Engineering news
An engineer has been crowned as the winner of this year's Apprentice after Lord Sugar followed his "gut feeling" to invest in him.
Tom Pellereau left the University of Bath in 2002 with a first-class honours MEng degree in Innovation and Engineering Design. His triumph in the popular television programme was achieved despite Lord Sugar commenting in an earlier episode of the programme that he had “never yet come across an engineer who can turn his hands to business”.
Pellereau was handed the prize of a £250,000 partnership with Lord Sugar after securing victory with his business plan to sell office furniture which prevents back pain. He has previously invented a curved nail file which he sold to major UK and US retailers and now he is to launch a range of his other inventions with the tycoon's help.
He said: "I've got a huge number of ideas of which the chair was one. Lord Sugar and I will take a break and look through all the products and we'll really spend some time to devise the business plan.
"I'm very much going to listen to him and I've also got a lot of other ideas that I've also presented which may well be coming through. So it's a question of watch this space - but there will definitely be some very exciting products coming shortly."
Lord Sugar said of his decision to go with Pellereau: "I am a product man in my heart. I've made products and sold them to retailers, that's in my blood and that's what Tom is all about.
"It's just a gut feeling and I've done a lot of things in my life on gut feeling."
Asked if he thought Lord Sugar was only interested in him for his inventions, Pellereau said: "I think it's very possible that he sees in me a huge range of products which with his guidance, his network, his contacts etc there's a really strong possibility there."
The university where Pellereau graduated with a first-class honours degree spoke of its pride at his win. Professor Tony Miles, head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, said: "We remember Tom well. He was a quiet, understated, self-effacing individual who was a high achiever as testified by his first-class honours in our MEng degree in Innovation and Design.
"It seems that his personality, inventive skills and enterprise won the day.
"We certainly would like to think that his experience as a student at Bath played a significant part in equipping him with the skills that helped him both in his career, prior to appearing in the The Apprentice, and in his current success."