There can’t be many more daunting experiences than facing Lord Sugar in the boardroom on TV’s The Apprentice – but Chisola Chitambala is not your typical contestant.
That’s because the 31-year-old is a former paediatric nurse who has found herself at the centre of real life-and-death situations.
“When you’re working in a children’s hospital and you have a child who’s come in and potentially needs reviving, those are seriously emotional, high pressure situations you’re dealing with,” she told BusinessCloud.
“I definitely think it’s helped me, because those situations are so high pressure and you want to be able to succeed no matter what’s in front of you, and that can be applied to business.”
Chitambala has impressed with her coolness under pressure in the first two episodes of The Apprentice, which has seen her yodel in Austria and help create a virtual pop star and music video.
She said her experience as a nurse, which included being involved in the Covid vaccination roll-out, has served her in good stead on the show.
“It’s a really humbling experience,” she said. “It’s tough, it’s really tough.
“I think there’s lots of lessons and skills I learned and then applied to the business world, like tenacity and resilience.”
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For obvious reasons Chitambala can’t talk about the outcome of the show, which sees 18 candidates battle it out to win Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment and mentorship.
She’s the co-founder of CB Virtual Assistant, which provides support for business owners and directors with tasks from general administration to operational support.
Her business plan on the show is to create a match-making app to connect entrepreneurs and approved investors.
Chitambala said it will help address the inequality that means that women-founded startups only receive two per cent of VC funding.
“A big part of me wants to push this idea forward so that more women can get investment funding and support,” she explained.
“I want to encourage other women, in particular, young women from ethnic, diverse backgrounds because we’re totally underrepresented, especially within the business world.”
Chitambala gained an MBA from the Anglia Ruskin University in 2019 whilst still working as a nurse.
“I just still loved being able to work in hospitals and give back,” she said. “It’s always been a part of who I am and it’s a big part of me and the person that I am today.”
The Chelmsford-based entrepreneur said one of her biggest challenges on The Apprentice was what lie to tell her friends and family to explain her absence.
“I said that I went back to Zambia, which is where my family are from, and I visit there once a year,” she said.
“We have some quite rural villages, so I said that I had gone to one of those and had no signal!
“It was honestly so hard to keep it from everybody, especially because I’m such a sociable person.”
Chitambala was part of the winning side on The Apprentice last night, being part of a team who created an AI generated music video.
She said: “At the end of the day we all know that we’re competing against each other.”
Being seen by millions of viewers has definitely raised her profile.
“We’ve had more traffic on our website and our social media followers have slightly increased as well,” Chitambala said.
“I’ve also had a lot of directors and business owners connect with me and we have had quite a few inquiries.
“I’ve had a couple of calls with potential new clients, so all of this is obviously great for the business.”