Zoe Plummer On The Junior Apprentice

11 June 2010

Mouthy Zoe Plummer

Zoe Plummer was the unfortunate one I loved to hate this year, with her know-it-all attitude and advantage of being “brought up around art” (how could we forget?) it was a shock that she made it as far as she did. Here Zoe talks about her experience on the show.

1. Why did you apply for the apprentice?

I applied for the apprentice because I wanted the opportunity to demonstrate my business skills, flair and acumen. As an avid viewer of the main series of the apprentice, I have always wanted to go on the show myself as I felt I would be a very credible candidate with a lot of skills to bring to the tasks. I have always possessed a very competitive spirit and felt that the apprentice would be an ideal environment to channel it into in a positive way.

2. What was your favourite task?

My favourite tasks were the cheese task and the art task. I really relished the opportunity of selling at a London market, as it was a familiar environment for me (albeit selling cheese as opposed to vintage clothing.) I really enjoyed the art task because art is something I have a passion for and feel that I know a fair amount about.

3. Tell me about the task you left on?

I left on the final task and just missed out from earning a place in the final two. As soon as I saw the other team’s brand, I knew we had lost. Although I feel that our product fitted the brief of the task better, which was to create a new bottle of water, distinctive and different to anything out there in the market currently and place it in a market that hadn’t been utitilised previously (they picked the most currently populated market.) I did really enjoy the task and felt that it was a really challenging but rewarding task as it involved a combination of lots of skills, (pitching, design, innovation, marketing, branding etc) in one task and played to many of my strengths.

4. What did you think of Lord Sugar, Nick and Karren?

Lord Sugar is a very wise man and nothing gets past him. I have a great deal of respect for him, what he has done and achieved and think he is very inspirational. Nick is incredibly astute and also a very witty man indeed. His raised eyebrows and displeased facial expressions have always been the source of much amusement over years of watching the main series of the apprentice and didn’t fall short of the expectation in real life either. Karren is an outstanding role model for women in business; she is warm and friendly and yet still hugely successful and headstrong. Although I was sad not to be able to meet Margaret, I feel that Karren was the best replacement possible.

5. What advice can you give young entrepreneurs?

The advice I would give to other young entrepreneurs would be: know what you want to do, be creative, intuitive, decisive and graft tirelessly until you realise your dreams and your fullest potential.

6. What are your plans for the future?

I have recently commenced with my new business venture, alongside my sister Rebecca. We are setting up and launching a new online shop selling vintage clothing, so now my exams are over for this year I’m going to put lots of work into making that a huge success. Beyond that, next year, having completed my A levels, I am going to go to university to hopefully study international law. Following my degree, I would like to get into translation in the political/legal hemisphere: perhaps translating for institutions such as the U.N or the E.U who deal with foreign affairs. Additionally, the dream is to set up my own foreign law interpreting firm which hires freelance interpreters to translate foreign law cases worldwide.

7. What are your highlights of the experience?

Looking back, I really enjoyed the process. It was gruelling and testing but also rewarding and fun. I really enjoyed many of the tasked and loved having the opportunity to take part in tasks involving a multitude of different skills. The treats were also brilliant, eating in Tom Atkins’ restaurant, meeting Sir Richard Branson and Timothy Everest was a fantastic experience.

8. What have you learnt about business?

I have learnt that there are all different kinds of people in business, to be more tolerant of other people with different styles and ways of working and to embrace each individual because everyone has something to offer.