Swimwear Brand Designer, Sian Gabbidon became Lord Sugar's 2018 Business Partner and earned herself a £250,000 investment into her fashionable, custom made, reversible swimwear. Sian joins a long line of successful Apprentice winners who have all gone on to grow their businesses with Lord Sugar's help.
Nut Milk Brand Owner, Camilla Ainsworth and Swimwear Brand Designer, Sian Gabbidon became the Final Two in this year's Apprentice and last night the pair went head to head, in their last chance to convince Lord Sugar to invest in one of them.
Previously fired Candidates returned to help the duo out, including Kurran Pooni, Kayode Damali, Jackie Fast, and Jasmine Kundra.
However, the extra help wasn't all it cracked up to be for Camilla's team after they ignored her requests to stay away from "Being overly sex" and not to use the word "Milk," in her dairy-free campaign.
While on Sian's team, Kurran Pooni took in on as if it was his last chance, taking charge of the advert and telling the cameraman "Don't listen to them only listen to me," when Sabrina and Jasmine tried to give their suggestions to how they should run their limited time.
I DID IT... & what an absolute rollercoaster it’s been, overwhelmed and still can’t believe it - I’m ready and excited to start the https://t.co/UzNq9yXrg6 journey with @Lord_Sugar thankyou for ALL of your support throughout ❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/1wXzxZwa9v
— siangabbidon (@siangabbidon) December 16, 2018
Head to head
Although they had the help from some of their past Candidates, to design their brands and advertisements it was down to Camilla and Sian to pitch themselves to Industry Experts.
After her pitch, Sian faced questions about the lack of clarity in her advert when it came to the reversibility of her swimwear and experts also wondered how her "Unique and customised," swimwear would stand out in the already flooded market. Ever the professional, Sian was able to combat the experts in a calm and sensible manner.
When talking to Lord Sugar after Sian's pitch, one expert told him "She understands her market and who her target market it," which impressed Lord Sugar but another did question "The scalability of the operation."
Next to pitch was Camilla, who's business formed after she discovered that she had a dairy intolerance and was unable to find her product on the market, so created it herself instead.
She faced some criticism for her logo and carton design as it represented a cowhide, despite being dairy-free and vegan-friendly.
Congrats @siangabbidon 😍 #TheApprentice pic.twitter.com/VFAHsKL2NV
— 10s 😍 (@puretens) December 16, 2018
After the pitch, Lord Sugar listen to more feedback on Camilla's business and was told "I think there's a challenge around selling the brand, on the very, very high percentage of nuts," by one expert. While another told him "She's in the right category, it's a category that's been growing by over 20% year on year."
Next business partner
The next day the teams returned to The Boardroom once more, to give their feedback on what they thought about the products they helped to create pitches for and were of course, positive. After the feedback ex-Candidates left while Sian and Camilla remained.