Woolly hats, berets and vintage dresses helped St Albans’ Luisa Zissman secure her place in the penultimate round of The Apprentice.

In this week’s programme, which was aired on BBC One last night (Wednesday) the six remaining candidates were set the challenge of growing their own business in 48 hours.

The group was split into two teams, girls and boys, taking them back to the battle of the sexes formula seen at the start of the competition.

Luisa was appointed as the girls’ team leader due to her experience in the retail industry.

She said: "This is a task that is perfect for me with regards to my background. I have three retail businesses."

The girls quickly decided to set up a fashion business buying cheap products to sell on at low prices.

She said: "Go for quantity. Quantity quantity quanity. Stock them high and sell them cheap."

They then hit the shops to purchase hats, scarves and patterned leggings which they then began to sell on their market stall in east London.

As soon as they started to make money Luisa sent teammate Francesca MacDuff-Varley out to buy more of the products that had sold well.

On the second morning the teams got to see their shops, which were in a pop up mall in Shoreditch, for the first time.

The girls had a good start with more sales and decided to invest in some higher priced items in the form of vintage style dresses worn by Pixie Lott.

Lord Sugar’s aide Nick Hewer voiced his view on Luisa’s effort as project manager.

He said: "I’ve had a few question marks about Luisa over the last few weeks but she has come into her own. She is definitely a retailer.

"She is leading a happy team and she’s doing well."

The team spent the day selling and restocking to try to make as much profit as possible.

In her bid to make cash Luisa took to the street outside the shop to flog products, and even her tried her luck with a group of uniformed police officers.

At the end of the second day both teams were called back to the boardroom to find out how much money they had made.

Luisa’s girls made a total of £809.05, smashing the boys who bought back £550.66.

The girls’ prize was dinner at a top London restaurant.

In the end it was marketing man Myles Mordaunt who was sent home by Lord Sugar.

Next week’s show will see the remaining candidates interviewed by top businessmen and women to see which two will battle it out in the final of this year’s competition.