Interview: Tom Pellereau, winner of the 2011 Apprentice

Tonight on BBC1, this year’s crop of hopefuls seeking Lord Sugar’s approval arrive in Edinburgh for their latest test, but is it a prize that’s worth all the effort? Martyn McLaughlin talks to last year’s winner, Tom Pellereau

Tonight on BBC1, this year’s crop of hopefuls seeking Lord Sugar’s approval arrive in Edinburgh for their latest test, but is it a prize that’s worth all the effort? Martyn McLaughlin talks to last year’s winner, Tom Pellereau

TOM Pellereau is speaking to me from his desk in a white corrugated building in the Essex town of Loughton. Strategically positioned in the offices of the Amshold Group, he is always within the sightline of the notoriously irascible figure who acts as his mentor, partner, but above all else, his boss.

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“From where I’m sitting, I can see his office,” he says down the phone. “It’s maybe about five to ten metres away. He’s got me in a position where he can walk past my desk very easily.” He pauses, than in a lighter tone of voice, adds: “But he’s not in today.”

For a budding inventor, and a man whose whimsical yet charming personality won him a fanbase of millions, it seems an unnecessarily prohibitive working arrangement. But, he says, when someone of the Baron of Clapton’s stature, experience, and resources offers you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the dangers of being caught playing Minesweeper outside of your lunch hour is a price worth paying.

Pellereau, a polite, softly spoken 32-year-old, is the most recent winner of BBC1’s The Apprentice. The success ensured a £250,000 investment in his firm from Lord Alan Sugar, and a place in the offices of his business empire, which spans the likes of Amscreen, Amsprop, and Viglen. Since last August, he has diligently worked away on a host of product ideas, chief among them the Stylfile, a curved nail file which has recently gone on sale in Sainsbury’s.

At every stage of the process, Amstrad founder Lord Sugar has been on hand to offer advice, although Pellereau confesses he takes time to think about what he wants to say before approaching the multimillionaire.

“I have my work laid out on my desk so he can see it and make comment, and if I have any questions I can knock on his door, as long as I’ve worked out exactly what I want to say. I can ask a question and get some feedback, but more often than not, we talk via e-mail.”

Not that anyone should infer from the above that the young entrepreneur is routinely on the end of the fierce salvos so often dished out by the chair of the board to those brandishing ill-conceived products or business strategies on The Apprentice.

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“Lord Sugar is exactly as you see him, but some parts don’t always come across on television. He is very sincere and really cares, and he’s been really influential. It’s of huge benefit being based in his offices, to be around basically what is a genius. You want to know how they work, what their secret is, and emulate aspects of that.”

As he looks to follow in the footsteps of one of his heroes, the inventor Thomas Edison, Pellereau is determined to render real images in his mind of products which might not yet be desired by members of the public, but which would help change their lives for the better. Asked for what makes a great, iconic invention, he fires back: “It’s all about the consumer, the end user. In today’s world, an invention has to have a benefit as well as an appeal, a love.

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“The classic examples of technology aren’t just used by people, they’re loved, and that’s one of my viewpoints on nail files. A lot of products are letting consumers down and they’re not as easy to use as they should be, but also they don’t make you feel amazing when you use them.”

Pellereau believes a combination of “nature and nurture” led him on the path to a lifetime of invention. His grandfather, an orthopaedic surgeon, always had “tools and gadgets” lying around, which the young Pellereau would forensically disassemble and reassemble in order to appreciate their function and purpose. His parents, too, never chided him for doing the same in the family home.

“I was very fortunate in the fact that my family gave me encouragement and didn’t mind me making a right mess in my bedroom and taking things apart,” he laughs. “I remember one time, my dad wasn’t too impressed with me taking his racing bike apart, but I certainly didn’t get slaughtered for it.”

He also credits his dyslexia as influencing his outlook on the world, or as he puts it, “the randomness of my brain,” explaining: “It seems that dyslexics think in lots of directions rather than one straight path. Someone once described it as having lots of B roads which go everywhere when you’re young, but as you grow, they turn into motorways, with lots of B roads still going off from them.”

His first product arrived when he was aged just ten, made specifically with his grandmother in mind, who loved entertaining at Christmas, although she would often travel around various friends and family members over the festive period.

“My grandma is quite traditional and she loves having candlesticks in the middle of the table at Christmas. But when she went away she couldn’t take much with her, so I made her a modular candleabra out of wood. She’s still got it, and brings it out occasionally.”

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On reaching adulthood, his first job was on a farm, where he was charged with the task of sorting agricultural bulbs from mud. The occasion, unsurprisingly, reinforced his belief that he could never go down the ordinary nine-to-five route, even if he choses an uncharacteristically immodest way of describing his own Eureka moments.

“My father ran his own business and most of my relatives do, so the standard route didn’t necessarily appear as strong. I remember getting the feeling when I came up with an idea that it’s like a little child that I’ve got to try and nurture. It’s almost like I have no choice, I’d be letting the world down or letting myself down if I didn’t at least try and give this baby a chance.”

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Success in The Apprentice has secured Pellereau a place in the heart of Lord Sugar’s business empire, and it has given him a prominent media profile. He is “not really in it for the celebrity,” but concedes it is “pretty cool” to be invited to red carpet events. Similarly, he deems status as a poster boy for geeks “potentially unsettling,” but at the same time takes pride in the tag.

He explains: “The people who have helped change the world and do incredible things are massive geeks, people who have worked hard at what they do and excelled in their field, not just inventors but the likes of economists or journalists. I think the rise of the geek, as it were, is a very good thing and a great example for kids at school.”

He is also of the view that not everyone prospers in corporate boardrooms by exhibiting the same alpha male persona as Lord Sugar. Lauded by his viewers for his gentle, friendly touch, Pellereau feels it will stand him in good stead in his future career.

“I think in business what goes around usually comes around, so I firmly believe you should treat people the way you want to be treated. Nowadays in the world we live in, if someone wrongs you, you can get it out there pretty quickly, and brands have lost a lot of credence because of things that have been said. What’s great for me is that now I have that sort of persona, I continue to be like that and continue to be myself.”

As for the benefits of winning the show, Pellereau strikes a diplomatic tone when it is pointed out that of the six people who triumphed before him, not one continues to work with Lord Sugar today. “It’s difficult for me to comment on previous winners,” he says. “The way I look on it, the series I won was a good one to win, and I hope it will be a long-lasting thing. It depends if I run it well, and hopefully I will, but if the money runs out, I’m out on the street. But I’m in it for the long term.”

As well as the Stylfile, he has seven projects on the go, including a product with Mode Diagnostics, a Glasgow-based start-up which is developing a testing device that allows people to detect the early stages of bowel cancer. Pellereau assisted in the design and “user experience” of the product.

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When he finds a spare moment, the young inventor catches episodes from the current run of The Apprentice, with tonight’s episode set to feature the candidates selling gourmet food on the streets of Edinburgh.

The Apprentice is a show that has attracted criticism in some quarters for promoting a reality television style approach, where the personalities matter more than the products that are dreamt up. Pellereau, however, believes his mentor will be appearing on our screens for a while yet.

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“I think it’s up to Lord Sugar how many more he wants to do, but the viewing figures are up on last week, and this is the part of the series where people start to get really interested. I suspect there’s a good life left in it.”

Spoken like a true businessman.

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