Apprentice star to give talk at small business network conference

Kimberley Davis

Kimberley Davis, one of the stars of the Apprentice television programme, is to talk at a small business network conference in Aberystwyth.

The event, which starts at 5.30pm on the 16th September in the International Politics department in Aberystwyth University, is hosted by the Sustainable Learning Networks Ireland and Wales and the School of Management and Business and also features a case study on Halen Môn by David Lea-Wilson.

Born in the Bronx in New York, Kimberley has a BA in music management and is also an accomplished musician. She has performed Mozart at Carnegie Hall and played the violin with the Essex County Chamber Orchestra. Kimberley’s entrepreneurial streak manifested itself at the age of 5 when she started her own lemonade ice-cream stand.

Kimberley was the fifth person to be sacked on the Apprentice 5 series after the ‘pants man’ advertising campaign for a breakfast cereal. She took Philip Taylor and Lorraine Tighe back into the boardroom.

Sir Alan Sugar said that it would have been funny if it had been in a comedy show but stupid to use it to sell products. The team had argued for a long time over the design of the box and had left it to the design team to come up with the idea.

With no design on the box, the Ignite team had to rely on pulling their pants over their clothes and coming up with a jingle. Sir Alan Sugar decided to sack Kimberley because he felt that with her marketing background, she should have ‘really walked this thing – you’re the most qualified’.

At Aberystwyth University on September 16th, Kimberley will judge an Apprentice style competition between Welsh business network groups.

Each network will create and present a marketing campaign for a new product. Kimberley will also talk about using the American Dream philosophy to believe that anything is possible, whatever your age, background or social and economic status.

She will explain how this approach led her to interviewing her favourite celebrities including Andre Agassi and being selected for The Apprentice. During the talk, Kimberley will also share her secrets on turning negatives into positives, and facing the fear of failure. She will also explain how to create a roadmap for success.

The SLNIW project is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the INTERREG 4A Ireland Wales programme 2007-2013.  Six sustainable learning networks have been established in West Wales and South-East Ireland as part of the SNIW project.

There are three networks in Wales and three in Ireland, consisting of one female, one male and one mixed in each country. Each network meets once a month and the members organise their own learning experiences, supported by the SLNIW team. There are also field trips and exchange visits with the Irish businesses.

All the events are free to network participants.  A trip to Ffoslas Racecourse has been arranged for 20th October, where Colin Owens, the manager of the racecourse will be giving a talk about the challenges of establishing the UK’s newest racecourse and Rachel Thomas of Coast and Country Cottages will also give a talk on the importance of networking to small businesses.

This event starts at 5.30pm on the 16th September in the International Politics department in Aberystwyth University. Attendance is FREE and if you are interested in attending this event or joining the networks, please contact Lesley Langstaff lkl@aber.ac.uk or Anne Howells nsh@aber.ac.uk or telephone 01970 622506.

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