Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Is Susan Ma the feistiest and smartest candidate of The Apprentice 2011?



She's certainly the youngest and unfortunately she may also the be most naive, and the least adept at defending herself in an argument. So what will become of the Shanghai-born, British based entrepreneur currently battling it out for a business partnership with Lord Alan Sugar?

If you've been following this year's 'The Apprentice', you can't have failed to notice Susan Ma, who has emerged as one of the characters to watch not least because of her ongoing rows with fellow contestants.

Aged 21 at the time of filming, Susan is full of youthful enthusiasm as opposed to boardroom soundbites in stark contrast to her fellow candidates. But whilst she often displays quickness of mind and eagerness, she has also stumbled in the tasks (overestimating her ability to sell luxury fake tan to the good people of Birmingham and comically failing to explain her idea for a mobile phone app, for example).

Outside of the show, though, there is little doubt about her business abilities as she has built up a bona fide business selling natural skincare products, an enterprise that she says enabled her to pay off her mother's mortgage.

My view is that Susan is a smart young woman with good business instincts but hindered by poor communication skills and lacking maturity. Will Lord Sugar see past the flaws and give her a shot at the ultimate prize of a £250,000 business investment?

Tune in tonight on BBC1 at 9:00 to find out.



Link: The Apprentice, BBC

Link: Susan Ma homepage

Link: Susan Ma's company, Tropic Skincare

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm rooting for her just coz she's Chinese. Shame that she don't look as pretty as Kim Tae Hee.

Prophetic_Blogger said...

I think Susan speaks the most sense out of all of the candidates but I worry that her lack of verbal domination will mean she is bullied into being fired. I hope not. Check out my apprentice thoughts.