Lord Sugar has crowned Karishma Vijay the winner of The Apprentice - and she has vowed to use her platform to tackle racism and toxic beauty standards.

The business owner, 29, told the Daily Mail that becoming the BBC show's latest champion is a 'huge statement', citing her Indian heritage and upbringing as the daughter of immigrant parents. 

Karishma beat Pascha Myhill, 22, the youngest candidate in the process, during Thursday night's final, where both presented their respective businesses to Lord Sugar and a panel of experts.

After impressing with a dynamic pitch for her beauty brand, Kishkin Skin, Karishma secured Lord Sugar's £250,000 investment during the show's 20th series.

She said her victory will not only help her get onto the property ladder, after months of sleeping on a mattress at her parents' home in Croydon, but also allow her to challenge an industry she believes has historically overlooked people of her ethnicity, and push for fairer opportunities in the future. 

Karishma said: 'The winner of the Apprentice is the daughter of an immigrant and that is a huge statement and a light of hope to people who feel things will never change.

'There are girls that don't look like me that do well and girls that look like me that have to really fight tooth and nail for a single opportunity.  

'I have been locked out of that list for such a long time because of what I look like. I am not conventionally the beauty standard, the Eurocentric beauty standard that people go for, and whatever.

'I am the girl next door, and people actually buy what the girl next door talks about.'

Karishma says she entered The Apprentice because she was in 'survival mode' after struggling to generate sufficient online sales of her beauty elixir, which claims to help combat acne.

While she has built a substantial social media following of almost one million across Instagram and TikTok, she said she was not always able to convert viewers into consistent customers - leaving her increasingly anxious about generating enough income to sustain her lifestyle. 

She explained: 'When I applied for The Apprentice, it was a massive survival move for me. I had no money in my bank account, the rent was due, what's my next move? I couldn't sell anything.

'I don't want to sleep in a room with a mattress on the floor and be in this situation for much longer. I want my own property and an impressive property.

'The reason I have a mattress on the floor is because I will only buy myself a bed when I have a home. I will have the headboard and the fancy pillows and all but right now, if I don't have a home, I don't have a bed. 

'All of this moving around has been exhausting - each time buying new furniture only to move into a rented house where someone else is the landlord. It's demoralising. When I've earned it, I'll have the best for me and my family.

'It's not about money or land or cars - you haven't accomplished anything by having luxury things - I really want comfort and stability.

'I don't want to be stressing about rent. I am a very normal person who's had very s*** cards dealt to her, and I have tried my best to turn it around - and now I have won the Apprentice.'

Karishma explained how her family has experienced both highs and lows in business over the years.

She said her father is regarded as a 'legend' in India after working across various trades in Delhi, following in the footsteps of her great-grandfather, who made a living selling dry fruits in Afghanistan.

However, after the family relocated to the UK, her father struggled to establish himself and at times sold watches in London's Trafalgar Square to make ends meet.

Alongside facing a challenging job market, Karishma said the family also experienced racism, including from customers at her father's convenience store.

Despite those difficulties, she added that her appearance on The Apprentice has even won over support from 'the most racist man in Croydon', who has praised her business and work ethic.

She said: 'There's this man who used to come to my dad's off licence - he was 100 per cent the most racist man in Croydon.

'He used to come to the shop to buy bread, eggs, water, and every time he would make a comment about my dad being an immigrant, being brown, having an accent, all these things.

'But now that man is coming to my watch party on Thursday. He's 92, he's the oldest Apprentice fan there is. I am sending him a taxi and everything. I must be forgiving to the people that got it wrong who are older.

'I'm not saying I fixed racism overnight but one man at a time and we did that. I have brown skin and that is what it is. This is how you flip the script.'

Karishma impressed Lord Sugar not only with her business acumen and intellect, but also with the deeply personal story behind her beauty brand.

After suffering from cystic acne at just 18, she tried countless products on the market that promised a solution - but none delivered.

During her presentation to leading industry experts, including high street giant Boots, she boldly challenged those very brands, insisting their products had failed her.

The severity of her acne took a heavy emotional toll, with Karishma revealing she often avoided mirrors, unable to face her own reflection.

She said: 'I was 18, I had acne, and nothing was helping me. All these scientists and lab developers were recommending me this brand and that brand - a never-ending list and nothing worked. I addressed that in the final episode. 

'It wasn't a joke - they were laughing because they knew it was true. I said I bought into your lies, and not to p*** them off but to be very honest.

'As an impressionable 18-year-old girl who was imperfect in every way, it robbed me of my confidence to have skin like that. It was distressing. When I looked in a mirror, I would immediately look away. Every day was a bad skin day when you have cystic acne.' 

With her own brand, Kishkin, Karishma says she is determined to offer her audience - including her thousands of followers - equal representation.

She believes the influencer industry should provide opportunities, from luxury brand partnerships to promotional trips, to diverse communities and people of all body types. 

Karishma said: 'I threw myself into the deep end with social media because I saw zero advocates for me. I saw zero people that looked like me and at that age - it was the era of footage, Facetune, Photoshop, perfect face, tiny waist.

'I don't have the perfect face, and I don't have a tiny waist. You would be surprised by the things people can now do to have that. You can pay for it! The influencer industry is very toxic.

'I just feel like when I was growing up, there was no one that looked like me, so I became the girl with acne that did makeup tutorials and that took two years to build to 2,000 followers, but then it grew to something that people started relating with.

'I'll be doing my own brand trips - I'll be doing brand trips that are inclusive and giving opportunities to people that look like me and don't get the work but need it. They took the risk; they sat in front of a camera and put it all out there for the world to see. And what? The brands don't see their potential.' 

This past week has been life-changing for Karishma.

Not only has she secured Lord Sugar's investment and celebrated her 29th birthday, she has also got engaged.

She shared the heartwarming news on Instagram, posting a series of photos with her husband-to-be, keeping his face out of view, as the couple danced together on a beach.

She explained: 'We were at the beach where we met on a shoot because he is a videographer and drone pilot, and I was a shoot director at the time.

'We have been together for almost four years. He's four years older than me. I need someone who's figured it out a little bit more than me. He may not be a businessman, but I need his sixth sense sometimes. There's a big Indian wedding coming!'