A HARD-working architect from Edgware is vying for an investment from Lord Sugar on the latest series of reality show The Apprentice.

Gabrielle Omar, who runs her Lolli And Square  architecture practice from her Burnt Oak Broadway home, is one of the 18 contestants hoping to avoid the 'You're fired!' catchphrase that greets competitors when they are booted off the programme in a boardroom showdown with the straight-talking businessman and viewers' favourite.

The 29-year-old University of Westminster graduate said in a BBC publicity statement: "When it comes to business I can be like an animal and I will roar my way to the top."

Fran Costi, who along with Ms Omar is a joint managing partner of newly-founded West Kensington creative agency We Be 3,  said: "Me and Gabrielle are very recent business partners.

"She definitely has got what it takes to be in business with Sir Alan, that's for sure. She's a hard working, and a grafter."

Ms Omar is also managing partner in an travel cosmetics internet store called Carry On Beauty with business partner Robyn Spens.

Mrs Spens said: "It sounds like a cliche but Gabrielle has got what it takes to win. I think she will be amazingly popular.

"She is hard working, very bright and she is bubbly and tenacious. She's a very good natured individual."

According to the BBC, Ms Omar's first job was helping at her parents fish and chip shop - which is local to Edgware - when she was 14 and counts running, photography, drawing and painting watercolours as her hobbies.

The eighth series of The Apprentice starts on Wednesday March 21 and the winner will triumph after 12 weekly tasks with a s250,000 investment and a business partnership with the multi-millionaire and life peer Sir Alan Sugar.