Mercury Business Awards winner 2017 set to compete on BBC's The Apprentice

The owner of a cleaning firm says winning a Mercury Business Award last year inspired her to enter BBC’s The Apprentice where she will compete to be Lord Sugar’s next business partner and take home a £250,000 investment.

Khadija Kalifa, 28, who lives in Stamford and runs the Peterborough-based firm Opal and Pearl Eco Cleaning Services, has been announced as one of 16 candidates in the next series, which starts on BBC One at 9pm tonight (October 3).

“Once I knew I was going to be on it, I was so ecstatic and nervous but I soon got over it,” the mother of two girls, told the Mercury.

“I used to to watch it and think people were so brave putting themselves forward to be the project manager.

“I applied this year because winning, it can change your life.”

Khadija said her two young daughters, aged two and four, had been her inspiration behind starting her cleaning firm three years ago - and entering the show.

“Everything I do is to give my daughters a better life.”

But it was taking home the Businessperson of the Year trophy at last year’s Mercury Business Awards that gave her the push to apply again for The Apprentice after missing out last year.

“Winning that award gave me so much confidence to keep pushing for more success,” Khadija said.

She was also highly commended in the Best New Start-Up category last year.

Khadija, who is originally from Peterborough, attended Ormiston Bushfield Academy in Orton and studied for a law degree at Middlesex University in London.

After graduating, she worked in a number of sales jobs in London before falling pregnant with her first daughter.

“After the birth of my first child, I just started feeling isolated,” explained Khadija.

“I came back to Peterborough and couldn’t go back to my job because the train would have cost a lot of money.

“I literally googled ‘What is the cheapest business to set up?’ and it came up with a cleaning company!”

She started the cleaning business herself three years ago and used to take her daughter with her to jobs before it really took off.

Initially the business was based in Bourne, where Khadija lives, but is now based in Peterborough. The entrepreneur herself has recently moved house and near lives in Stamford with her two daughters. Her partner is from Easton-on-the-Hill.

Now she employs a team of staff and Khadija said she was very concious of the demands placed on working parents. She even has a special 9.30am to 2.30pm shift so her own staff with children can save on childcare costs.

Working hard has got Khadija to where she is now and it is businesspeople who graft who inspire her - including her new mentor Lord Alan Sugar.

“The two people I look up to in business are Lord Sugar and Richard Branson,” she said.

“I live by what Richard Branson says about if you look after your employees and they will look after your customers.”

Khadija’s cleaning company is also environmentally friendly by using electric cars and eco cleaning products and is completely paperless.

She added: “Whatever I say I’m going to make happen happens. I’m a serious Mumpreneur who doesn’t have time for timewasters and idiocy.”

Khadija considers her people skills to be her best business asset.

She said her friends would describe her as being “quick-witted, motivational and genuinely wanting to help others but she can have a bit of a ‘hot head’.”

Her friends and family will be among those tuning into the programme and Khadija said they’d all been incredibly supportive.

She plans to be likeable but focused, though says she can be cut-throat when required.

And Khadija is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Peterborough winner Joseph Valente, who took home the top prize on the show in 2015 after impressing with his boiler company.

Khadija said: “We’re hoping to meet up for a coffee and he shared a Facebook post of support.”

And Tom Hindmarch, from Duncan and Toplis, which sponsored and judged the Businessperson of the Year category at last year’s Mercury Business Awards, was among those to congratulate her.

He said: “It was clear to us that Khadija had a real drive to succeed when we awarded her the Businessperson of 2017. We hope that she continues to shine and wish her the very best on her appearance in “The Apprentice.”

Khadija is keeping under her hat how far she progresses on the show but as well as Lord Sugar, she’ll also have to impress Baroness Karren Brady and Claude Littner who resume duties as Lord Sugar’s eyes and ears on each of the tasks, reporting back on the candidates’ every decision in the boardroom.

The first task, airing tonight, will see the hopefuls jet off to Malta tasked with buying nine items at the lowest possible prices.

Other tasks will see the candidates going to Glasgow to sell art, Birmingham to clinch deals at a Body Building Expo and back to London to launch a budget airline.

Khadija’s appearance on the show was announced just days after this year’s Mercury Business Awards took place.

For a full report on this year's Mercury Business Awards, visit https://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/news/gallery-of-pictures-from-mercury-business-awards-9045003/