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Exeposé Features
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“Lord Sugar thought I was an idiot” Photo: www.news.co.uk
James Beeson, Editor, chats with former BBC Apprentice star and Exeter alumnus Solomon Akhtar about Willykinis, finding media fame and being a student entrepreneur
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ITH a charming and confident demeanor, it’s not hard to see why Lord Alan Sugar took a liking to University of Exeter graduate and entrepreneur Solomon Akhtar. As the youngest ever contestant on hit BBC television series The Apprentice, Akhtar stole the hearts of the nation, gaining a huge Internet following before his elimination in the semi-finals of last year’s programme. With the hit TV show returning earlier this month, I sat down with Akhtar to find out what motivated him to go into business and how his time at Exeter helped shape him into the businessman he is today.
prise Awards and named on Red Brick Research as one of ‘Five Pioneering UK Student Startups 2014.’ I ask Akhtar if it was hard to juggle his business ventures with his studies. “To be honest, it (Instabear) was a bit of a half-arsed attempt (at starting a business),” he answers candidly, “we launched the brand but it hadn’t really grown into anything. It’s only when you leave university you can really see how clients react to your product and get some real success”. Despite this however, Akhtar is adamant that studying shouldn’t be a barrier to starting a business. “It was really hard, but I did Geography! So then again maybe it wasn’t so hard!” he laughs. “I got a 2:1, but I think anyone who says they’re workExeter students have got ing all the time at Exeter is probably lying. a bit of money in their There’s loads of free time.” “If you’ve got enough time to go out pockets to Timepiece on a Friday, you’ve prob“I think that Exeter is a really good ably got enough time to start a Facebook place to start a company,” he tells me. “It’s page or a small company, or at least have such a bubble. There’s so many students a dabble in business.” there who are interested in business, so Although Akhtar achieved success you can always find someone to start a with some of his business ventures whilst company with. I think it comes quite natat university, not every idea he’s had has urally when you’re at university – you’ve taken off. I ask him about ‘Willykini’, got loads of free time and loads of talented a start-up selling controversial men’s people around you, and a market.” swimwear that didn’t set the world on I enquire as to why he thinks Exeter fire, and to date only has 75 followers on specifically is such a business friendly enTwitter. vironment, “Exeter students have got a bit “Hey! Willykini made a bit of money!” of money in their pockets, most of them” he retorts jovially, “But yeah, I always had he replies, “so it’s quite a good place to a lot of ideas, not all of them great. start something and sell a unique product In my second year I wanted to or a service.” live stream our house conThe 24 year-old certainly grasped stantly to the whole of Exeter. the opportunity to hone his skills while I just wanted to make it easier in Exeter, running events at Rococo’s to pull girls! They can see your nightclub before launching an Instagram pre-lash and you can chat printing service, Instabear, in his third with them, and if you were year of university. The start-up gained really tragic after a night out huge success, winning Best Graduate you could plead with people Start Up 2014 at SETsquared Enterto come back. But yeah basically it failed massively because it was really fucking th place in the 2014 series of boring - nobody ever did BBC’s The Apprentice. anything! “I think years old. He was 22 years the moral of old on The Apprentice. that story is thousand followers on that not every idea is a his Twitter account.
Solly’s Stats
5 É 24 37.7
great idea, but you’ve got to try your hand at stuff - you never know what might work.” Turning to The Apprentice and Akhtar’s rise to fame, I ask whether he thinks being the youngest candidate meant that Lord Sugar and the other candidates treated him differently. “Yeah, definitely,” he says, “I think the public warmed to me the most out of being the youngest, and my own media career was really helped by people thinking I was a bit immature and hadn’t q u i t e found my way in life yet, and that’s the reason I’ve been able to do other TV shows (Akhtar is currently the newest cast member on SkyOne reality show Desi Rascals) and things like that”. “To be
honest Lord Sugar thought I was a bit of an idiot most of the time, but respected what I had done with my company,” he continues, “I think it was fine with the other contestants.”
I don’t think the show truly defines what business is It was this naivety and immaturity that eventually led to Akhtar’s famous downfall on The Apprentice, after his 12 page business plan featuring pictures of sailboats was torn apart by Lord Sugar’s aide Claude Littner. Was this the moment when Akhtar realized he had been found out? “That (when Littner labeled his plan a disgrace) has been turned into a meme now!” Akhtar laughs, “I saw it on Lad Bible the other day, and on a betting shop about three weeks ago! Genuinely I actually thought it was a bloody good busi-
ness plan! I was talking to people on set and they were saying ‘Solly it’s such a good business plan! Claude is gonna love it!’ They were obviously pulling my leg! “I went in there thinking ‘This is thefucking shit’ and then obviously when he said ‘this is the worst thing I’ve seen in my life, get out of my sight’ that was a massive shock. I was still pretty hopeful; you never really know on that show. But as soon as I saw everyone else’s and that they had all the financials in, I knew I was fucked at that point.” Despite the disappointment of missing out on the final, Akhtar is still positive about his time on The Apprentice. I ask him if he thinks that the show gives an overly romanticised view of the view of the industry and the work that is required to be successful in business.
The public warmed to me being the youngest... people thought I was a bit immature “I don’t think it truly defines what business is, and how hard it is to start a company,” he admits, “but I think any show about business is a good thing in itself, showing young people going out there and trying to prove themselves.” “It gets people talking about business and doing business.” He adds that, “as long as people are being inspired by it then it’s doing a good job.” Finally, if Akhtar could give one piece of advice to aspiring entrepreneurs studying at Exeter, what would it be? “It sounds really cringy, but just believe in yourself,” he says, “and don’t be afraid to share your ideas aloud with your family and friends.” It’s hardly an original statement, and one that won’t set the world alight; however, it’s one that certainly seems to have taken Akhtar a long way since leaving university, and made him a fair few friends along the way.