Margaret Mountford

Margaret Mountford has spent over 20 years working with Sir Alan Sugar and is his most trusted advisor.

Margaret used to be a solicitor in a private practice. She was a partner at Herbert Smith, a top-tier company, and it was whilst there that she met Sir Alan - she was doing his legal work for Amstrad’s flotation on the Stock Exchange. She retired in 1999 and took up her current role on the Amstrad board as a non-executive Director.

Sir Alan says of Margaret: “She’s a fiery character and is the kind of person I like to do business with”.

Nick Hewer, her fellow Apprentice board-member, says: “Margaret has a caustic wit.”

Margaret would not recommend anyone to have anything to do with television.

Nick Hewer

Nick Hewer is a former Public Relations Officer. He started off in PR in the mid 60s and first came across Sir Alan when his company was chosen to represent Amstrad back in 1983. Since then Nick and Sir Alan have become firm friends and stay in close contact.

Nick says: “Sir Alan is a very generous friend. The best thing about working for him was there was always something going on - he has vibrancy about him.” When Nick retired Sir Alan put on a dinner at the Dorchester for 100 guests.

Nick’s role in Sir Alan’s empire was to interface with the media and press but he also became an integral part of Amstrad’s company management.

Nick built up an impressive client base for his PR Agency and sold it in ‘98. Further to this he was retained by the Chantilly-based secretariat of His Highness the Aga Khan in France for over 20 years.

Nick’s career has taken him all over the world; in his retirement he still pursues his life long passion of world travel.