My journey to The Apprentice: From Nando's to nursing to entrepreneur | with Chisola Chitambala
From A-level setbacks to facing Lord Sugar in the boardroom, Chisola Chitambala, a 2025 candidate on BBC's The Apprentice, shares her journey of resilience and entrepreneurial spirit. She explains her best entrepreneurial tips, demystifies the path to business success, and spills some behind-the-scenes secrets
Participants
- Emily Slade - podcast producer and host, Prospects
- Chisola Chitambala - business owner, BBC The Apprentice candidate 2025
Transcript
Emily Slade: Hello and welcome back to Future You, the podcast brought to you by graduate careers experts, Prospects. I'm your host Emily Slade and in this episode I speak to Chisola Chitambala about her educational journey, running a business and being a candidate on this year's The Apprentice.
Chisola Chitambala: My name is Chisola Chitambala. I currently run a virtual assistant company called CV Virtual Assistant, and I'm a current candidate on this year's season of The Apprentice.
Emily Slade: Amazing. That's so exciting. Welcome.
Chisola Chitambala: Thank you.
Emily Slade: So let's go right back to the beginning. What does your educational journey look like?
Chisola Chitambala: Well, it's definitely not very linear at all. So, I've had a very varied educational experience. I guess I probably should start with the fact that I actually failed my A-levels. Not just once, twice. So I started my A-levels, at Westcliff High for girls, which is where I went to secondary school. And I just wasn't really thriving per se at the school. So I thought, okay, I'm going to go to college and try my A-levels there. And I did a few different A-levels. I did biology, chemistry and maths at college and yeah, just flunked them all. And then, at that point, I was like, oh my gosh, like, what am I going to do in life? I've literally tried to do my A-levels twice and they've just not worked out, and I don't think I really knew much about apprenticeships or the different like options that you could take, or the fact that you could do some sort of diploma at college. And I think after failing twice, I was like, okay, something's not working out for me. And then I actually studied a business and finance diploma as a fast track diploma at college and actually got a distinction. So clearly I can do it, but just study wasn't quite working with the exams and maybe just the A-levels that I'd chosen, to be fair. So I did that and finished college and then went to university. But because I had been really wanting to go down the medical nursing route, I actually went to university to study to become a pediatric nurse, which after doing the business and finance diploma, you're probably thinking, how on earth did we end up there? But yeah, I think there was quite a lot of pressure even just from like family. And I guess I started to believe that I actually really wanted to become a doctor and go down the healthcare route. So yeah, I did my pediatric nurse and deferred after two years because I was really struggling with chronic migraines. And so I did defer and I ended up at Nando's head office, though doing quite a lot around learning and development. And I was working as a regional trainer. So that kind of took me through like a year and a half, and that really sparked a big interest into the world of business, because I was doing so much around training managers on how to be better managers, and I've never been a manager myself, and I was at 21 years old at the time. So there was a lot going on, but I loved it. I absolutely loved it. I really thrived at Nando's, but then I had to make a decision as to whether I was going to finish my nursing degree or just defer and then not complete it, but I decided to go back and finish it. And yeah, that's when I actually qualified as a nurse. And then I was like, there's still something here, so I went back to uni and I did my Masters of business administration. So that's kind of, I guess, my educational journey and experience over the last few years.
Emily Slade: I want to go back to can you describe the difference between A-levels and a diploma?
Chisola Chitambala: No, absolutely. I think when it came to A-levels, it was very much you're learning, well how I felt was, you're learning information to get you through these exams. Whereas I felt with the diploma I was actually learning like things for life, and I felt like I was really learning about how to run a business, the practical side of things, which I just don't feel like I was getting on with the A-levels and maybe part of me is I actually thrive when I'm learning almost on the job, but getting information and being able to apply the practical and the theory and putting them together. And I think that was where I was then thriving.
Emily Slade: Amazing. How did you find out about the diploma?
Chisola Chitambala: It was from failing my A-levels twice. Yeah. It was the second time at college and I was trying to explore different options. I was like, I don't want to go and do my A-levels again and potentially fail for a third time. And so I was just trying to speak with my, different like, course tutors about the different options. I would have or could have. And they kind of presented some of those to me. And one of those was this business and finance fast-track diploma. I also think I didn't want to be too like far behind my peers in inverted commas, like, I guess where I'd failed them twice. I was thinking, I'm already, you know, behind my age group and the people that I'd gone to school with. And I was thinking, I don't want to do something that's going to be another two years of study. And this is a fast-track diploma. It's only one year. So I felt like this was probably quite, yeah, best suited to me at that time.
Emily Slade: I want to kind of delve into, because you're still you're still very young. And you were young when all of this was happening. So the sense of self that you must have had to be able to make these big choices for yourself and acknowledge what you're enjoying, what's good for you and where you want to go in terms of going back and finishing your nursing degree and then switching over to business. Can you talk about that a bit?
Chisola Chitambala: Yeah, I think I definitely really struggled with that. I definitely found it really hard. I think trying to make decisions and, you know, potentially life decisions at the age of like 15, 16, 17 is just so hard. And I think I definitely struggled with it. I think I was going with what I thought my parents wanted me to do, and I started to then think, okay, well, that's my parents want me to do so. I want to do that. And actually the science side of things I really struggled with, and if I had kind of come to terms with that a lot quicker, potentially my journey might have looked very different. And I don't regret any part of my journey because I believe it's what made me who I am today. And it's shaped, you know, how I've become this businesswoman, but I definitely think there were times where I thought, actually, if I just kind of like, you know, stuck to my guns, I think I knew that business was kind of more my forte. And actually I really enjoyed that side of learning. And you could tell that by the results that I was getting. And that was probably with me not applying myself as much as I probably could have done. So I think, yeah, I think I did struggle with it. And I think one thing that or one piece of advice that I would, you know, I tell my younger self is to just really like, explore what you like, explore to find out different things about what you like, get that experience that to different people don't just think, oh, I think I like this, so I'm just going to do it actually have a go. Like there's definitely ways you can network with people, reach out to people you can use, you know LinkedIn, you can use Instagram now, you can use so many different platforms to just message someone and be like, I'm really interested in wanting to run my business. So I'm really interested in in being an accountant or I'm really interested in working in construction. Can I come and shadow you for like a day or half a day, or can I come in, you know, see what you get up to so I could see whether it is actually something I really enjoy. And I would say that's one piece of advice I would give to my younger self, actually get out there, network with people and try and get some shadowing experience to actually really work out whether that's something you enjoy.
Emily Slade: So, how did you come up with your business idea?
Chisola Chitambala: Great question. So, I have a business partner, Natalie. So we work together. We co-founded the business together, and I think both Natalie and I were working with different companies and small startups, SMEs doing different random ad hoc jobs for them. So whether that was helping with bookkeeping or whether that was doing some diary management or dealing with emails or inquiries for these small businesses that either were family, friends or friends that we knew, or friends of a friend that were like, oh my gosh, we just need an extra pair of hands. And we were like, this is clearly a thing. And when we would got talking, me and Natalie, we were like, we're both doing similar things, but for lots of different people. Why don't we actually just bring our skills together and start doing this as a business? And be able to offer our services to others? And so that's yeah, really kind of how it happened. We were at a spa day and we were talking about it and we were yeah, we were talking about the different things that we would do it. And then over sit sitting through watching Game of Thrones, which I had never watched before. We were binge-watching Game of Thrones. Our business idea came to life and we were like, right, we're going to start working on this. And we did. And I think the difference between an idea and actually coming to fruition and it becoming an actual business is put in those ideas to action. And I think a lot of times you can sit with your friend and you can think, oh, that would be a great idea today or that would be really good, but nothing ever comes of it because neither of you take action or you just don't take action. And I think that's probably, again, one of the biggest pieces of advice I could give someone like that. You know, potentially the fear of failure stopping you from trying it and like actually just start like, and what's the worst that could happen? Like give it a go and you never know what that could turn into. You never know the opportunities that could come from it. And that's what we did. We kind of like I mean, we've never run a business ourselves, but we've been helping other people and we're just going to go for it. We're going to start working on our website. We're going to start putting things, ideas down together. And that's what we started to do. Our evenings were spent together round, you know, Natalie's house, working out plans and trying to put together a website. We've never done that before. And and yeah, it was really like interesting, but also great being able to do it with somebody else, I think. Yeah, for me, especially being somebody who never started a business or really run a business before, it was great having that person to bounce off ideas and we would just work together and just encourage each other. So yeah.
Emily Slade: Amazing. I was going to ask, what are the first steps once you want to start putting that action in place? Something as simple as making it a reality by starting a website.
Chisola Chitambala: Yeah, literally. I think for us we were like, we want to be able to get one space, get trading, we want to be able to start. So I think we did a bit of research into what we could call ourselves and, and who does this kind of thing apart from your standard PPAs. And that's where we saw obviously virtual assistants were becoming a thing. I think they've really blown up over the last few years. But I think when we were starting, which was 2022, they were still, I would say not new, but they weren't as many. But I think post-COVID especially, lots of people that used to work up in the city is like par. So I wanted to continue obviously working from home, it was great flexibility for, you know, potentially having kids. And so we were like, oh, this virtual assistant thing seems to be like quite happening. And that's where we decided, actually, we could call ourselves virtual assistants. But I think the one thing I would say is we aren't just, I guess your typical virtual and we offer business support and business operational support. And I think that's probably one of, biggest value added to teams where we can come in, support them with whether it's setting up workflows, the project management side of things, the stuff that still quite meaty, but allows the director or business owner to focus on working on their business rather than in it. And that's what we do. We try and alleviate some of the kind of the day-to-day stuff that they're kind of getting bogged down in.
Emily Slade: So you've kind of touched on that here and there. Those that are looking to follow in your footsteps. What advice would you give them?
Chisola Chitambala: The biggest piece of advice I would say is don't let the fear of failure stop you from trying, because I think that's what holds so many people back. And I think, yeah, just give it a go. Just try like don't. Yeah, don't allow that to stop you from trying an idea that you might have. And I think the other thing is, is what I was alluding to earlier, which is, you know, networking, getting experience in whatever it is that you want to go into whatever field you want. I mean, I genuinely, truly believe that your, your yeah, your, your network is your net worth. And I think we hear that a lot. But I think we hear that a lot in a sense of you could go in, let's say, shadow, someone who works in the industry that you want to be in, and they could then really take a liking to you and actually then offer you a job or offer you, an apprenticeship or offer you a scholarship to, you know, those kind of things. They could offer you something that you never would have experienced by not necessarily putting yourself out there. So I would say, I think putting yourself out there by networking and contacting people, like sometimes you're going to get a nose, you're going to get rejections, but don't let that stop you from keeping on career. Because eventually you'll have that person that will take a chance on you, and you never know where you could end up from that.
Emily Slade: When you're starting a business, you're probably going to need some form of, like, financial backing. So, how did you guys navigate that? And is it about approaching investors, or do you just take your savings and put that into your startup?
Chisola Chitambala: That's a good question. And I think depending on the type of business that you're trying to start will depend on what your, I guess, going to to need and look for financially. I think if you're thinking about, a product or because we obviously want a service, if you're thinking about product, I think the first thing and one of the best things that you could do is, yeah, I guess create an MVP, which is your most viable product. And that's kind of your test, you're the test base, and you're trying it out. And I think you've got to invest some of your own money to be able to do that, to ensure that that product makes sense if it works. And when you've got like your test product, I think that's when you can then potentially approach investors or approach people to try and invest in your idea. But I think you, before you even get to that stage, you need to have like, you know, some sort of MVP or I would say, I guess with us because we're service-based and we're based from home, we didn't really need much in terms of capital to start that business. And probably another reason why we could start the way, the way in which we did, we did definitely have to invest some of our own money into just getting insurances, setting up, using like CRM. And so just investing in terms of the systems that we use. But actually from a big like capital investment, we didn't need like lots of money to get started, which is why we could kind of just like hit the ground running. I would say if you are thinking about doing some sort of products, then yeah, you would need to at least try out yourself to make sure that it is viable.
Emily Slade: So when we're thinking about the skillset to become an entrepreneur, what kind of thing should you be looking for?
Chisola Chitambala: And I think when you think about, I guess, skill sets and skills, you've got your soft skills, your hard skills that that we talk about. And I think when it comes to being an entrepreneur, one of the biggest things that I would say that you need to be good at is time management, because you are in charge of your day. You don't have a manager telling you, you know, you don't have a boss telling you, okay, you've got to be here or you've got to be doing this, or you've got to submit this by this day. Like you've got to manage that yourself. And if you are not good at that, then you're not going to be able to thrive, because ultimately you're not going to actually do the things that you say you're going to do or set out to do because you're not managing your time well. And you're not kind of get you need that get up and go. And I think that also aligns with time management. I think time management is really key and crucial. I also think, yeah, I guess leadership definitely comes into it because if again, you're an entrepreneur, you're potentially going to be thinking about building a team and actually, like, are you going to be able to create a vision that they can, you know, buy into, that they can align themselves with that they feel, you know, passionate and strongly about the same way that you do, because that's what your role is as a leader. And I think, yeah, having strong leadership skills is definitely key. Knowing, you know, knowing when, how, how and when to flex your leadership skills. And I think one of the biggest lessons I learned, especially when I was at Nando's, is learning about situational leadership. But knowing that it's not yeah, it's never a one size fits all. And knowing how to flex depending on the situation, when it comes to leadership. So I think that as well. And then I think when you're an entrepreneur, there's so many hurdles that come your way. Problem solving is key. Like I think being able to solve a problem, being able to think on your feet, act quickly under pressure is key because that one decision you make could be vital to your business. It could be the key to getting a huge client or securing a huge client. Or it could be, yeah, the key to potentially losing that huge client. So I think being out a problem solve think in your fate, act really well under pressure. I think also, some of the things that I would say to.
Emily Slade: Speaking of working under pressure, what led you to apply for The Apprentice?
Chisola Chitambala: Oh my gosh, do you know what? I think I've watched this show for so many years, and I've never necessarily watched the show and thought, oh, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to go on that. But last year when I was watching it with my now fiance, he was like, I think you could be really good on this show. Like I think you do so well. And I was like, yeah, maybe. And sometimes it takes somebody else who is believing in you and giving you that extra bit of confidence that you might just need. And he definitely gave me that. He was, I think, to apply. And so I feel okay if applications are still open. I said to him, I'll apply. And they were all sat down. So myself and the feedback got it a bit now. So that's what I did. I thought, okay, I'm going to apply and I did. And then, you know, we went through the different assessment stages, which are very intense by the way, but yeah, I went through the different stages. And then yeah, I got the call to say that I'd made the cut - I was going to be a candidate on the next season, and I genuinely couldn't believe it because it really was me kind of not applying on a whim, but not necessarily really thinking or feeling that, yeah, this is my time to go or I'm going to do it. But yeah, it just worked out. Everything worked out for the application and, and yeah, the rest is history. But yeah, it's honestly been an incredible, absolutely incredible experience. And yeah, it's definitely challenged me in a lot of ways.
Emily Slade: So when is the first time you meet Lord Sugar?
Chisola Chitambala: The first time we meet Lord Sugar is actually in that first initial boardroom. So when we all go in, then he's kind of asking us a little bit about ourselves. That is the first time we meet. And so we like meeting before then. And I remember that first boardroom. Everyone was so uptight, like, I think everyone was so nervous. No one knew what to expect. And it was really, like always tense. And Lord Sugar even said like, oh, like we need to loosen up a little bit. And hey, you know, I had to crack a few jokes to get this a little bit more warm and, and just the allowing us to be able to be the best version of ourselves. Because I think obviously when everyone's, you know, nervous or feeling a little bit anxious, you don't get the best version of each individual. So I think by him cracking a few jokes, it did kind of help put a lot of us at ease. And I think you got, yeah, the best version of us lately.
Emily Slade: So do you have to do lots of different takes or is it all shot in one guys.
Chisola Chitambala: So when it comes to the boardroom, Lord Sugar's quite militant in that he doesn't really like being interrupted. So with the boardroom, we kind of just shoot it. It just goes when we're actually filming the tasks, we definitely sometimes have to do a few takes, especially when like members of the public are involved in takes. Sometimes they do like design work. So sometimes we do have to do very few types of things. But in the boardroom, yeah, it's one and done.
Emily Slade: And are you finding people are stopping you on the street now?
Chisola Chitambala: Yeah, I did get recognised. It's still honestly, it still feels so surreal to me that people are like, oh my gosh, you just I live from The Apprentice now. I'm like, I'm just so nice. But yeah, people do recognise me and I love to be able to share my story with people. And I just want to be able to be an inspiration to the younger generation, in particular the girls, you know, helping them feel like they can spread their wings and they can do whatever it is that they want to do, and they don't have to be put into a certain box so they don't have to stick in the same career for your whole life. You know, I've definitely moved around quite a bit, to end up where I am now. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. And I want to be able to continue to get that message out there.
Emily Slade: Fantastic. That's brilliant. Thank you so much for your time today.
Chisola Chitambala: No, thank you so much for having me. It's an absolute pleasure.
Emily Slade: Thanks again to Chisola for her time. For more information on becoming an entrepreneur, head to Prospects.ac.uk or check out the show notes below. For a full-length video version of this episode, check out our YouTube channel @future you pod. If you enjoyed the episode, feel free to leave us a review on Apple or Spotify. Thank you as always for listening and good luck on your journey to future you.
Notes on transcript
This transcript was produced using a combination of automated software and human transcribers and may contain errors. The audio version is definitive and should be checked before quoting.
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