In 2017, I attended a private roundtable session with Lord Alan Sugar at the Hilton Hotel near Heathrow. The event was part of the Business Empires programme, and I paid £4,800 to be there. This wasn’t a handshake-and-photo kind of moment. It was a closed-door meeting, limited to just five entrepreneurs who were invited to share their business strategies and receive tailored advice for around 90 minutes.
During that session, I presented my property investment model and discussed the “Buy Low, Rent High” strategy that underpinned much of my early success. Lord Sugar responded to the plan, said it made sense and suggested that I explore commercial property as a way to scale. That insight helped shape my decision to transition some of my residential holdings into commercial leases and pursue larger development projects. I left the session encouraged and with renewed direction.
This was not a vague interaction in a conference hallway. I paid to receive business insight from someone I respected.
Others who attended similar sessions at the time were also quoted in local press, describing their experience as gaining business advice from Lord Sugar. That was the shared expectation and experience.
Since then I’ve had a spat with Lord Sugar following him talking about me on channel 4 saying he only met me at a meet and greet and he never gave me business advice. This is incorrect and I have published the receipts and the photos of the session on my youtube channel: https://youtu.be/y7QRQW0M1Ts?si=q4ipywu4PA4J682S
However, that doesn’t take away from the useful advice he gave me and the respect I have for him as a business person.
For clarity: I’ve never claimed to have a long-term relationship with Lord Sugar. I’ve simply spoken about the business advice I received during that paid session, and the impact it had on me. The original video I posted in 2017 outlining that experience is still public and accurately reflects what happened: https://youtu.be/KuFAHIvsdIY?si=mbqWx3hxJCSbgHl6
I continue to respect Lord Sugar. I appreciated the advice I received at the time and I’m proud of the growth that followed.
