“Born in Glasgow in 1983 I have some wonderful childhood memories and being the eldest of 4 daughters meant that I matured a lot faster than other girls my age. Unlike a lot of business people I did not display natural entrepreneurial flair as a young girl. I worked in my father's shops where I was exposed to a sales and business environment, but I was always very shy up until secondary school.

Having completed my SQA higher examinations in 2000, I pursued Film and Media studies at Stirling University. My passion for this field was evident as I had already gained work experience within local radio and magazines starting from the age of 15. I knew that regardless of what I wanted to pursue in life - I had a strong level of drive to make it happen.

During my first year at University, somehow I lost my passion for what I was studying. So I took a year out and this was the best decision of my life.

My first full time job was at Hutchison 3G (now 3 mobile). As this was a new company, it was very exciting to be exposed to a fast ever changing environment and I was lucky to have gained experience within customer service, complaints and management.

Having spent 2 years there I decided to take my experience to a buzzing retail environment. I worked for 2 major high street retailers gaining strong sales, supervisory and management experience. I was then head hunted to work for a new and exciting cosmetics company. My employment for Red Earth Beauty lasted 2 years and I gained 2 promotions due to my dedication to drive the business forward (yes it all seems to happen in 2’s!). I was responsible for arranging many innovative events, working with senior management to train the sales teams & travel to other cities within the UK to launch further concessions within major department stores. My team smashed targets by xxx% and year 2 saw further growth. However, the company went into liquidation and I lost my job in Jan 2006.

One door closes and another (bigger and better) one opens. This was certainly the case when I took on a challenging role at a major Global IT organisation. As Business Development Manager I worked closely with distribution partners within the services arena and oversaw an account generating £6milion of services per annum. Having come from the very different world of cosmetics, I applied the same basic business principles to this position.

Wherever I have worked, be it selling £12 lipsticks or £120,000 service contracts for corporate clients, I have always known my goals and have had a real passion to learn. With an ambition to be a millionaire by the time I am 30, my hunger to learn is what motivated me to apply for The Apprentice.”

Although I have had a few business interests, I’ve always visualised myself gaining commercial business experience and then applying this to my own firm...”

To read what Ghazal has been involved in since The Apprentice, click here.