In a marketplace saturated with “sustainable” promises, one entrepreneur’s authentic approach to business reveals what truly drives lasting success.

This conversation was featured on FuturePlus’s Business of Sustainability podcast, where host Alex Smith explores how smart businesses turn sustainability challenges into competitive advantages.

Listen to the full episode.

In a marketplace saturated with “sustainable” promises, one entrepreneur’s authentic approach to business reveals what truly drives lasting success.

In 2005, millions watched Saira Khan battle her way to the final of The Apprentice, becoming the show’s very first finalist. Two decades later, she’s applying those hard-earned lessons in an entirely different arena, building SAIRA Skin, certified organic by the Soil Association, a skincare business that’s redefining what it means to be “born good.”

But this isn’t another story about pivoting from TV to business. This is about something far more fundamental: what happens when your deepest values become the foundation of your business strategy.

The Storytelling Lesson That Changed Everything

“The Apprentice really played to my strengths because it’s all about selling and telling a story and emotionally connecting with people,” Saira reflects. While she jokes that today’s version might serve as “a how not to do business,” the core lesson she extracted has become the foundation of everything she does.

“No matter what you do, you are about your story and how you connect with people and how you communicate. And I think that’s really powerful.”

In the sustainability space, this insight is critical. Too often, businesses lead with data and facts, expecting customers to be moved by carbon footprints and certifications alone. Saira discovered what many are just beginning to understand: “The data is great, that’s your factual evidence, but how do you turn that data into something that people emotionally connect with and then care about and then care about enough to take action?”

The answer, she learned, lies not just in what you’re selling, but why you’re selling it.

From the Himalayas to Your Medicine Cabinet

Saira’s “why” runs deeper than most business origin stories. It’s written into her DNA, passed down through generations who understood something that most of us are only now rediscovering, the fragile, essential relationship between humans and the planet.

“My family are from the Himalayas. They came over into this country in the 1960s, but the connection between human and land was very prominent in my upbringing,” she explains.

Her father’s stories of Kashmir weren’t just nostalgic tales; they were lessons in survival.
“In Kashmir, if you don’t look after your land, literally in that environment, you will die. You cannot cut a tree down without permission. And if you cut it down, it has to be replaced. It’s accountability.”

This wasn’t abstract environmental theory. In a remote, vulnerable part of the world where snow and heat create extreme conditions, “the trees and the environment are their safety.”

For Saira’s family, sustainability wasn’t a marketing strategy; it was a matter of life and death.
“When you come from that kind of heritage and those lessons and wisdoms are passed down, at some point in your life, your DNA just comes into action.”

The “Born Good” Philosophy in Practice

When that DNA-activation moment came, Saira didn’t just decide to start a skincare business; she decided to start a company that would be born good. The phrase isn’t marketing speak; it’s an operational philosophy that guides every decision.

“You have to have a value by which you make all decisions,” she explains, “and for us, sustainability and Soil Association-certified organic is our core value.”

This isn’t aspirational language; it’s a practical business strategy. When Saira hires someone, “those values are in my questioning.” When she evaluates suppliers, “those questions are in my decision whether I want to work with that supplier or not.”

Starting in 2016 as a part-time venture that grew from her earlier baby skincare business, SAIRA Skin became her full-time focus three years ago when she made a pivotal decision: “I need to own my life and I need to really focus on what I’m passionate about.”

The result is skincare certified organic by the Soil Association, which exists at the intersection of personal experience and heritage values, where morals and profits go hand in hand.

“FuturePlus gives us the roadmap and third-party rigour to turn ‘born good’ from a philosophy into operations. It protects us from greenwashing and prepares us for growth and investment.”
— Saira Khan, MD, SAIRA Skin**

The Authenticity Test

In an era of greenwashing and sustainability buzzwords, Saira’s approach offers a litmus test for authentic values-led business. The difference, she argues, is intent.

“It’s not about retrospectively fitting something into your business because the climate around you all of a sudden is about people caring about the environment. It has to come from within.”

She’s seen the alternative up close. Two decades in media and corporate environments exposed her to “very many corporations where I have seen waste. I have seen poor decision-making, and I have seen people being driven by profit only.”

The pattern was always the same: “That makes for a very unhappy place. It’s a very sharp kind of rise in money and profits, but there’s always a crash. There’s always dissatisfaction, and they’re always trying to find the next thing.”

The sustainable alternative isn’t just better for the planet, it’s better for business. “This isn’t just about, ‘oh, it’s really trendy to be sustainable, let’s market a product and get the profits.’ This is about morals and profits going hand in hand.”

How FuturePlus supports a values-led brand (SAIRA Skin’s experience)

– Roadmap & goals: Clear sustainability roadmap with time-bound objectives so the team knows what’s next and what good looks like.
– Evidence & assurance: Third-party verification that helps avoid accidental greenwashing and builds customer trust.
– Decision filters: Practical advice for supplier selection and hiring aligned to values.
– Investor-readiness:Tools and guidance to screen potential investors for alignment, protecting brand integrity as the business scales.

Beyond Trend-Following: The Future of Values-Led Business

Saira’s journey from Apprentice contestant to sustainable skincare entrepreneur provides a roadmap for businesses struggling to find the “why” behind their sustainability efforts. The answer isn’t found in market research or competitive analysis, it’s found in an authentic connection to purpose.

“I am passionate about putting the right products on my customers, but I’m also passionate about where it came from because you have to have the passion,” she says. “I’ve travelled to developing countries. I’ve also seen how our actions in the West affect very vulnerable communities abroad. I care about that.”

This caring isn’t performative, it’s operational. It shows up in product formulations, supplier relationships, hiring decisions, and customer communications. It’s what transforms sustainability from a marketing message into a business model.

The DNA Advantage

As consumers become increasingly sophisticated at spotting authentic versus opportunistic sustainability efforts, businesses like SAIRA Skin have a significant advantage. They’re not trying to retrofit values into existing operations, their values are their operations.

“Whoever is leading the business, they have to be connected to their values,” Saira advises other entrepreneurs. “My values really come from my upbringing, my parents. But also, I’ve formed them because of the people I have met from around the world.”

For Saira, sustainability isn’t an add-on to her business strategy; it is her business strategy. It’s not a pillar alongside financial and operational considerations; it’s the foundation upon which those considerations are built.

From principles to proof: the partnership with FuturePlus

Values only matter if you can prove them. Partnering with FuturePlus has helped SAIRA Skin:

• Turn ESG intentions into an actionable strategy and roadmap.
• Measure and evidence practices across product, people, and planet, reducing risk and avoiding misleading claims.
• Bring consistency into decisions, from formulations and packaging to supplier selection and recruitment.
• Build investor-facing credibility by showing risk reduction and clear impact goals.
  It’s easier to grow when your story is backed by data, and FuturePlus gives us the structure and language to do exactly that.

SAIRA Skin’s certified-organic skincare products embody the “born good” philosophy, proving that values-led businesses don’t just do good, they do well.