Award-winning entrepreneur and mentor, Suleman Sacranie, is to appear in a new BBC TV series helping would-be whizzkids.
Suleman, chief executive officer at The GP Service, works with the Business & Law team as Entrepreneur In Residence at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) as well as running his online empire.
Now he has been chosen to be one of six ‘business buddies’ advising the young stars of Pocket Money Pitch, a new series which starts on BBC One on Monday, 8 February.
The series sees eight to 14-year-olds pitch their business ideas to the likes of chef Levi Roots, fashion designer and presenter Myleene Klass and TV entrepreneur Jamal Edwards.
The first episode stars Levi Roots, creator of Reggae Reggae Sauce, who is asked to judge the best ideas from DIY lunchboxes for kids to ‘Sludge’ – a homemade spreadable fudge.
Winners receive a year’s worth of pocket money and the chance to start a business.
Suleman, 26, is an online entrepreneur who started and sold his first company at the age of 19. At 21 he started the ‘99p Shopper’ franchise which was sold last year and has now launched theGPService.co.uk a concept to allow all pharmacies across the UK to offer a doctor service from within their pharmacy by receiving the prescription in real-time electronically.
Suleman, who has won a wealth of awards including being named Midlands Entrepreneur of the Year 2014 in the Midlands Business Awards, is no stranger to television work. He starred in BBC’s successful Million Dollar Intern which saw young entrepreneurs go under cover to help revitalise struggling businesses.
He said: “I think for any entrepreneur, one of the best ways to learn and avoid mistakes is to be guided and mentored by those that have had the experience in running a business. My mentor helped enormously.
"Business is all about learning and this is only gained from experience. For me it was about passing down the same lessons and skills that I have gained to date and Pocket money pitch was an ideal way I could pass this down to the young and upcoming entrepreneurs of tomorrow.”
Presenter Steph McGovern of BBC Breakfast, said: “It’s fantastic to have so many great entrepreneurs on board from so many different areas and they’ll bring a great deal of knowledge and experience to the show. It’s a great opportunity for the young people involved to practice getting their ideas across and they’ll learn some very valuable skills.”
* Pocket Money Pitch is on Monday, 8 February, on BBC 1 at 5.30pm.
Posted on Friday 5 February 2016