Life after The Apprentice – Where are they now?

With The Apprentice back on our screens and a new bunch of hopefuls looking to impress Lord Sugar, it leaves us wondering what the previous candidates are up to, and whether they managed to make their Entrepreneurial dreams a reality.

Here, we take a glimpse into the life of entrepreneur and apprentice runner-up, Thomas Gearing who, following on from his success on the show, is now co-founder and Managing Director of the successful company, Cult Wines.

Tom Gearing appeared on popular BBC show, The Apprentice, back in 2012 where he just missed out on the £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar, when the business mogul branded his idea “too risky” to take further, letting him drop to second place.

Since his stint on the show, Tom has become increasingly more involved with his family business, Cult Wines Wine Investment and now heads up the company with his business partner and father, Phillip Gearing.

With over 15 years’ experience in fine wine, and as currently one of the UK’s largest fine wine investment companies, Wine Investment are clearly paving the way for emerging wine investment entrepreneurs.

Being a family based company means that passion and hard work are at the forefront of this business, with Tom working alongside his father, Phillip Gearing, to build on the company’s success.

Phillip Gearing, Chairman of the company has spent over 20 years in investment banking and has transferred these skills into the wine investment industry.

Before his move to cult wines, Thomas initially wanted to head into the financial markets following University, however after his time on The Apprentice, made a considerable career change and has since been the Director of Cult wines, working on growing it from a small start-up to one of the UK’s leading wine investment companies with over £60 million of assets under management.

Cult Wines have undoubtedly enjoyed a successful year boasting a number of awards achieved, including being placed in the SME Export Track 100 for the second year running in February and winning the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in April.

Tom Gearing was also recently included in the prestigious Spear’s Magazine 500 for the second year in a row.

Tom said: “It was an incredible feeling to win the Queens Award for Enterprise, along with being recognised in Spear Magazines 500 for a second year in a row. We are excited to see what 2018 will bring for Cult Wines and how we can build on its current success.”

Based in Hammersmith London, Cult Wines boast an industry-trained and friendly team of investment experts who are able to offer fine wine expertise and advice to investors and customers.