I was in series one of the Apprentice and been bankrupt twice – but entrepreneurs shouldn’t worry about failure

A candidate from The Apprentice is looking to take on the US with his new tech venture, despite facing two bankruptcies.

Raj Dhonota, who was in the first season of Lord Sugar’s BBC show, found success in business despite being fired in the ninth week.

Over the years he has built several successful tech businesses, but before the pandemic he found himself facing his second bankruptcy after launching a company intended to help entrepreneurs.

Now he is looking to move to the US to launch his tech venture despite his setbacks.

Raj Dhonota, who appeared on the first series of The Apprentice, has been declared bankrupt twice

Bankrupt at 21

After graduating with a law degree, Dhonota started working with HSBC putting together the original plans for its iconic Canary Wharf building.

‘HSBC were one of the first banks that were outsourcing their paperwork to central processing departments so I had an idea to centralise property sales,’ he says. 

‘Rather than having individual high street locations throughout the business – this was back in 2000 – we set up an office for the whole of Kent.’

At the age of 21, Dhonota grew the business from 0 to 200 properties, and from a team of two to 30.

‘I should have had about £1million in my back pocket but I think I had about £25,000. We were always underfunded. 

‘The business was great but we were always struggling for refunding, and in the end, whilst we were taking in money, were still making losses.’

The company failed and Dhonota was declared bankrupt for three years.

He now says he recognises that he tried to start ‘too big’ and while he was warned to take less of a centralised approach, that’s not what he wanted to do.

‘If we’d opened up some kind of shop on the high street with the wider geographic area that we were targeting, maybe we could have made it successful.

‘I was too adamant in my approach and I didn’t listen. These are the sorts of traps that a lot of young entrepreneurs get into.’

The Apprentice

Towards the end of his bankruptcy, Dhonota spotted an advert on the BBC website looking for 14 entrepreneurs in the country for a show with Alan Sugar.

At the time the top prize was a six figure salary job with the businessman, although Dhonota says he was never particularly interested in it as a reward.

‘I was there for nine weeks and didn’t enjoy any of it. It was more about entertainment than business.

‘I’m not ungrateful I’ve been on the show. Out of 10,000 people, to be on there and last nine weeks was good [but] I’m afraid to say it has nothing to do with business and I learned nothing from a business perspective from The Apprentice.’

Once he left the show, he set up another business which took insurance claims and data processing, outsourcing it to a team in India.

After four years he exited the business. Over the next decade, he built six other successful tech businesses, including an instant translation service. 

‘I’ve pretty much experienced the highs and lows of being in business. The chances of success are slim… 80 per cent of startups tend to fail within the the first three years. So my success rate… I’ve done okay.’

Second bankruptcy

After a number of years in the tech world, Dhonota turned his attention to helping other entrepreneurs who were looking to start their own business.

Despite helping would-be founders with their own launches, Dhonota was unable to save his own business. The firm ended up failing just before the pandemic and he was declared bankrupt for a second time.

‘That was down to a number of mistakes… I think I could have been a lot stricter in terms of the entrepreneurs that we were investing in because we were investing at the very highest risk phase.

‘Before the trouble started, we helped 200 entrepreneurs… it’s not that everybody failed it was just the last batch when the business fell into difficulty.

Fired: Raj Dhonota lasted nine weeks on the first series of The Apprentice with Lord Sugar

‘At the time I put everything into trying to save the business because I was trying to help entrepreneurs and the thought of letting down entrepreneurs who had this dream of starting their tech venture like I’d done so many times previously.’

The impact of the second bankruptcy hasn’t phased Dhonota though, who remains adamant it is part of the ups and downs of being a businessman.

‘Obviously you want to avoid bankruptcy. For me it was I did what I could and it hasnt worked out but it doesnt stop the journey. We move on.

‘I get that there’s a negative perception around bankruptcy, but I don’t see it that way. I think the mindset needs to change. 

‘People struggle everyday in jobs and do we tell them to stop working and hang up your boots? No we don’t. I think whatever those struggles are, you just need to work through.’

He adds that there is more of a stigma attached to bankruptcy in the UK than in the US where ‘people accept bankruptices as part of the entrepreneurial journey’.

Taking on the US

Since his second bankruptcy, Dhonota has helped his wife start a beauty business, which is now turning over near to £1million.

At the same time, he has been working on a tech venture to help the professional market in the US.

‘I’ve always had this dream of wanting to go to the US and launch a tech venture and now I can do that. I’ve had setbacks but I’ve always tended to come back stronger from my setbacks and I’m hoping it’ll be the same.’

This time around though, he won’t be putting too much of his own money at stake, believing it can be done ‘organically… and building a team.’

He plans on moving to California to find a team of co-founders to build a proof of concept before approaching investors for funding.

‘This is very much like the model that we had previously with a lot of founders. 

‘There’s a lot of tools out there that [means] you don’t necessarily need a lot of money to build apps. It’s going to start small… that’s the approach.’

While a fresh start in the US might be the goal, two bankruptcies over his head might prove difficult for Dhonota.

He is defiant that he can ‘use two bankruptcies in a positive light… I’ve got no reason to hide anything.

‘History is littered with entrepreneurs that have been bankrupt once or twice and gone on to be hugely successfully. It’s something you want to avoid but it’s happened and I don’t let these sorts of things hold me back.’

With his eyes set firmly on Silicon Valley, Dhonota is now looking to find a team of co-founders and potential investors. Could Lord Sugar be the man he’s looking for?

‘We’d have to sit down and negotiate. I think Lord Sugar has a certain way of doing business. I think the biggest thing that entrepreneurs need is a sounding board of someone who’s been there and done it.

‘I certainly take value from his knowledge rather than his money. I’m confident we can make the venture we can work the venture without a lot of money, but yes having the knowledge he’s got, I think it’d be immense to be honest.’

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk