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Isle of Man Examiner, March 2006 Businessupdate 19
BOOKS
Review
by
Hannah
Stephenson
I’m an entrepreneur,
not an apprentice
Loudmouthed Saira Khan, the volatile
firecracker who came runner-up in
BBC2’s The Apprentice last year, has
not looked back since her determined
performance made her the star of the show.
Few will forget how this supersonic
saleswoman with the big voice wound
up her colleagues with her pushy
tactics.
Although she received regular
verbal lashings from businessman
Sir Alan Sugar, it seemed he had a
soft spot for the 5ft 2in dynamo.
When you meet her you can
understand why. She seems tiny
and prettier than she appeared on
the show, and her enthusiasm is
infectious rather than irritating.
Although Saira, 35, lost out on the
£100,000 dream job to winner Tim
Campbell, she did work for Sir Alan
for six months before moving on.
‘The role he gave me was another
sales role. I was effectively selling
computers. I thought I was worth
more than that. Sir Alan was,
shall we say, disappointed.’
Still, she says she has earned
the equivalent of Tim’s salary in
the past year through a number
of media jobs, including a
column in The Mirror,
corporate speaking
appearances and her own
online business with her
husband, internet consultant
Steve Hide.
She’s currently appearing on
You’re Fired, the new
Apprentice spin-off show on
BBC3, and this month she
begins filming her new
daytime show on anger
management, Temper Your
Temper, which is due out in
autumn.
As ever, she is in saleswoman
mode today as she eagerly fills
me in on her new self-help
book, P.U.S.H. For Success.
‘In this country people see me as
being pushy. I don’t think pushy’s a
negative thing. As a young woman
you have to really push yourself to
succeed. It gives you an edge over the
competition.’
She keeps in touch with Apprentice
winner Tim Campbell, who is still
working for Sir Alan.
‘We have a lot in common. He’s pretty
laid-back and chilled out, whereas I’m
pushy and feisty, but it works. He calls
me his sister.’
As for Sir Alan, she says: ‘I have an
enormous amount of respect for him. I
really like him because he reminds me a
bit of my dad. He’s very hard on the
outside but on the inside he is a very
responsible man who cares deeply about
his family.’
Saira’s parents emigrated to England from war-torn
Kashmir in 1965, hoping to build a better life and earn
money they could send back to the family. Saira, the
eldest of four children, was born in 1970 and grew up in
a predominantly white area in Long Eaton, between
Nottingham and Derby.
Her father, Jan Mohammed, was forced to work in lace
factories because his qualifications as a doctor in
Kashmir were not recognised.
He was extremely strict. She was forced to wear school
uniform to a non-uniform school and as soon as she
came home she’d change into the traditional salwar
kameez — a long tunic and baggy trousers designed not
to draw attention to a woman’s physical shape.
‘My childhood was quite painful at times. I really just
wanted to be a
part of British
society. At home I ate
different food to the meals my
English friends ate and watched
Bollywood films while my friends
were going to the cinema.
‘I would have loved to have had
sausages and baked beans at home,
or get my dad to go to the pub and
drink cider, but that was never going to be.’
If Saira or her siblings stepped out of line, her
father would beat them with belts, shoes, a
cane or even a wire coat hanger. He also
lashed out at his wife, once giving her a black
eye.
‘His frustrations with his life and the
injustices he had to deal with at work
translated into anger and violence, and most
of that was taken out on the family.’
At home they spoke only Urdu and Bhari
and her mother didn’t speak a word of
English for a long time.
Life didn’t get any easier as she grew up.
‘My parents were from an arranged marriage
and wanted the same for me. My mother would
invite young men to the house and get me to
serve them tea on a tray. I didn’t fancy any of
them. It was just like East Is East.’
To her father, education was everything. Saira
went to Brighton Polytechnic when she was 18 and
later gained a Masters at Nottingham University.
‘I had boyfriends at university but my parents
never knew about them. I was sensitive towards my
religion and culture.’
Her father worked longer hours in the factory to
help pay her university fees and she now realises that
she was driven by the yearning for his approval. That
focus disappeared when he died suddenly in 1998 of
a heart attack, while visiting family in Kashmir.
‘I was absolutely devastated. For the first time I felt
really alone.’
To deal with the grief, she flung herself into work
and set out to achieve more.
She met her husband, Steve, in 2002 when
they both worked for United Biscuits.
‘I knew instantly that Steve was the one,’
says Saira. ‘I had a mental tick list of what I
wanted in a person. It was never about the
looks. He was career-minded and I never
wanted to be hanging around with a lazy slob.
Keeping fit was a big part of his life, and mine,
and he liked a hot curry. He ticked all my
boxes.’
The first time Steve, a Christian, met Saira's
mother was to ask for Saira’s hand in marriage.
‘I never introduced Steve as a boyfriend. She was
furious at first but she’s come round. I was the first girl in
my family to marry outside the culture.’
They live in west London and she would love to have a
big family. At 35 she is well aware that the biological
clock is ticking, but talks in terms of when they have
children rather than if.
And at the end of a rather exhausting conversationfilled
hour, Saira doesn’t pause for breath as she
launches into her plans for the future — to be a
successful businesswoman launching new products,
influencing government on a variety of issues and
making a difference. She even suggests that one day she
may be prime minister.
‘I don’t want to work for anybody else,’ she asserts. ‘I’m
an entrepreneur, not an apprentice.’
As this
year’s
candidates
continue to
battle it out
for Sir Alan
Sugar's
dream job in
the second
series of
BBC2’s The
Apprentice,
P.U.S.H.
For Success, by Saira Khan, is
published by Ebury, priced at
£9.99. Out now
last year's runner-up Saira Khan has a
new book out, appropriately named
P.U.S.H. For Success. She reflects on her
fortunes since the show.
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