Qualified to cook food but not the books

I hate to contradict a man that has been a successful entrepreneur, has made it big in the consumer electrical goods Market, has made millions of pounds and now has a seat on the Government via his ascendency to the House of Lords. But why did he choose a glorified Chef to become the next BBC Apprentice. Jasmina, won through quite predictably because of the dogged tenacity she must have had to run a successful business. Her own Restaurant, where she manages up to twenty staff is just the sort of yarn that Sir Alan likes to hear. With each year, in each series we are treated to another tale of how he defied the odds of a Hackney upbringing and made good. But Jasmina's story is not as similar as his own as Sir Alan likes to think.

For twelve weeks Jasmina and the other Apprentice hopefuls completed tasks to prove that their own interpersonal and business skills were worthy enough for Alan Sugar to pick them for a £100K job in one of his corporations. Each week they were tested on their ability to market, to sell, how they communicated and how well they performed in the imfamous boardroom showdown against fierce competition that was more than happy to stab them in the front in order to survive another week.

Many fell at the first hurdle, some were out of their depth, while others were plain bonkers, but when it came to the final with just Kate and Jasmina to choose between it looked like Kate was going to walk it by a mile. Wrong. Kate was just too polished they said, too perfect, she must have had faults they just could not see them. Jasmina on the other hand had run her own business, had started it with her Brother after they had convinced their Mother to re-mortgage her house. But she was to demonstrate that she had all the business acumen of a garden worm.

When she was interviewed by one of Sir Alan's Cronies in the penultimate week she flustered over really knowing the difference between what is Nett and Gross Turnover; and was blissfully unaware that company accounts are recorded and can be accessed by anybody. Important things to know if you run a modern business, you'd think?

Jasmina showed throughout the series that she was a personable young woman with definite social skills suited to run a group of young people who wait tables, but business savvy and a complete entrepreneur as Sir Alan suspects, she is not.