News archive 2005

Alumnus asks, ‘Make me a million'

02 Nov 2005, PR 93/05

King's alumnus Todd Donnelly is taking part in a new Channel 4 programme that gives three pairs of ‘business virgins' the chance to make £1 million in a year.

His idea for a interactive health coaching service called The Lean Team (www.theleanteam.co.uk), created in conjunction with his partner Brayley Pearce, is competing against two other ideas in the show, Make Me a Million. The winner – the most successful business within a year – will be announced at the end of the four-part series.

Each business featured in the show has a secret weapon: a successful multi-millionaire mentor to guide them through the peaks and troughs of making their business dream happen. The business brain behind The Lean Team is that of successful serial entrepreneur and Murrayfield Live 8 organiser, Chris Gorman OBE.

Todd studied for a BSc in Nutrition at King's, graduating in 2004. His passion for giving the public an alternative to the alleged ‘diet gurus' prevalent in today's media and providing evidence-based solutions for nutrition and health led to the creation of The Lean Team.

The unique online service offers access to The LEAN Health Coaches at a fraction of the cost of their offline equivalents. These virtual coaches are a result of more than two years of development and represent a synergy of the expertise, knowledge and skills of The Lean Team's group of experts and advisors, a collection of registered dieticians, qualified nutritionists, fitness and exercise experts, health psychologists and world renowned medical and clinical professionals. These include Dr Anthony Leeds, Principal Investigator and Senior Lecturer in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at King's.

Todd said: ‘Every day the media is full of reports of the latest diet, celebrity-led fitness fad and pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo about what we should or shouldn't be eating or doing to our bodies. www.theleanteam.co.uk is a new approach that offers sensible, achievable advice for each individual user, backed by some of the top health professionals and scientific advisors in the country. We don't set rules or unachievable goals, but help ordinary people make the changes to their lives that will help them to be fitter, healthier and ultimately, happier.'

The potential success of the business stems from the fact that many people dream of having their own team of experts and coaches helping them to manage their weight, lead a healthier lifestyle and ensure their long-term health. However, the cost of seeing a dietician, nutritionist, personal trainer and health psychologist is unrealistic for most.

Todd and Brayley beat 2,500 other budding entrepreneurs to be part of the programme. To find out how they get on, tune in to Channel 4 at 21.00 on Tuesdays from 1 November.

Notes to editors

King's College London
King's College London is the fourth oldest university in England with more than 13,700 undergraduates and nearly 5,600 graduate students in nine schools of study based at five London campuses. It is a member of the Russell Group: a coalition of the UK's major research-based universities. The College has had 24 of its subject-areas awarded the highest rating of 5* and 5 for research quality, demonstrating excellence at an international level, and it has recently received an excellent result in its audit by the Quality Assurance Agency.

King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, international relations, medicine, nursing and the sciences, and has played major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of health care professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres – more than any other university.

King's is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings, with income from grants and contracts of more than £114 million, and has anannual income of more than £369 million.



Further information
Public Relations Department
Email: pr@kcl.ac.uk
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