New Zealand's first contestant in UK television series The Apprentice is a London-based expat who started her career at Telecom.Thirty-year-old Paloma Vivanco-Coutts is one of 16 finalists will be in the sixth series of the BBC's popular reality TV show w
New Zealand’s first contestant in UK television series The Apprentice is a London-based expat who started her career at Telecom.
Thirty-year-old Paloma Vivanco-Coutts is one of 16 finalists will be in the sixth series of the BBC’s popular reality TV show when it screens on October 6.
She will spend the next few weeks at a private London mansion, battling it out for a £100,000-a-year ‘apprentice’ job with UK businessman Lord Alan Sugar.
Mrs Vivanco-Coutts left her job in marketing at Telecom in late 2006 to travel and work in London. She is now one of U.K’s pre-eminent telecommunications marketing professionals having worked for British Telecom (BT), Vodafone Group, Virgin Mobile and 3 Mobile.
She said her Kiwi pragmatism and no-nonsense approach to business helped earn her a place on the show from among 30,000 applicants.
“I’ve toughened up a lot since working in the highly cut-throat UK market, and I’m hoping the resilience I’ve gained will carry me through the next few months.”
She recently married fellow Kiwi Colin Coutts – head of IT and operations for Fisher & Paykel UK and Ireland.
“It’s been a hectic year so far, and I’m hoping my Apprentice experience will help me grow even more. I think it will be inspiring to be around competitive people, but judging from previous shows, it’s also incredibly demanding. I’ve got to be prepared to think on my feet, present new ideas, price, sell and pitch new products effectively, and of course impress Lord Sugar in the boardroom,” she said in a statement.
Born in Peru, Vivanco-Coutts moved with her family to the United States, Australia and eventually New Zealand where she attended college and The University of Auckland.
Her father, Dr. William Vivanco, is a world-renowned geneticist and global authority in animal reproduction and genetic improvement.
He is best known for heading the science and technology unit in New Zealand that produced ‘Lady’ – the first cloned calf and subsequently ‘Elsie’ the cow in 1998, as a conservation effort to rescue the last surviving cow of the Enderby Islands of New Zealand.
Sir Alan Sugar is one of UK’s most successful businessman, with an estimated worth of £800 million ($NZ1.7 billion). His empire started in personal computing AMSTRAD and later developed into property.
