The Apprentice's Welsh star who went from parents' kebab shop to Lord Sugar's boardroom

While The Apprentice is very popular with viewers it is also very common for most of the candidates to be from London or surrounding areas. Year after year on the show we hear 'Hello I'm so and so and I'm from London' repeatedly.

But not this year. For the first time in many series a Welsh contestant, Nadia Suliaman, is taking the show by storm. From growing up in Swansea and working at her parents' kebab shops to owning her own business and surviving the first task, at least, Nadia is proudly representing Wales.

Nadia, who grew up in Llansamlet, had business skills and passions instilled in her from a young age. Her parents ran a successful chain of kebab shops in Swansea, which Nadia remembers well.

READ MORE: The Welsh restaurant top food critics are raving about despite it only being open a year

READ MORE: Inside Au Vodka's amazing new £3 million HQ with mini-golf course, private chef and its own maze

She said: "My parents had a business so they were always very entrepreneurial, they absolutely smashed it. It was just awesome. It was instilled in me, from birth.

"When they started their businesses there was nobody around the look after the kids, it was mad, I had to go to the kebab shops with them. I loved it, I was serving the customers, all the customers knew me. Six years old, I was taking the money off the customers. I was answering the phone, going out on the deliveries. For me, it was just always a buzz."

When Nadia was 10 her parents divorced and she grew up with just her mum. Ever the business-driven family her mum set up her own cleaning company, which Nadia worked for. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter.

Nadia said: "It was difficult growing up, I had to work three jobs whilst studying for my degree. It was just so challenging. The moral of the story was there is nothing without hard work. This has just been instilled in me from a really young age. I’ve always pushed myself, pushed myself to want to achieve more and get more and be more."

After studying business management at the University of Swansea Nadia left Wales and got a job with the massive company, Coca Cola. She said: "It was just awesome, it gave me all the experience I needed, give me all my business background, all the key skill sets and I was just like, this is amazing. But, I always found that I would make the most on the team, I would be the top salesperson."

It was while in this job that Nadia realised her passion to start her own business. She said: "I’ve always been different, I’ve never followed the crowd. I’ve always been a bit of a maverick, I’ve always been the kind of person that thinks outside the box, is creative, will stand for what I believe in, so basically I just wanted more. I just wanted more and I thought, you know what, I have to start my own business, being an entrepreneur is the one thing that I love."

So Nadia in 2020 took the plunge and with her business partner Tyson Grant, who is a professional hairdresser, opened up a luxury hair salon in Knightsbridge, London. Pretty much instantly the pandemic hit, meaning the salon had to close.

Nadia said: "I thought wow, this is mad, I’ve got no cash flow, I’ve just given up a really good job for this - what am I going to do?" In Nadia's words she and Tyson "stayed strong" and were supported through the difficult time. She said: "People really stood by us, the whole community was so good, even people from Wales, London, friends, family. They were pre-paying so we had that continuous cash flow."

The business then took off when men's clothing company Hackett London teamed up with Nadia's salon, Forbici Knightsbridge, to have concessions in their stores. There are now four of Nadia's salons in Hackett London stores and Nadia said: "I am very proud. I’m proud that my brand was good enough for a global brand."

Speaking about the salons, Nadia said: "We wanted it to be a safe place for people to unwind. People get so stressed in their day-to-day jobs. In a hair salon is it more than just being a hairdresser, you are a councillor, and you're listening to people’s problems… it is an environment that I love. I am a raging extrovert and for me being around people, seeing them smile, seeing their families smile, having those relationships just means the world to me."

This led Nadia to one of the ultimate business challenges, The Apprentice, where she is proudly representing Wales. Nadia explained: "One of the main reasons I applied for the show was to inspire young people who have a dream that anything is achievable. Coming from Wales is really hard, it is a tough place, there’s not that many jobs, it is difficult. You have to have something else in you, you have to just keep moving and be resilient and you have to take risks as well.

"I am so proud. Anytime anything big happens like you get a Welsh character on the show, or there’s a Welsh athlete, it's just always such a proud moment… it is really really great to be the only Welsh candidate on there and I am just super proud. I am from Swansea, I’m from Llansamlet, I’m from a little village in Swansea, I’m still just that little girl from Swansea."

"The Apprentice really gave me that confidence to show myself that I can get on the show and I want other people and other women, a single mum, whoever you are to know that there is a life out there for you to make money or to fulfil your dreams or to start your own business, whatever that may be. I just think the world has changed and I just want to be part of changing that world and inspiring people to do it."

With the first episode of The Apprentice having aired, we know Nadia survives the first week and she spoke about what it was like to be on the show. She said: "It is really intense, it is 24 hours a day, there is loads of running around, we live together, it is intense but it is amazing. The experience is like no other… I just loved every second of it. I met some awesome people on there, some really really big characters... It is a big experience. Everyone is different, there is not one way of doing business, everyone has got their way."

She also spoke about what it was like to be around the formidable Lord Sugar, she said: "I found him to be amazing and he is super supportive. Watching him from such a young age and seeing him, I did use to think he was scary but now meeting him in real life and seeing him, he is awesome. His business mindset is incredible… he is just an inspiration and I like the way he just tells it as it is, straight down the line, no messing around."

As Nadia looks to the future she hopes to bring her hair salon business back home to Wales and open in Cardiff and time will tell if Nadia walks away as Lord Sugar's business partner. The Apprentice continues at 9pm on BBC One on Thursday, February 6.