Despite not winning the latest series of ‘The Apprentice’, Bianca Miller is quickly becoming a successful entrepreneur. On the 26th of February, ‘The Apprentice’ finalist and Sydenham High alumna visited her old secondary school to offer advice on succeeding in business, as well as to discuss her time on the popular TV programme, answering questions from students in years six to thirteen.

 

Unsurprisingly, many students were keen to find out about Bianca’s experience on ‘The Apprentice’, but were shocked to discover she was initially reluctant to take part in the process:

 

‘I didn’t really set out to go on ‘The Apprentice’!  I got an email about the application from my boyfriend and at first I was like “No, I don’t want to be famous!” But I signed the application forms and got through the first round of applicants so I decided to take it seriously. I decided to take a risk…and it paid off.’

 

However, the competition to secure investment from Lord Sugar was tough, and Bianca admitted some aspects of the process were difficult:

 

‘The most challenging part of ‘The Apprentice’ was being thrown into a process with 19 other people. You are all living in the same house, with no internet or mobile phones - it’s like you’re in a bubble. I didn’t see my family for three months and I couldn’t even tell some of them where I had gone. On the days we didn’t have tasks we were allowed ‘down time’. But we had to do things as a group so we went to the cinema and shopping. Sometimes people would ask who we were – a group of five or ten adults – but we weren’t allowed to say “we’re on ‘The Apprentice’”. One of the scariest things about ‘The Apprentice’ was having to get ready in twenty minutes with no privacy: there were four of us sharing a bathroom!’

 

However, one part of the show which Bianca was not scared of was Lord Sugar himself:

 

‘I don’t think I was ever intimidated by Lord Sugar. You respect him because he’s a good businessman but I needed to make my presence felt so I couldn’t be intimidated.’

 

Bianca saw her competition as Katie Bulmer-Cooke, Mark Wright – who won the competition – and Roisin Hogan, but Bianca still had to defend her place in the process inside the boardroom:

 

‘You know when you get to the boardroom you have to fight. [But] we had a policy in the house that we wouldn’t talk about tasks and we didn’t bring any of the tension or anger from the boardroom back with us. Everyone behaved in an adult manner about that part of the process.’

 

When reflecting on particular tasks from the show, Bianca recollected her favourite moments, such as launching the ‘Big Dawg’ product in New York, as well as the more challenging parts:

 

‘The hardest parts of ‘The Apprentice’ were the interviews. What they don’t show on TV is that each interview lasted one hour so after three hours of being grilled I was exhausted. The one thing I’d do differently on ‘The Apprentice’ would be not to give exclusivity to Westminster [when selling her team’s board game].’

 

Bianca also gave some top tips to aspiring young entrepreneurs, such as the importance of gaining work experience, having a passion and willingness to learn, and developing good networking skills. ‘The Apprentice’ involved tasks where the candidates had to sell their product, and Bianca provided valuable advice as to how to deliver the perfect pitch:

 

‘My tips for pitching include making eye contact and building a relationship with the audience. And be sure to answer the questions when you are asked them: don’t talk about everything except what the question is asking for! It helps to sometimes repeat back the question to yourself so that you can absorb what is being asked of you.’

 

Bianca’s business prior to taking part in ‘The Apprentice’ focused on personal branding, which she became involved in after graduating from university, adopting the motto ‘be you and be better’. One side to her personal branding advice to always present yourself in a professional way:

 

‘I would say that to present yourself professionally you need to follow PACK: presentation, approach, communication and knowledge. Presentation is not just about what you wear but your facial expressions as well. Approach is about being able to show you are an expert in your area. Communication is about how you speak online, on social media and face to face. Knowledge is about being sure you know what you are talking about.’

 

Overall, the Q&A session with Bianca was inspirational and insightful, providing all the students who attended with valuable advice on how to become a successful entrepreneur.

 

Evie Richards, Sydenham High School