Alana Spencer: Apprentice Hopeful to Business Success!
By Louis Such
Credit: Alana Spencer / ridicrichbyalana Instagram
Back in 2016 Alana Spencer starred and competed in the 12th series of BBC1 show ‘The Apprentice’. After facing off against 17 other hopefuls, she became the shows first Welsh winner and received a £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar and became partners in her cake business ‘Ridiculously Rich by Alana’.
Alana celebrating with Lord Sugar (Credit: Alana Spencer / ridicrichbyalana Instagram)
After gaining the investment and the support from Lord Sugar, Alana launched her website selling products including brownies and flapjacks which instantly became a hit with customers (us included).
To expand the business further, the entrepreneur set up her ambassador scheme where people from the UK and Ireland can use their love of baking to earn money and represent the brand at different events such as country shows and farmers markets (which she regularly attends herself also).
Alana at the Caerphilly Christmas Market 2019 (Credit: Alana Spencer / ridicrichbyalana Instagram)
In 2019 Alana announced on social media that she had taken the opportunity to buy back the shares in her company, stating that it was ‘time for Ridiculously Rich to become ‘By Alana’ only’.
Since venturing into the business world on her own, Alana moved the manufacturing of her products to her native country Wales and opened her first shop in Aberystwyth. Following this success, the baker went on to open three more shops in Llandundo, Cardiff and Caernarfon.
As with any business issues can arise leading to closures both temporary and permanent of which Alana has tackled - most recently, making the decision to close the Cardiff store. All hope is not lost though, as Alana hopes to return to the city once more and but is currently focusing on the setup of the new Carmarthen location.
Alana at the Llandudno location (Credit: Alana Spencer / ridicrichbyalana Instagram)
The business owner regularly updates followers on social media of the highs and lows of business, even sharing that she had broke four ribs whilst carrying out manual work at her new store. Alana also uses social platforms to share baking tips and tricks, also uploading videos to her YouTube channel which has 2.19k subscribers.
Although the journey hasn’t been easy for Alana and her team, her positive outlook is something to be desired. We here at CelebNews+ can’t wait to see what Alana and her Ridiculously Rich team get up to next!
To find out more about Ridiculously Rich by Alana, click here.