a bit clinical, although it did start with a rather cringeworthy dance from Francesca! Leah did however end up disagreeing with the industry experts, who thought she was only looking at the smaller picture in the comestics industry, but Leah her area of expertise would be the most commercial and lucrative. The industry experts afterward were impressed with different aspects of both pitches, but felt that Luisa didn't make it clear who she was targeting, and that Leah's presentation was a bit dry and clinical.
In the boardroom however it was down to Lord Sugar who he would choose as his business partner, and he weighed up the pros and cons of each candidate. With Luisa he felt her business was definitely manageable and the easier of the two to deal with, however Lord Sugar was concerned that she already had three existing businesses and if she would show the full commitment to him. Leah on the other hand, while her business plan was solid and interesting, Lord Sugar felt there was a great risk involved in going into the cosmetics market, which is highly competitive in itself, and also an area in which Lord Sugar had no experience in. However after all the toing and frowing Lord Sugar made his decision and he decided to hire Leah as his business partner, which marked the first time in the series that a woman had won the series as a business partner.
So that's it for the Apprentice 2013, and personally I think Lord Sugar made the right choice, as Leah, despite being a bit of a cold fish in her personality at times, was more level headed and she had a solid plan, which she carried through very well. And she comes across as being very professional and efficent, so I'm sure she will do very well with her business. As for Luisa well while she had her annoying shortcomings in being arrogant and opionated, and she even called Jason "totally useless" when she looked at his profile when she was looking at the candidates to help her with her project, she also did well in working with them as a team. Luisa also finally deserved a bit of sympathy after she fluffed her pitch and she broke down in tears afterwards as she felt she mucked it up, but Lord Sugar later said he felt her pitch was really good and she did well. And to be fair to Luisa after character assassinating Jason for being "useless and the last person she wanted to call" she apologised to him on The Apprentice: you're hired especially as he said in the final episode that he felt honoured that she picked him to be in her team. (although let's face it, he was useless, mwah, mwah! ;-)).
Right so that's it for this year's The Apprentice, which was one of the most entertaining so far of the series, especially of the series that cover the business plan aspect of the show.
And that's it for now.
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