Dr Paul Midha is one of 18 contestants appearing on The Apprentice in 2024.
But what is his business history prior to applying for the BBC show?
Who is Dr Paul Midha?
Dr Paul Midha was born in February 1994 into a family of dentists. Sticking with the family trade, he attended dentistry at the University of Sheffield.
He admits that he spent a lot of his time partying while at university and only started to get serious about his career when he came close to graduating.
When the UK entered Covid lockdown in 2020, Midha purchased his first dentistry practice. He had quit his part time job at a private clinic shortly before the pandemic broke out in order to take on a new role in London. However, with the UK ordered to “stay at home”, the job never materialised.
Midha saw the setback as an opportunity: “During the first lockdown I actually went to go view the practice that I ended up buying. And I knew because it was Covid that I’d get a really good price.
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“I got 35 per cent off the asking price, and so I kickstarted that process off.”
He worked at a test and trace centre for four months to make an income while the lockdown rules meant dentistry outlets had to remain close before pumping his money into his practice.
However, that again was no easy task: “[It] took about 13 months, 14 months to complete because no bank would ever I didn’t really trust someone that was only six to seven months out of PhD with no assets or anything.
“But I managed to persuade a bank to do it and it was a high deposit, but then took over the practice, called to passion, renamed it to dental and kicked off.”
Midha says that when he first started his dentistry practice, he was left with just £100 in the bank due to the amount he needed to invest in the business. However, “over 15 months of unwavering dedication, the practice’s valuation soared to an astounding £900,000—an exceptional growth of over five times its initial value”.
The 34-year-old says he wants to win The Apprentice in order to learn more about the business world from Lord Sugar. While the money is a factor, he says he wants to gain a better understanding of how to run his own company in order to “revolutionise the healthcare attire market”.