The Apprentice candidate Chelmsford-born Chisola Chitambala lifts the lid on filming Lord Sugar's reality TV show

Chisola Chitambala (right) with CB Virtual Assistant co-founder Kirsty Bolukbasi
-Credit:CB Virtual Assistant


From selling sweets in her primary school playground to having a starring role opposite Lord Sugar on the BBC - Chisola Chitambala's career has been on quite the journey. The businesswoman is set to star in the 19th series of the business-based reality TV show The Apprentice.

Chisola is born and bred in Chelmsford, attending the Cathedral Primary School before heading to Westcliff High School for Girls. Now based in Hullbridge, she runs her own virtual assistant company, providing administrative, creative, or technical services to clients remotely.

Following a lot of nerves about the show coming to TV, Chisola says she's now "super excited" for the show to finally air, hoping to be a role model for other young girls from diverse backgrounds to get into the world of business.

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Speaking with EssexLive, she said: "I think I've always been very business minded from a young age; one story that comes to mind is I started selling sweets in the primary school playground. I think from that moment I realised that this is a passion of mine and something I was really interested in, and has now happened in various stages of my life leading up to my virtual assistant company.

"I don't think at the time it was necessarily allowed, but I still went ahead and did it. It made me money, and I wanted the pocket money."

Chisola initially studied and worked in nursing, before returning to Anglia Ruskin University for a masters in business administration. From then, helping out friends and aquaintences with their business matters led to her and friend Kirsty Bolukbasi to go out on their own and form CB Virtual Assistant in June 2022.

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She said: "We felt we should put both of our brains together and turn this into a business. In the virtual assistant world we could do business operations, business support as well as other things. When we initially launched I didn't realise we would grow so quickly; I left my full time job within three months of launching the business. I was working from 5am to 1am sometimes, and not really getting much sleep, I knew that wouldn't be sustainable for a long period of time. That's why I took the leap, and it was super scary, but it's one of the best decisions I've ever made."

Chisola Chitambala
Chisola Chitambala -Credit:BBC

Landing the place on The Apprentice meant that Chisola would be spending time away from her business - but this was never daunting, even during filming, when candidates are only allowed a ten minute conversation with one person per week on the outside world.

She said: "When I got the news I couldn't believe it, I was so excited and wanted it for so long. A candidate myself, little old me on a big screen. But because me and my business partner have such a great relationship and we always work hand in hand together, it was less daunting for me to leave the business. I felt really comfortable leaving her in charge of the operations.

"We don't have much contact with the outside world, but we have a circle of trust which are three people that we're allowed to contact. But it's only one person, once a week for ten minutes so it's not a long time at all. As much as it was difficult, I was doing it for the betterment of the business and the betterment of myself."

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Chisola said meeting Lord Sugar in person for the first time was "definitely nervewracking", but said the business tycoon "put them all at ease from the very beginning". She said: "I think he could feel the nerves in the room, made a few jokes and made us feel comfortable and more relaxed, to get the best version of ourselves. The businessman we see is the same you see on the show."

Chisola has faced a lot of questions about how The Apprentice works behind the scenes; most notably, the famous section at the beginning of each episode where the candidates are phoned in their home early in the morning and told they will need to be ready for a pick-up within half an hour.

The cast of series 19 of The Apprentice
The cast of series 19 of The Apprentice -Credit:PA

"The one question I get asked a lot, is the phone call real and do we only have 20 minutes to get ready," Chisola said with a laugh. "What I will say is the call is real and you do only have 20 minutes to get ready - it is a struggle. I have to prepare myself the night before, we all set our clothes out the night before so we know what we're wearing, but it is genuinely only 20 minutes. It's not a drill, it's serious."

While the outcome of the series and the overall winner of The Apprentice will be under wraps until the finale, Chisola is hoping her time on the show will inspire other people. She added: "I really want to inspire women to go after their dreams, put themselves in places which they never thought they could do. I really want to inspire the next generation, but in particular young women from diverse backgrounds.

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"When I was a child I didn't really see myself represented as much on TV, so young black girls, young women from ethnic minorities. You can achieve anything you set your mind to; dedication, hard work and being able to put yourself out there and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. Nobody likes to feel uncomfortable, but that is where a lot of growth happens."

The Apprentice returns to BBC One tonight at 9pm.