Name
Ella Baptie
Age
22
What is your area of focus/What certifications or qualifications are you working towards?
I work in customer-facing supply chain and completed my Level 3 supply chain apprenticeship at the start of 2025.
What inspired you to pursue an apprenticeship in food manufacturing?
Apprenticeships weren’t really discussed at my sixth form, so after finishing my A Levels, I thought I’d go to university. I took a gap year because I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and then I applied last minute to a couple of schemes, including the supply chain apprenticeship at Nestlé. Even though I wasn’t fully confident about what working in supply chain looked like at the time, I found a real passion for it once I started.
How did you find out about this apprenticeship programme?
My dad was the person who first told me about apprenticeships as he had been involved in apprenticeship recruitment planning within his organisation, which prompted me to start exploring schemes and applying.
What are some of the key skills you’ve learned so far?
Definitely communication, especially learning how to speak to different stakeholders from across and outside the business. In a customer facing role, that’s been so important for making sure conversations are clear and genuinely helpful.
I’ve also gained strong relationship building skills through working on different accounts, including Waitrose, Amazon and Asda. Each customer relationship works a little differently, so I’ve learned how to adjust my approach while still making sure we deliver what’s needed.
Through the apprenticeship itself, I’ve also gained a much broader understanding of how the supply chain works end-to-end, including the environmental and sustainability considerations that sit behind everyday decisions.
How has your mentor or trainer supported your growth?
My support network at Nestlé has been really strong throughout my apprenticeship. We have apprenticeship champions - who are colleagues and often ex-apprentices themselves - who I’ve been able to speak to about any challenges I’m facing throughout the apprenticeship. They’ve been great at sharing advice, because they’ve been through the scheme themselves.
I’ve also had access to mentors who have supported me with everything from thinking through a work situation to helping me with the academic side of things.
That level of support was consistent from start to finish, which made a huge difference. On top of that, I was really lucky in my rotations to have line managers who truly championed me, especially when helping lead on a warehouse move in my first rotation, which was a big step up. Having someone back me and guide me through that kind of responsibility early on helped me build confidence quickly and grow into the role.
What has been the most rewarding part of your apprenticeship?
The most rewarding part of my apprenticeship has been seeing how far I’ve come and having achievements I’m genuinely proud of at the end of it. Finishing with distinctions across the board was a real standout for me, especially as I achieved 100% in one of the elements. Being nominated for and winning OAL’s Supply Chain Apprentice of the Year was another huge moment that made all the hard work feel worth it.
It’s also been really rewarding to be trusted with big projects early on. The warehouse move is a great example. Coordinating deliveries and stock transfers while I was still learning the role was definitely a lot of responsibility but seeing it all come together successfully gave me a real sense of achievement.
And finally, my end point assessment project, based around the Asda account, pushed me in a different way. It was challenging, but also really rewarding, which felt like a brilliant way to bring everything I’d learned together.
Where do you see yourself in five years within the food industry?
In the long term, I can see myself continuing to grow within customer facing supply chain, building on the parts of the role I enjoy most. During my apprenticeship I did a lot of work shadowing, including time with colleagues in marketing and sales and I had lots of different career chats as well.
That’s helped me understand the different directions I could take, and where I might want to build experience next.
A big driver for me is the relationship side of the role. I see myself as a people person, and I wanted to build relationships, so customer facing supply chain has really suited me.
