The Apprentice candidate Jonny on why he chose Liverpool to launch his business

The Apprentice candidate Jonny Heaver says he chose Liverpool to launch his business after falling in love with the city on his first day here.

24-year-old Jonny is one of the entrepreneurs battling it out on The Apprentice to win a £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar for his company Achiever Tutoring.

He’s so far survived two tasks and two boardroom firings and says he’s really grateful for the Liverpool support he’s had.

“Everyone’s been behind me which is brilliant and as an adopted Scouser it’s so nice to be repping the city.

“I’m from Kent, I moved here to study, and the minute I came for the open day at Uni of Liverpool I absolutely loved the city, I thought this is the place for me. 

“I spent three years at uni here and decided to stay because I love it so much. I think Liverpool has that effect on people, it’s so friendly, it draws you in and makes it really hard to leave.”

Jonny set up Achiever Tutoring as he was finishing his first year of an English degree.

He’d been tutoring for a large organisation but felt uncomfortable with how much they were charging his students.

“They were paying me £15 an hour to tutor, which was quite nice because it was an upgrade on bar jobs, but on a Google search I found they were charging about £85 an hour for my services,” he explains.

“Being honest, I worked hard but I wasn’t experienced at that stage and I knew full well I wasn’t worth £85 an hour.

“I just realised I could be doing the same thing a lot better and for a fraction of the price, so I did.”

After starting tutoring English during his first year summer holidays, he saw demand increase and he began taking on additional tutors to cover other subjects.

“I decided at first to recruit someone with the opposite skills to mine so I took on someone who was super-brainy at maths, science and computer science. From there as we’ve carried on growing it’s always been with the idea of recruiting to plug any gaps. 

“Our USP is young people tutoring young people, so we do go for young tutors. It’s not that we don’t respect older more experienced tutors because they’re brilliant, it’s just not what Achiever is. 

“Sometimes people will come to us who’ve had an experienced teacher but haven’t found that passion for the subject. Finding someone who’s a bit closer to their own age is what creates that one-of-a-kind rapport and they do better.”

As Achiever has expanded to a team of over 30, Jonny has kept to his original aims of making tutoring accessible, having young high-quality trusted tutors and being ethical.

Those three core values were at the centre of the business plan he pitched when he applied for this series of The Apprentice back in January 2024.

“I’ve always loved the show, I’m a complete fan, so the thought of going on it one day with my own business was always an aim of mine. It was actually on my 2024 New Year’s Resolutions board and I managed to tick it off which was quite a cool moment.

“In addition to that I look at people like Lord Sugar, Tim and Baroness Brady and they’re such inspirations of mine so having the opportunity to meet them let alone work alongside them was such an exciting prospect.”

Jonny says being in the famous boardroom was an experience he’ll never forget.

“In that boardroom, when you see us giving each other the eyes in episode one, that’s the first time all the candidates had met each other and Lord Sugar, Tim and Baroness Brady. And when they said, ‘you’re going to Austria’ we honestly had no idea that was coming.”

In the first two episodes, Jonny has come across as the nice guy candidate among some who can be forcefully competitive.

However heated the contest got, there were no lasting hard feelings he insists, and he’s happy to be portrayed as his genuine self.

“There are some people I get on with more than others but there’s not one person I wouldn’t meet up with again, there were no enemies made,” he says.

“What I’ve learned in my business is you’ve got to bring people with you, if you treat people like they’re beneath you that’s when it all goes wrong. 

“I think a lot of people did go in with quite severe tactics and being quite calculated but that wasn’t me and I’m pleased I stood by that. I really wanted to be the same on the show as I am in my work: little bit disorganised at times, but always nice, and I think that’s what worked.”

You can catch up with The Apprentice on BBC iPlayer here.

Get the latest news around Liverpool here.