MANILA, AUGUST 2,2013-Filipino pharmaceuticals company senior product manager Jonathan Allen Yabut won the first season of AXN Asia’s ‘The Apprentice’ and as the new member of commercial airline, AirAsia Group.
The AirAsia Group chief executive and show’s host Tony Fernandes hired the Economics graduate from University of the Philippines in the final episode of the business reality TV show. The first winner of ‘The Apprentice Asia’ will hold his one-year work contract with a salary of at least $100,000.
The Malaysian billionaire’s final challenge for Yabut and the rival contestant Singaporean lawyer, Andrea Loh was to organize black tie charity ball for AirAsia Foundation. The high-profile executives and colleagues of Fernandes in Air Asia observed their performance. The ‘fired’ contestants of the show came back to help the finalists. Yabut picked half-Pinay food and beverage consultant Celina Le Neindre, entrepreneur Nazril Idrus and IT entrepreneur Samuel Rufus Nallaraj. The 27-year old Pinoy was then picked as the winner after impressing the panel of advisers.
Yabut told adobo that he was a big fan of the show and when he saw the application advertisement in AXN, he couldn’t keep his excitement and went to the screenings right away. He will be the new chief of staff of Fernandes’ aviation empire.
The Pinoy winner is a senior brand manager and a marketing team leader at a healthcare company, GlaxoSmithKline. After being hired in the show, he wants to start something that would touch the lives of every Filipino. "At some point, I would like to write an inspirational book about passion and leadership, and later on build my own kitchen empire (a restaurant brand covered in world major cities) featuring Filipino cuisine", he adds.
The Apprentice winner advices young achievers who wants to be successful, "In today’s world when technology and passion run the corporate show, there is no excuse to be mediocre or hopeless! A simple tweet can change the world, a youtube video uploaded by a kid can sweep the world off its feet. So You can never be too small to dream big. Always keep on dreaming because it’s for free."
‘The Apprentice Asia’ is a reality talent game show franchised from the creation of American Producer Mark Burnett. The series have 16 contestants vying for the chance to become the apprentice of a business mogul, which was originally aired in 2004 in the United States.
