‘I came from nothing, now I’m a finalist on The Apprentice making £250,000’

An Apprentice finalist has revealed how she turned a £7 bank balance into a quarter of a million pounds.

Karishma Vijay, who has reached the final of The Apprentice, has disclosed the extraordinary success she has already achieved with her business, Kishkin, ahead of a potential investment from Lord Sugar.

The entrepreneur from Ashford, Surrey, faces Pascha Myhill in tonight's final, following weeks of tense boardroom showdowns and gruelling tasks.

Karishma, who takes great pride in being the first businesswoman in her family lineage, has already captured the hearts of viewers nationwide and earned several rare words of praise from Lord Sugar's trusted aide, Baroness Karren Brady.

She now hopes to prove herself one final time in a bid to secure his investment and become his business partner, and has lifted the lid on just how much the show has already transformed her fortunes, reports the Mirror.

The 28-year-old, who boasts more than 350,000 followers on social media, has been candid about her journey, revealing that when she first launched her beauty business she had just £7 in her bank account, and "had barely £2,000 in my business account" when filming began.

Her life has since been turned around completely, with hundreds of orders flooding in daily and her earnings now reaching six figures.

In an exclusive interview ahead of tonight's series finale, Karishma opened up about her remarkable journey from humble beginnings to where she stands today.

She began: "It was really hard getting it started, and in the beginning it's just you against the odds, and you've got to give it your best and take risks and you could lose the money that could have been used for a house, a property, a future... you're just giving away that money on an idea that may or may not work. For me, it was a huge risk."

Karishma described how she emerged from a traditional upbringing and shattered expectations by entering the business world, explaining: "I come from a very traditional background, my family is exactly what you'd expect of a very traditional Punjabi family, and your fate is pretty much sealed when you're born as a woman or a girl. It's like, 'one day she'll get married and have children,' and you are raised to be a great wife, not raised to be a businesswoman in any way.

"I pretty much learnt business watching the boys and the men of my family conduct themselves, make very big deals, come home with a lot of money, and give us a very stable life and then all of it fell apart, and suddenly we didn't have that.

"It's not been this way the whole time. I grew up in different worlds. We had a moment where there was nothing, and then we had a moment of abundance, so I know money comes and goes better than anyone, which is why I'm working for stability."

She continued: "Stability is super important, but I understand the ideas have an energy and a shelf life, so if you really believe in an idea and you don't give it the energy it needs, in the moment of excitement where you're really believing in it, it's going to fizzle out, and the next thing you know, you're locked into a 9-5. I've been in that life, and for me, I just don't want to do that.

"I want to give my family such a good fighting chance at a good life and turn it around for us. For me, it meant a lot to be [in the final], you'll see the conversation I have with my dad where it means the world to us to have made it this far and defy the odds."

"It's amazing how my life turned around," she added, reflecting on how "emotional" it was to revisit episodes of The Apprentice with her loved ones.

She said: "We don't speak about this scarcity mindset of rent being due, and all the things that I was feeling in [the final five interviews], like wow, how much I've turned my life around without the show, hopefully more with how things go in the future.

"At the moment, as it stands, I've made myself and my name very proud. I am the first businesswoman of my bloodline, and I hope to set an example for the rest."

Despite having already achieved so much, Karishma harbours ambitious plans for the future, regardless of whether Lord Sugar chooses to invest.

"I want a company that creates impact, people don't buy one bottle but they come back for ten more, and that's why our product is doing so well, because the people that bought it a year ago when we first launched, they're on their 10th bottle, and the people that are just learning about us through The Apprentice, they're stocking up because they know we're going to sell out," she said.

She revealed her ambition for Kishkin to become a "global beauty empire", with plans for it to be stocked in Duty Free at "every airport that we're flying, hopefully in First Class".

She went on: "For me, as a business, we've done quarter of a million now, so Lord Sugar, you're making money with me, or you're making money without me, but I'm still making money."

Discussing her emotions ahead of the final, Karishma added: "I feel like I can't believe it still, I'm just running around trying to keep up with the sales and the orders and the social media side of it, and just all the traction I'm getting. But underneath all of it, there's just a girl who didn't watch the show and ended up in the final."

The Apprentice final airs at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.