LESSON D (4) WRITING
Read the essay on businessman Alan Sugar.
Underline the topic sentences and important ideas.
In this paper I would like to discuss the question ‘Is Alan Sugar a role model for people going into business?’ There are certainly reasons to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to this question.
Alan Sugar has definitely been a successful businessman and celebrity. He left school at 16 with no qualifications and started his own business selling electrical goods out of the back of a van. He now has an estimated fortune of £830 million and is the 84th richest man in the UK. His Amstrad CPC 464 was one of the first home computers and by the end of the 1980s Amstrad had a stock market value of £1.25 billion. In the nineties and later he started buying and selling companies such as Sinclair, Betacom, Viglen and eventualy sold Amstrad itself, at a profit. He was also Chairman of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. He has now become a TV celebrity with his own TV series ‘The Apprentice’, which is a reality TV show where a group of young business people try to win an important position in Alan Sugar’s company.
On the other hand, Alan Sugar has, for a long time, not been very popular with many people.He has a reputation for being a ruthless and insensitive man. He has treated the contestants on ‘The Apprentice’ badly. In fact Alan Sugar is best known for saying ‘You´re fired!’ to someone in every episode. Many businesspeople have also said that ‘The Apprentice’ actually shows you how not to run a business, rather than how to run one. Even his business skills have been questioned. Amstrad was very unsuccessful in the nineties and many people blame Sugar personally for that failure.
In conclusion Alan Sugar is certainly not an ideal role model. However, in my opinion Alan Sugar is a role model because he started with nothing and finished a millionaire. Such a story surely has lessons for all of us.
You have been asked to write a summary of the essay, using no more than 130 words. Which of these sentences schould you use to write summary?
Use your answers to Exercise 1 to help you.
a) There are good reasons for and against.
b) Alan Sugar has been a successful businessman.
c) He left school at sixteen.
d) He sold electrical goods from the back of a van.
e) He has a fortune of £830 million and is the 84th richest man.
f) He owned Amstrad.
g) Amstrad was one of the first companies to make home computers.
h) By the end of the eighties Amstrad had a stock market share of £1.25 billion.
i) In the nineties he bought and sold companies at a profit.
j) Examples were Sinclair, Betacom, Viglen and Amstrad.
k) He was Chairman of a football club and now has a successful TV series.
l) It´s a reality TV show for young businesspeople.
m) On the other hand, Alan Sugar is not popular with many people.
n) People say he is ruthless and insensitive.