Next week’s final of The Apprentice will be contested by Karishma Vijay and Pascha Myhill.

28-year-old founder of beauty brand owner Vijay is the red hot favourite to win Lord Sugar’s £250k investment and mentorship in the culmination of series 20.

However, Lord Sugar sprang a surprise when he fired Dan Miller in favour of Pascha Myhill, who is the youngest candidate left in the show.

Myhill, from Reading, was 21 when she appeared in the show and is seeking investment for her recruitment company within private healthcare.

Good luck to both. I’m off to eat my hat.  

Time to eat my hat after Dan Miller failed to make the final two.

The founder of loss-making student recruitment company  Young Professionals UK was told by Lord Sugar: “Your numbers are like a jungle. I’m not sure you understand them yourself.”

The first candidate to be fired on the night was Priyesh Bathia, who was told ‘don’t give up your day job’.

He was  quickly followed by PR man and Lawrence Rosenberg, who’d shocked Lord Sugar by asking for £5.5m for his startup.

“I don’t have any confidence in your business plan,” he said.

Anyone got any salt?

 

Lord Sugar might think about using AI to improve his jobs.

Priyesh Bathia’s business plan for a mobile cocktail party didn’t leave anyone ‘shaken or stirred’.

Worst ‘joke’ of the night followed the news that Karishma Vijay founded her skin care miracle product after being diagnosed with ache at the age of 18.

“I grew up in Hackney,” said Lord Sugar.

Pascha Myhill’s chances of making the final two just got a lot longer.

The youngest candidate left in the show admitted to Claude Littner that she didn’t know what profit and loss was.

Littler, who has been involved in the interview stage of The Apprentice since  series one, said her business plan was ‘woeful’.

I will eat my hat if the final two isn’t Dan Miller and Karishma Vijay.

Latest revelations include: PR man Lawrence Rosenberg’s 75-page business plan is  slammed as ‘tedious’; Pascha Myhill is branded ‘inexperienced’ after producing a seven page business plan; Priyesh Bathia’s business even isn’t registered at Companies House;  Dan Miller’s business is losing money but he has a holiday home on Marbella.

 

Terrible start  for PR man Lawrence Rosenberg in front of long-serving Claude Littner.

According to his business plan he wants an initial investment of £500k  – rather than the £250k top prize being offered by Lord Sugar.

Meanwhile Dan Miller reveals he doesn’t want to give away 50% of his student recruitment company Young Professionals UK to Lord Sugar.

This could get ugly.

‘That couldn’t  have gone any worse,” admits global account manager Priyesh Bathia after being grilled  by Linda Plant.

“You’re never going to do it,”  she said. Brutal. Puff of cheeks.

Meanwhile it’s an impressive start by Karishma Vijay when she’s grilled by Mike Soutar.

She passes her first test in being able to identify her own product.

 

10 minutes into tonight’s episode and we’ve had lots of  tears and threats of being sick – and the interviews still haven’t started.

Not sure if I’m watching The Apprentice or X Factor?

Hope it gets better.

 

It’s time. The remaining five finalists in series 20 of The Apprentice prepare to be put through their paces for a place in next week’s final – but who will it be?

According to a story in today’s Sun newspaper the result has already been leaked online – causing ‘chaos’ at the BBC.

They’ll be interrogated by Lord Sugar’s loyal associates Claudine Collins, Mike Soutar, Linda Plant and Claude Littner.

The interviews will be first time they’ve met the candidates as they haven’t been able to watch their performance in the previous 10 weeks.

Ten weeks ago, 20 candidates set out to become Lord Sugar’s latest business partner in the 20th series of The Apprentice.

The 2026 series started in Hong Kong and has also included tasks in Egypt and the Isle of Wight.

Now only five candidates, Priyesh Bathia, Pascha Myhill, Lawrence Rosenberg, Dan Miller and Karishma Vijay, remain to try to win Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment and mentorship.

On Thursday, the remaining five will have their business plans picked apart by Lord Sugar’s hard-nosed associates to see which two make it through to the grand final.

Follow the action live here from 9pm.

Zoho has opened a new office in Milton Keyes, creating jobs and driving regional tech growth off the back of doubling its UK headcount and reporting 43% over the past two years.

The launch comes amid strong UK momentum for Zoho, with the company reporting 43% growth and a tripling of its UK workforce over the past two years, marking a significant milestone in its continued expansion across the country.

The opening ceremony was attended by James Lancaster, Mayor of Milton Keynes, alongside representatives from the local business and innovation community.

Plans have been submitted to Manchester City Council for the UK’s first airport-based science, innovation, and manufacturing campus.

MIX MANCHESTER is set to be one of the largest science, innovation and manufacturing campuses in the UK, delivering two million sq. ft. of high-quality space at Manchester Airport, the UK’s only airport science location.

When complete, MIX MANCHESTER is expected to create up to 8,000 jobs for the region across the 60-acre site, capable of delivering two million sq. ft. of employment space.

It is being developed in collaboration by Manchester Airports Group (MAG), Manchester City Council (MCC), Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF), and Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG).

Author: Chris Maguire

An entrepreneur has estimated her appearance on Dragons’ Den cost her £20,000.

Danielle Close is the founder of Brighton-based My Skin Feels, a vegan skincare brand that ferments rescued organic food waste from the Italian food and drinks industry.

Her appearance in Dragons’ Den was screened in February and saw her secure a £50,000 investment from Deborah Meaden and Gary Neville, although she decided not to progress with either offer.

Close said her appearance in the Den has been transformational, but admitted it came at a cost of £20,000.

The breakdown included £3,600 in stock lost during the production process and £4,000 in extra staffing around the episode.

Author: Chris Maguire

Ben Booth is the CEO and co-founder of  MaxContact  and has shared the 5 golden rules that every founder needs to know.

He said: “If there’s one useful thing I can do, it’s tell you what it actually looks like, not the version that looks good on LinkedIn.”

Here are his 5 golden rules:

1. It will be harder than you think

2. Nobody has it all figured out

3.  The board will not save you, choose them wisely

4. The highs get higher, but the lows get lower

5. Culture changes, your team must too

He said: “If there’s one useful thing I can do, it’s tell you what it actually looks like, not the version that looks good on LinkedIn.”

 

Experian, the global data and technology company, has announced the expansion of its verification capabilities in the UK with the addition of Konfir.

Konfir delivers digital verification by combining Open Banking, Payroll and Tax data to give employers, landlords and lenders clear insight into income and up to six years of employment history.

Available in the financial services, tenant and employment markets, the integration further reinforces Experian’s current capability, enabling quicker checks, stronger fraud controls, and more efficient operations for clients.

The addition of Konfir also supports Experian’s permissions-based data strategy and brings in a team with deep experience, who are already delivering these services at scale to over 6,000 businesses in the UK.

BGF has made a significant investment into Fivium, a UK-based public sector software provider, to back its next phase of expansion. 

The funding will enable Fivium to further scale its SaaS platform and digital solutions offering, strengthening its go-to-market and product development capabilities, as well as its ability to support new areas of the public sector. 

Founded in London over 20 years ago, Fivium supports public sector organisations in managing complex administrative and regulatory processes, improving the service it provides to citizens. 

FinTech start-up Compound, a next-generation workplace pension provider, has secured £500K in funding from Fuel Ventures and special advisor Paul Rippon (co-founder of Monzo).

This investment targets a broken £480 billion market where poor user experience means high employee opt-out rates (up to 17% for younger workers), causing people to miss out on vital tax breaks and long-term wealth-building growth.

Compound solves this by offering the user-friendly Compound App, which combines a digital “find and combine” pension tool with superior UX, finally making personal wealth visible and engaging. This product-first approach has already delivered an industry-beating employee opt-out rate of just 1.6%.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

MillTech has raised a £45 million minority investment from Apax Digital Funds, the growth equity arm of Apax Partners.

MillTech is a risk management platform which provides foreign exchange hedging and cash investments for fund managers and corporates.

The deal values MillTech at $325m. MillTech’s ultimate group holding company retains its majority shareholding. 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

New tax changes implemented this week will back founders to the tune of £100 million a year, according to the Government.

The changes implemented at the start of the new tax year include significantly expanding the number of companies eligible for the Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) scheme, further supporting companies to attract and reward talent.

They also include doubling the amount a company can raise through the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Venture Capital Trusts (VCT) to boost investment through additional tax relief.

The changes, announced in Rachel Reeves’ Budget last year, are expected to support around £100m of additional investment a year.

 

Sedulo Group has acquired accountancy practice Smith & Wallace and launched in Scotland with an office in Glasgow.

Sedulo is a national mid-tier business consultancy firm, with offices in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham, London, Dubai, and now Glasgow. Following the acquisition, the group employs almost 250 advisors.

Smith & Wallace are an accountancy practice based out of Kilmarnock with growing revenues in excess of £1 million, led by Andrew McMorland and Martin Farrell, who will continue leading the business. They will be joined by Logan Rowan, who leads Sedulo’s Deal Advisory team, having joined two years ago from KPMG.