A RISING businessman from Bury has been revealed as one of the candidates for this year's series of The Apprentice.

Samuel Boateng, a former student of Castlebrook High School and Holy Cross College, will be one of the 18 contestants trying to win the approval of Lord Sugar, Karen Brady and Claude Littner when the BBC show's 12th series starts next Thursday.

After leaving Bury, Mr Boateng has gone on to work for various companies and is currently an area sales manager for a major car brand responsible for managing and generating new business for over 700 firms across London.

The 27-year-old, whose family still lives in Bury, said: “My ability in developing new and innovative ideas is one my strongest business skills. I have excellent public speaking abilities. My creativity, my passion, my charm, and my likeability all roll into one, creating one perfect guy.”

Mr Boateng is also involved in a number of charitable projects and the support of young professionals, and has been tipped as one to watch in this year's competition to become Lord Sugar's business partner.

In the first episode of the new series, the nine female candidates go up against the nine men to make the most money by selling antiques.

Lord Sugar, 69, said he does not pick out a winner from the start, and does not mind whether the recipient of his £250,000 investment is a man or a woman.

He said: "Women, as far as I'm concerned, are great in business, as are men, and I have no preference one way or another. Some of the best business people I have employed in my time are women, as indeed they are men.

"You could argue that the contestants who didn't seem to do much are a bit cleverer - that they kind of stand back and let other people fall on their sword and don't want to come across looking like a clown.

"This is the 12th series of the show and contestants think that the louder you talk, the louder you shout, the more you argue, is the way that they are going to win the process, and as they get together in the first episode, you'll get a lot of that.

"But as you'll see as the programme rolls out, you'll start to see how some of the people, some of the very loud ones in the beginning, have started to learn.

"You think 'Oh my God they're a real nutter' and then what is great, and it happens every single year, is that they learn as they go along, and they turn into a much more mature person."

Series 12 of The Apprentice will begin on BBC One on Thursday October 6, at 9pm.