Karren Brady Brings A New Style To The Apprentice
Times are changing on the hit BBC show The Apprentice. Not only has Lord Alan Sugar taken on a government role as the new Enterprise Tsar to the Prime Minister, but Margaret Mountford has resigned. She will be replaced by the First Lady of Football and former Birmingham City managing director, Karren Brady.
Who is Karren Brady and what makes her such a corporate success? Chantl du Plooy takes a look at Karrens career and the role she is expected to play on The Apprentice Series 6.
The new Margaret
With Lord Sugar appointed as a Labour peer, the BBC Trust has called for a rescheduling of the programme. It wouldnt be appropriate for The Apprentice to give additional media coverage to the Labour party when a general election is due. As a result, viewers will have to wait until July or August for the show to air.
Sadly the audience will also need to make peace with the absence of Margaret Mountford, who alongside Nick Hewer advised Lord Sugar since the show started five years ago.
The 56-year-old corporate lawyer was a natural. She played her role as Lord Sugars eyes and ears flawlessly, knowing just when to lift a brow, roll her eyes or speak.
In the Guardian, Kira Cochrane wrote that Margaret combines a steely core with acute moral and business judgment.
Before and during her time on The Apprentice, Margaret didnt care for fame and that is what made her such a keeper. She left the show after finishing the fifth series to focus on her PhD studies in papyrology, leaving an extremely important role vacant.
Before news broke that Karren Brady would be her successor, many experts set their own characteristics for the new Margaret.
Tim Teeman, arts and entertainment editor of the Times, said that The Apprentice could risk losing its mystique if they opted to appoint someone glamorous to replace Margaret.
Daily Telegraph television critic Mary Evans added: It's quintessentially British to have the slightly older woman. We don't do glamour in Britain; we do sensible, regal and sound. We have the candidates for eye-candy and it's important that they are looking across the boardroom at the craggiest faces.
Ironically enough, apart from the very attractive 40-year-old Karren Brady, the other candidates vying for the position were equally enchanting. These included 39-year-old the Ultimo Gel bra founder, Michelle Mone and 37-year-old entrepreneur, Martha Lane Fox.
As tough as they come
Karren Brady, the current vice-chairman of West Ham United, might already be familiar to The Apprentice fans after she featured in a series of one-off appearances. She also led a team on Comic Relief does The Apprentice and rose over 750,000.
However, Karrens media career began at the age of 18 when she started working at advertising company Saatchi & Saatchi. She moved on to become an Account Executive at London Broadcasting Company (LBC) where her paths crossed with publisher David Sullivan.
Sullivan made her a director at his company when she was only 20-years-old. Three years later, she took over the management of Birmingham City Football Club. Although Karren didnt know much about the sport, she directed the company back into profit. She became the youngest Managing Director of a PLC in the UK and improved the average gate of the Club from 6,000 to 30,000.
When she left Birmingham City after sixteen years, many were disappointed. Dough Ellis, former chairman of rivals Aston Villa told the Birmingham Post: Ive a great deal of respect for her business acumen and what she has done for the football club. I used to sit next to her in FA meetings and got to know her well.
Shes as tough as they come and its a huge loss for Birmingham City Football Club. Shell be missed enormously.
Unlike Margaret, Karren enjoyed a lot of media attention during her career. She hosted her own TV show, Brady Bunch, presented Central Weekend Live and wrote a string of columns for UK newspapers.
She was also awarded Cosmopolitan magazines Woman of the Year in 2006, named Business Woman of the Year in 2007 and won the NatWest Every Woman Award in 2008. In between all her professional duties, she is also a wife and mother of two.
While Karren Brady doesnt have Margarets mystique or matriarchal image, she does bring a wealth of experience and business smarts to the table, along with lashings of energy, wit and style.
Questions and Answers
Before one takes a job in UK its important to note down the working hour time limits of the company you have been employed. Normally, an employee in UK cannot work more than 48 hours a week. If you are looking for part time jobs in UK you have wide plethora of choices to choose from as there are numerous home based jobs offering lucrative compensation packages.
The jobs are need of every fresher to start his career. The vacancies of job sometimes match but sometimes miss match with the fresher who apply for it. The jobs are now available in many parts of the countries like United Kingdom, India, Canada and Malaysia too. There are many options for the fresher's to go for the jobs they want to.
The UK jobs market is on the up employers have held out far enough and they are looking to attract new talent to help them rebuild their teams and develop with the new economy. There are many different places to find those jobs that are available, you can use niche job boards or dedicated job search engines and we have selected a couple for you to review and see what jobs are out there across the UK. There are many different progressing sectors with new project underway so start searching today
The Internet has helped to find work that most of the information below can be accessed via the Internet instead of buying newspapers or travel Your local employment center can be accessed using Job Centre offices To find local jobs in your area Agencies .set up specialized agencies dealing with the professions to general employment agencies jobs full or part time, and Temp or contract work
As the G8 summit in Italy draws to an end it is apparent that the top issues discussed, remains to be the three biggest issues around the world: the current economy, global warming and world hunger. Their final draft statement seen by Reuters, addresses these different issues and their solution to...
If you ask for the job stream that assures utmost growth professionally, then undoubtedly the answer will be Science Stream. Science stream is an umbrella term referred for all sorts of the subjects linked with the science, research and analysis. Science jobs really acquaint thousands of scopes to make career.
Teaching English abroad in Vietnam is a unique experience for anyone who seeks to explore a beautiful country with a rich heritage. You may find people who say that it is not difficult to find jobs in Saigon, but the converse is true. It depends on where and how you conduct your search.
Thailand is a beautiful country with an expanding opportunity to teachers seeking opportunities to travel and teach. The steady demand for native English speakers means that any confident applicant with basic teaching skills can secure employment without difficulties.
Doctor jobs are growing in demand. Canadian research discovered that over four million Canadians lack a family physician Because four million Canadians don't have a family physician, the need for physicians is enormous Provinces throughout Canada are desperate to fill these vacancies.
Although Singapore is an island nation, it has grown to become a modern and efficient first world model country in Asia too. The infrastructure is remarkable and education sector largely successful.
Malaysia is a beautiful country with a thriving tourism industry. Like other emerging countries in Asia, the education sector spurs the knowledge-based economy. The education reforms have been instrumental in producing a quality workforce that satisfies the professional demands of various industries.
Now that Jonathan Ross will be leaving the BBC, the corporation has appointed 38-year old journalist, TV and radio presenter, Claudia Winkleman as his successor on the popular programme, Film 2010. Who is this zealous beauty and why is she the best choice for the newly adapted role? Chantl du Plooy...
During the recession, employers had to cut costs in any way, shape or form to keep afloat. As a result many employees were made redundant and their tasks were added to other workers
After three years at Morrisons as chief executive, Marc Bolland will replace Sir Stuart Rose in the top job at Marks & Spencer. The news of his move first set Morrisons' market share back with £400m. But luckily, figures stabilised and Bolland can stand proud as out going head of a...
2009 is turning out to be a tough year for new graduates, not only is the job market highly competitive but also fewer companies are running graduate programmes. As a result, this year has become one of the hardest for graduates to get employment. In an attempt to combat the problem,...
Discuss this Article
