On Thursday, beauty brand owner Karishma Vijay is the odds-on favourite to be crowned The Apprentice 2026 champion.
According to the bookmakers, the 28-year-old is 1/3 odds-on to win, while her opponent Pascha Myhill is a 3-1 outsider.
Her Instagram profile states ‘hustlers gonna hustle’ and, if she wins as expected, it will be the result of a perfectly executed strategy that has been years in the making.
From the moment she announced herself on the show, everything has been about raising the profile of her company, Kishkin, and her personal story.
“I’m here for an investment and to find a business partner, not a fan,” she said, adding that she wanted to transform her ‘skincare miracle’ into a ‘global obsession’.
The startup had a modest turnover of £50,000 in the five months after it was launched, but her TV exposure has added rocket fuel to its growth story.
For example, the company’s newly launched Kishkin Eyelixir product sold out within six weeks, and the founder regularly shares photos of the mountain of orders she’s dispatching to customers.
Hardly surprising, then, that comparisons are already being made with Tropic Skincare founder Susie Ma, who finished third in the 2011 series of The Apprentice but impressed Lord Sugar enough for him to invest in her anyway.
Ma is now the sole owner of Tropic Skincare after Lord Sugar agreed to sell back his stake, and she has an estimated personal fortune of £73m.
Karishma speaks about her chaotic life, but everything she does is for a reason, right down to the announcement on the eve of Thursday’s final that she had apparently got engaged.
A photo of the happy couple hugging on a beach was accompanied by the caption: “The people’s princess got her prince… so, so, so much love to my sister officially becoming a fiancée. GUYS pray for us as we have to plan this wedding and I already know she’s gonna be running late.”
And here’s the thing. One of the first people to congratulate the happy couple was her opponent in the final, Pascha Myhill. “This is so beautiful,” she posted. “You deserve all the love in the world, girl.”
It all means Karishma is set to make millions from her appearance on The Apprentice. Here is the seven-point plan behind her success.
- 1. Have a compelling story
Every successful entrepreneur needs a compelling story, and Karishma has hers. After becoming known as ‘the girl with acne’, she started sharing unfiltered images of her skin on TikTok and Instagram and built up a huge following. She then created her own solution and founded her beauty brand, Kishkin. The carefully curated videos she shares on social media show the impact of her product, helping to drive demand.
- 2. Doing it for your dad
A key figure in Karishma’s story is her dad. According to him, “my daughter puts her hand into dirt and pulls out pure gold”.
Thanks pops: Karishma Vijay and her Dad
Her pinned Instagram post is a childhood photo with the caption: “The Apprentice FINAL BOSS. This one is for my pops”. She has spoken about wanting to build a house for him and give him financial freedom.
-
3. Social media influencer
Karishma has built a ready-made audience through her social media following, with 367,000 followers on Instagram and 516,000 on TikTok. Her content is personal and strengthens her brand, helping to drive sales.
Her approach is similar to REFY, co-founded by Dragons’ Den guest dragon Jenna Meek and influencer Jess Hunt, who has 1.6 million Instagram followers and 189,000 on TikTok.
-
4. Get a Wikipedia page
It is no coincidence that Karishma is the only candidate in series 20 of The Apprentice with her own Wikipedia page. It is unusual for candidates to have one at all, and you have to go back to series 15 to find a winner featured on Wikipedia.
-
5. Get on the show
Around 80,000 people apply to appear on the show, so standing out is crucial. Karishma’s approach was distinctive. “I’m likely the only candidate in The Apprentice history that has not been a committed viewer,” she said. Combined with her backstory, this would have appealed to producers.
-
6. Be the best
Karishma was the only candidate to win twice as project manager and never found herself in the bottom three, a statistic she has highlighted on social media.
-
7. Control the message
Karishma may post frequently on TikTok, but she has been selective with public appearances. She recently spoke at the International Women’s Day Conference and Expo in Birmingham, where her story made a strong impression on attendees.
Gavin Dell was in the audience and wrote on LinkedIn: “She didn’t talk about business strategy. She didn’t just talk about the boardroom. She talked about growing up in south London. About being a shy young girl trying to find her voice. About the journey from that girl to the powerhouse we now see on our TV screens.
“She talked about her father. ‘Boss Man’ – that’s what the local community calls him. A man who earned that name by showing up, day-after-day, running his shop and serving the people around him.
Karishma Vijay and Gavin Dell at the IWD Conference and Expo
“The respect she has for him filled the room. She told the story of a man who used to come into her father’s shop and racially abuse him. The same man who’d walk in for bread and milk and leave behind nothing but hatred.
“That same man now walks into the shop to tell Boss Man how proud he is of Karishma. He watches the show every week. Then goes in for a debrief. Sometimes even speaking to Karishma on the phone to offer words of encouragement. Same shop. Same man. Completely different conversation. That is what representation does.’’
Given her new-found fame, she likely has her pick of podcasts, but she chose to appear on The Reading Room podcast, hosted by international award-winning medium clairvoyant Kerry Douglas. Notably, there was little reference to The Apprentice, reinforcing her broader personal brand.
On the road to millions
Irrespective of the result of the final, Karishma’s key achievement is ensuring she will not be defined solely by the show. It is just one step in a much bigger journey.
Whether as a beauty brand founder, public speaker or influencer, the only certainty is that Karishma Vijay seems certain to be on her way to making millions.