MBA alumnus Yakub Zolynski wins Sky 1's 'The Angel' and a £100,000 investment

Business School alumnus Yakub Zolynski came up with the idea for Market Mavens, a recruitment agency for business school graduates, while studying for his MBA in 2009. Looking for opportunities to grow his idea into a successful business, Yakub decided to enter a new game show on Sky 1 called ‘The Angel,’ after noticing the advert on Imperial’s LinkedIn page.

With a £100,000 investment up for grabs, contestants are put through their paces with four rounds based on first impressions, teamwork, a sales pitch and a final interview. The ‘Angel’ is billionaire John Caudwell, a successful entrepreneur who created mobile telecoms company The Caudwell Group in 1987. Best known for the high street chain Phones4U, the company exceeded a billion pound annual turnover by 2000 and was named as the UK's fastest growing company in 1996 and 1997.

Competing against four other hopefuls, Yakub fought his way through the rounds and emerged as the winner, securing investment for his business.

Tanya Gubbay caught up with him to talk about his win, what it was like to negotiate a deal with a billionaire and how an oddly shaped welded chain helped him to victory:

How did you start your business?

I came up with the initial idea during my MBA. I noticed that the majority of the companies that came in and presented to us were global corporations and I felt that SMEs [small and medium enterprises] could do with more representation on campus. With the support of the Business School, I was able to put together a strong business case for a company that could help SMEs recruit talent across multiple industries from leading business schools. I decided to call the company Market Mavens, as a maven is a trusted expert who shares his knowledge with others and I wanted to create a company that shares recruitment expertise. Through my MBA programme, I was also able to make a number of key contacts which was invaluable in developing my idea. Since I graduated, I have continued to receive a huge amount of support from the Business School and have kept in touch with everyone there.

How did you find the whole television experience?

Very intense! The application process in itself involved very tough interviews and a thorough examination of my business plan. The show itself was quite nerve racking but I was just myself and hoped that this would come across in the final edit. 

Did you have a strategy for getting through to the final?

I knew the last two rounds would be my strongest, so as long as I could get through to those, I thought my chances would be decent. My worst fear was going out in the first round. I kept on thinking about the grief I would get from my friends if I let this happen! I did actually find myself in the firing line in every single round but managed to get through.

What were you asked to do?

In one of the rounds, we had to choose a box and pitch whatever was in there to an audience of 200 people. With just one minute in which to sell the product, we could see how much the audience was enjoying the pitch via a dial that they could turn. My object was an oddly shaped welded chain and I opted to sell it as a device for soothing back pain! Luckily I have always enjoyed sales, so it felt quite natural to me and I seemed to win over the audience.

The final round was an interview and a grilling by John. The other finalist and I were interviewed together. Since I have coached a lot of people on interview skills, I felt fairly confident going into final.

Any backstage gossip?!

Not really I’m afraid! All the contestants were actually really nice and friendly to each other which was a bit of a surprise. I think the editing in shows like 'The Apprentice' gave me a false impression of back-biting and sniping!

Did you come up against any challenges?

I found the biggest challenge came after I won the show. Negotiating with a billionaire is not easy! In fact I walked out of the deal at one point. It took four and a half months of tough negotiations before we reached a deal that both sides were happy with. The future is now looking very bright for Market Mavens. I am hoping that with the extra investment we will grow to become the number one, high-end, graduate and postgraduate recruiter.

For more information, please visit the MBA programme page on the Business School's website