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Confident Courtney hopes for sweet success with Sugar

Global Lives news

Former Brunel alumnus Courtney Wood will take his seat in TV’s most hostile boardroom this week as he looks to win over belligerent boss Alan Sugar.

Courtney, a first class honours graduate in Industrial Design in 2009, makes his debut on series 12 of BBC1’s The Apprentice on Thursday – and hopes his confidence and positive attitude will give him the edge.

The 29-year-old, from Essex, set up his own novelty gift company Bubblegum Stuff in 2012 (http://www.bubblegumstuff.com/about), a decision that he says wasn’t difficult because of the skills, particularly networking skills, he learned studying his degree.

“Over the years I built up a range of contacts around the world,” Courtney told Brunel’s Co-innovate team. “So I knew I had distributors in Australia and Germany who would be willing to buy my products – that made it less of a daunting prospect.”

Since finishing his degree, Courtney has visited the university a number of times, mentoring and supporting current students.

The first episode of the new series of The Apprentice will be shown at 9pm on Thursday 6 October.