Dragons' Den star Susie Ma: New Dragon didn't win The Apprentice but that didn't stop her becoming a multi-millionaire
She appeared on The Apprentice in 2011
Dragons’ Den series 23 continues with another new face in the line-up, this time Susie Ma, the founder of Tropic Skincare, and former contestant on The Apprentice.
After the departure of fan favourite Sara Davies, BBC One announced the series would not be replacing her. For now, at least. Instead, four guest Dragons will appear on the show for series 23’s 14-week run.
And this week (Thursday, February 12), it’s Susie Ma’s turn. So how did she become rich, what is her business, and what is her net worth?
Here’s everything you need to know about new Dragons’ Den star Susie Ma.
Who are the Dragons on Dragons’ Den?
Dragons’ Den is back with a brand-new series – and an exciting new line-up of guest Dragons are ready to “shake things up”.
In 2026, four new faces (well, almost) are joining seasoned investors Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman, and Steven Bartlett.
Former footballer and entrepreneur Gary Neville is back, and made his return last week. He first appeared in two episodes in 2024. REFY CEO Jenna Meek, and rapper Tinie Tempah complete the line-up alongside Tropic Skincare’s Susie Ma.
Every episode will feature one of the four sitting alongside the resident Dragons. Seven brand new episodes of Dragons’ Den began on Thursday, January 29, 2026, on BBC One and iPlayer with more episodes to come later this year. Like series 22 in 2025, the series will be split into two.
All the guest Dragons appearing on Dragons' Den series 23
Gary Neville
Professional footy player turned businessman/media figure Gary Neville is no stranger to Dragons' Den. At the start of 2024, he became the first-ever guest Dragon and appeared in two episodes of series 21. At the time, the Manchester United FC legend poured money into three firms all in all. He plumped for a personal cinema company, cacao business, and a service for grieving families.
Gary was a property developer throughout his sports career. He also co-owned Stock Exchange Hotel, which is now one of Manchester's top establishments of its kind. He's the co-owner of Hotel Football in the same city.
Susie Ma
Susie Ma has built one of Britain's quickest-growing beauty brands in Tropic Skincare. She reached the final of fellow reality show The Apprentice back in 2011, the year inventor Tom Pellereau shook Alan Sugar's hand as the winner.
Despite not choosing her as the winner, Lord Alan Sugar invested £200,000 in Susie Ma's business, Tropic Skincare . She secured a 50/50 partnership with Sugar, which grew the company into a highly successful brand. Ma bought back Sugar's stake in 2023.
Cut to 2023 and the businesswoman bought out Lord Sugar's stake in her natural skincare company and is now its sole owner. Susie was also named in The Sunday Times 40 Under 40 in 2024.
Tinie Tempah: Music star
Rapper Tinie Tempah takes the third guest chair. It's been 15 years since he burst onto the music scene with the song Pass Out, and now he's the founder of Imhotep Records. In between, Tinie (real name Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu) has launched RAPS together with chef Hasan Semay, a virtual soul food brand, plus food incubator Kitchen Ventures.
Jenna Meek
REFY CEO Jenna Meek completes the Dragons' Den guest set. At the age of 20, she launched SHRINE, a makeup and cosmetic glitter brand that gained immediate traction via pop-ups at global festivals.
In 2020, Jenna launched REFY, another beauty brand which now has a reported annual turnover of over £40 million. The likes of Brown Thomas, Sephora and Selfridges are stockists.
Who is the new Dragon Susie Ma?
BBC One describe Susie Ma as the “powerhouse behind Tropic Skincare”. She is the founder and CEO of the multi-award-winning beauty brand which aims to be ethical and effective. It’s one of the UK’s fastest-growing beauty brands, with an annual turnover of £68 million.
Susie showed off an entrepreneurial spirit at an early age. She started the business at just 15 years old, when most young girls are concentrating on their GCSE’s or thinking about boys.
She began selling homemade scrubs – made from her grandma’s body scrub recipe – at Greenwich Market to help her mum pay the bills. The scrub was a blend of fresh sea salts for exfoliation, macadamia and jojoba oil, and lemon myrtle to ward off mosquitos. Susie decided to call it Tropic because the ingredients were from somewhere tropical.
Slowly, over six years, she grew her business. Until, at 21 years of age, she appeared on the seventh series of The Apprentice. Susie has now built Tropic into a multi-award-winning natural skincare company. It currently has 38,000 Ambassadors in the UK, and sells to millions of customers.
Did Alan Sugar invest in Tropic Skincare on The Apprentice?
Susie Ma appeared on the seventh series of The Apprentice in 2010/2011. At just 21 years old, she was one of the youngest candidates to ever take part. She lived in Croydon and described herself as “ambitious, optimistic and easy going”.
At that time, Susie had already earned enough cash to put down a deposit on a house for her mum, as well as a second investment property, and funded her way through uni.
Inventor Tom Pellereau eventually won the show, while Helen Milligan was runner-up. Being a young contestant didn’t stop Susie Ma from finishing in third place. Despite not winning the show, however, Susie impressed Lord Sugar enough with her business to secure his investment. He subsequently became a partner in her natural and organic skincare business Tropics, having invested £250,000 which was a 50% stake in her business.
She proved you don’t have to win The Apprentice to impress Lord Sugar, or to become very successful. Despite not winning, she built Tropic Skincare into a thriving company with a £68 million turnover in 2024 with £8.7 million in pre-tax profits.
Tropic Skincare remains the only business run by an Apprentice runner-up to have gone on to secure investment from Lord Sugar.
In 2023, Susie Ma bought back Lord Sugar’s 50% stake, taking full control of her company. She subsequently paid herself £20 million in dividends, following a 30 percent rise in profits to £8.7 million. She is considered one of the most successful contestants in the history of The Apprentice.
How much money is Susie Ma on Dragons’ Den worth?
Susie is wealthier than most people dream of. She is not a billionaire, but she’s pretty comfortable put it that way. The founder of Tropic Skincare is a multi-millionaire, with an estimated net worth of approximately £73 million as of March 2025.
The sum earned her a place on The Sunday Times Rich List. Susie is recognised as one of the richest people in the UK under 40, and is currently expanding the Tropics Skincare brand with plans for international growth.
Where is Susan ‘Susie’ Ma from?
Susie Ma was born in Shanghai, before her family moved to Australia when she was aged six. They eventually settled in London when she was aged 13 in 2002.
With her mum having no grasp of English, Susie succeeded in getting herself into a school despite her young age. Sounds like a scene out of Matilda! The budding entrepreneur attended Croydon High School for Girls from 2002 to 2007. In the evenings, she took cosmetic formulation courses to extend her knowledge and Tropic’s product range.
Later, in 2007, she attended University College London and graduated in 2010 with a degree in philosophy and economics, followed by an FX sales and trading internship at Citigroup.
Her first ever job was working on a market stall selling skin care products which she has now turned into an extremely lucrative business.
What is Susie Ma’s business Tropic Skincare?
Susie Ma is now the sole owner of Tropic Skincare, a British company which sells skincare and cosmetic products. Bestsellers include a smoothing cleanser for £22, a Skin Feast moisturiser for £30, and cleansing body pebble for £12.
Tropic Skincare is one of the UK’s fastest-growing beauty companies, selling a “multi-award-winning range of natural, planet-protective products”. The company sustainably sources its rainbow-hued ingredients from “sun-soaked tropical regions”, and “freshly make our vegan formulas in our Surrey Beauty Kitchen”.
The company has won over 400 awards for its natural, organic, and clinically-proven formulations. The products are freshly made and certified by COSMOS and The Vegan Society.
Susie is described as “dedicated to donating 10% of profits to charities and good causes including funding more education and planting hundreds of thousands of trees”.
The Tropic Ambassador “community” gives others the opportunity to build their own success, too. The direct-selling model allows ambassadors to earn commission through selling Tropic products. As of 2025, there are over 38,000 ambassadors in the UK.
‘To become a Dragon was a real pinch-me moment’
Talking about what attracted her to become a guest Dragon, Susie Ma admitted she’d “loved Dragons’ Den for years”. She said: “To become a Dragon off the back of what I’ve built with Tropic was a real pinch-me moment. The show has always stood for belief – backing people with ideas, courage and ambition, and that really resonates with me.”
She revealed she would be keen to see some food pitches in the Den. Susie added: “Beauty will always be my first love, but food is the industry that excites me most beyond that. I’m a huge foodie, and I’m endlessly inspired by founders who take something simple and turn it into a brand that people genuinely fall in love with.”
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Does Dragons’ Den star Susie Ma have children? Who is her partner?
Susie has a daughter called Sienna with her long-term partner Matt who is not in the public eye. They welcomed their first child in September 2024.
Talking about her experience of being in the Den, she admitted it was “intense” because she was filming while her daughter was just six months old. She said: “Sleep wasn’t exactly abundant. But that’s modern working motherhood. I’m proud to show that it’s possible to build, lead and show up – even when life is full and messy and demanding.”
Susie describes herself as a “nurturing Dragon”. She believes you can be “kind and ambitious, empathetic and decisive” at the same time.
