I can tell you now Bianca is going to win this. Hosiery for ethnic minorities is an incredibly lucrative niche market and without a shadow of a doubt black women will buy the product in their droves.

I think it has legs...

ha,ha,ha

On a serious note I like how she came up on the inside tonight. Very impressive and I hope she wins.

This is true. Her business plan is absolutely fantastic! I was quite shocked to hear such a good one after everyone's else lackluster BPs.

I always had a feeling that Bianca would be the dark horse of the competition from the start of the series. Her professionalism, presentation skills have always been outstanding.

She has been consistent and always brought interesting ideas into the tasks. She has made some blunders and it could be argued that she wasn't the strongest candidate all through (i.e. I would say that would of been Roisin), she's a worthy winner. Bianca for the win .

Agree - there aren't many tights for darker coloured woman!
With this idea she can expand onto corsets/spanx etc. In the future.

Its a good idea on the surface but if its so great why haven't the big names already done it? Too many variations needed so not cost effective?

I'm so proud of her, whether she wins or not, there is a definate market for this product -WORLDWIDE

Because the white manufacturers can't be bothered to cater for black women. Bianca has taken the iniiative to tap into a market which black women are are willing to pay for, it's an incredible niche market, the variations is of no consquence, there is a demand in the market for this type of product

I really hope Bianca wins. Her business plan is good, she has been consistent and seems a nice person

I give her a lot of credit for a plan based on actually making something. Whether Sugar, who has pulled out of manufacturing in recent years, will go for it remains to be seen.

As a guy I dont wear tights. Can someone explain why this is such a revolutionary idea. I thought you can buy every shade under the sun especially online.

Read my post again. White manufacturers refuse to cater for black women in this area, hence there is no skin coloured hosiery for black women in the shops or online - Bianca's idea is a no brainer with a massive international market - kerriching !! = MONEY = LS

Good on her.

Exactly this. I guess if you're manufacturing tights there's not a lot of things you can do other than change the colour, thickness and pattern. So given that there are so many coloured skintones how come no big market leader has done this before? It's not as if the UK has had a sudden influx of different coloured skin?! It's no more of an original idea than Roisin's ready meals!

And radiofan, are you seriously saying all manufacturers are white and so don't want to make money out of selling to non whites? If there was money in it then they'd be doing it already.

There is no evidence that "white people" dominate the tights industry. Tights are part of western clothing attire, and most western women are still light skinned. It costs companies money to bring out new product ranges, and since most women buying tights will still be light-skinned, many companies will not want to risk the money involved, (or simply do not have the money to risk) in bringing out a new colour. It is nothing to do with your unnecessary assertion that whites "can't be bothered".

Anyway, Googling "pantyhose for dark skin" or "tights for dark skin" shows that this kind of product is already available. Perhaps the existing manufacturers of dark tights don't want to risk selling in Europe. Although it actually seems like dark tights are widely available both online and in shops.

Roisin was criticised for a single product that was similar to hers already being available, yet there are loads of hosiery brands that cater for all ethnicities. Not that Roisin's business idea was credible but still.

I totally agree. Had the same feeling about her being a dark horse too.

Stop attacking white people.

Superb

Well to be honest with you I had absolutely no idea. I was completely clueless.

It's amazing what difference one or two episodes can make. I doubt many would have her marked down as the front-runner about three weeks ago.
I got a sneak peek of the final at the end of tonight's show and Bianca's presentation looked intriguing. From the edit it looks like Bianca is going to blow Mark out of the water, no problem.
But that's the editing, which can be a bit naughty. Whether that actually happens is an entirely different matter.
Mark's business idea is simply boring, not original, unimaginative, and is just transplanting an already established idea into this process. I would feel it would be a wasted series if his idea won through.
If Bianca does indeed win I think I've adjusted to the idea of being pleasantly surprised from not being impressed with her in the earlier weeks.

but most women (whatever their race) wear black tights anyway

so what's so revolutionary about Bianca's idea?

All the major hosiery manufacturers produce lines for women of colour - many use black women as their major models. Just look at Wolford, Aristoc, Gerbe etc. I really don't know what Claude etc are talking about when they advised Lord S they agreed with Bianca this was a gap in the market.

Get in that corner and think about what you said...

On the subject of tights. Not every black person has the same skin tone, but manufacturers tend to make different shades in the hope that one is actually what the customer wants. It's also cheaper for manufacturers to make an assortment. Same can be said of what is termed as white, as white people also have different shades of whiteness, but the tights available don't reflect that. You could spend a very long time looking for the right shade of tights, or go from shop to shop looking for them, and never find anything remotely close.

If Bianca is manufacturing for black skin tones then she's doing people a big favour, and once she's established, then the other manufacturers might cotton on that they were doing it the wrong way.

Some time ago, I spotted a black stockinged female, but the black stocking/tights didn't match her skin tones at all.

I'm white with medium toned skin, and what's available in flesh coloured tights is the wrong shade for me.

So there you are, Manufacturers time you all woke up!

I agree. Marks is ultimately a pointless product which just changes the order of search returns to what money can buy - rather than what was wanted by the searcher. Its ultimately a silly pursuit - as you would end up with people chasing each other around the search results - by employing a Mark to out do the results of some other Mark's work.

Mark is offering him money for nothing though. Mark just needs an office, a car and a laptop, phone, internet connection, and some advertising. He then goes off and does what he's doing now. Lord Sugar takes half his profits and does very little. . Mark might employ another few Marks at some stage. Bianca needs design, manufacturing stock, storage, distribution. She's the one doing something new, and there's a bit more risk,and more at risk, with her. Her advantage is that she's far better winner in either show performance, or entrepreneurial terms,. It will be interesting who offers him most return. .

Past experience suggests his Lordship seems to like safe investments with big returns, and little risks ,from an existing product, business or qualification, so it could work for Mark . LS doesn't necessarily seem to have any shame, or want to do anything socially useful, or to back the best talent on show in the tasks, or even send out positive messages about what entrepreneurs can do, or what behaviour is desirable.But no contender can remind him that he will look like that if he doesn't pick them. Bianca has to match Marks figures, at acceptable risk, and deal with his lower costs as an issue - as Luisa failed to do last year .