Junior apprentice is back and the theme of young entrepreneurs was very much to the fore. With you people coming into a maelstrom of economic bad news we badly need the youthful optimism of the contenders.
The teen would-be tycoons were put to work designing and flogging ice cream. This is a basic task repeated on the adult version. Lord Sugar uses it to test whether they can turn a profit or make a margin. It’s also designed to see if they can count and keep an eagle-eye on costs. Anyway it was girls v boys.
All the contestants were drawn from different backgrounds and with Britain’s class system very much in evidence. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the fault of posh or middle class kids that they are generally confident and articulate. The working class kids seem to believe, sadly, that attitude will get you through, and I don’t think that’s a good thing. Mohammed had too much attitude and a baseless bravado easily batted aside by the big boys.
The girls have similar dynamics which will come through but they were basking in a win as they managed to flog their ice cream having made too much and sold it for a very handsome profit. Basically they exploited the theme park harassed mum market, often quite cynically. They also added extras like sprinkles and charged for cones or coronets. They were very good at the marketing and came up with an innovative name for their lower fat product. That said their number crunching was clueless and they were only saved by the fact that they couldn’t decide on the optimal production level and went for full bore maximum output.
The boys looked sorted but they made a major error in pricing and lost the task. They mangled their margins and as anyone who follows my adult apprentice blog knows that is likely to get you fired.
Despite adopting a direct sell approach on Southend beach, their challenge melted in the boardroom when the numbers were read out. Mohammed was the hapless fall guy. He thought attitude and in your face challenge would win the day but it didn’t. Harry H the confident team leader was fair in bringing him in to the boardroom. A tiny guy with a big voice and a suit which looked too big for him, Mohammed failed on his presentation and soft skills. He tried to claim credit for the pirate theme but was in his naïve approach unable to claim credit even for his good achievements. That’s a lesson we can all learn and as he was made to walk the plank he might turn his young and able mind to presentation skills, and the need to manage your emotions.
When I mentored the young people in BBC3’s recent Up for Hire programme, these were the issues which kept coming up. James The bombastic Ulsterman who suggested selling the ice creams for £1.00, and wasted storage space on low selling watermelon yogurt could equally have gone, given that he bills himself as an economist. Anyway I will be linking up YA with theme of youth employment and opportunity in the next 8 weeks.
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