NEW YORK: Donald Trump hand-picks apprentices on his popular television series, but the true apprentices — the ones destined to lead the Trump Organisation — have much closer ties to the boardroom.

They are Donald J. Trump Jr., 28, and Ivanka M. Trump, 24, and they are slowly carving out a role in their famous father’s real estate business while fashioning their own identities.

In cramped offices located on the 26th floor of Trump’s Fifth Avenue headquarters, Ivanka and Donald Jr. have been learning the art of the deal from their father.

“They are very formidable, very smart,” Trump said. “They will promulgate the brand throughout the world. I have no doubt about it.”

The siblings are positioning themselves to run the company one day, hoping to build on their father’s successes, avoid his failures and bolster the company’s fortunes.

“That’s the intention,” Ivanka says. “Ultimately, it’s a family business.”

But it has not been the straightest of paths to the family business for Donald Jr. and Ivanka.

Donald Jr. graduated from the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania but spent time as a ski bum in Colorado prior to joining his father about five years ago. His father wanted him to focus on his profession, not the slopes.

“He was not happy about it,” Donald Jr. recalled.

Ivanka, too, decided to do something a little different after attending Wharton. She worked for New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner on a massive retail development.

Ivanka, who studied real estate and finance, took the suggestion of Peter D. Linneman, a Wharton professor she respected, to go out and prove she could succeed on her own merits.

About a year ago, Ivanka left Ratner. Her father’s towering condo-hotel in Chicago beckoned.

Today, she travels the country, inspecting property and sifting through business pitches. At night, she takes classes in construction management at New York University. Paperwork containing potential deals clutters her desk alongside a pamphlet: A Pocket Guide to Trump: How to Get Rich.—AP