Jinxed??????

What is happening at Matrix corp. cannot be described as a jinx any more, it is something else. I once said that Matrix Corp would be wiped out one by one till they were all gone if the show's producers did not do something. They tried and at least Eunice and Kathleen will have a longer life span on the show as members of Zulu corp. Not so Oscar and Eddie who were shifted from Zulu to Matrix, this signaled their demise. Last week, Oscar concluded that Matrix was jinxed and it’s really hard to argue with that at the moment.

This week, the spotlight was on Celtel. The CEO called Isaac on his Celtel blackberry phone and asked him to assemble everyone for a tele-conference. The week's task was a marketing task for Celtel Nigeria. Celtel Nigeria wanted to market their Celtel red phone or the Jembi phone which allows the caller to pay for only what they use. The task was two fold in nature. The first part involved each of the teams working with a Jembi phone operator and convincing people on the streets to make a phone call using the phone. Whichever team generated the most money in this task won. This part of the task was judged out of 60%. The second part of the task was to come up with a marketing strategy for the Jembi phone in Nigeria and make a presentation to Celtel Nigeria executives. This would be judged out of 40%.

Zulu corp. decided to have Isaac as their project manager, something Eunice was very happy with citing that this was his second time as PM and that he was a well rounded leader hence his team mates’ trust in his ability to lead them to victory. Matrix corp. chose Eddie as he was the only member of the team never to have been project manager.
Matrix corp. was down to four members whereas Zulu had a two man or as I would rather say, a two woman advantage.

Both teams were briefed by Celtel officials and given a chance to ask questions. Isaac requested for any market research that the company had and also categorically requested that Matrix corp. NOT be given the same research unless they asked for it. He said the same thing when he requested for promotional materials such as T-shirts, caps and the like. Eddie later asked for the same in their session with the Celtel officials. This highlights how tough the competition is and how determined everyone is to win the task. We would later see how far Eddie was willing to go to win the task.

Zulu corp.’s strategy on the streets was to use emotional appeal to lure customers to make calls. For instance they would ask you to call your mother just to tell her you loved her. This meant that they had to interact with the customers and Kathleen got a chance to meet and chat with two Cameroonian ladies. Soon, they had people lining up at the little Celtel kiosk and because there was only one phone, there was a long waiting period and some people decided to leave hence drastic measures to keep them there.

As if this was not enough of a set back, there was a power cut in the area where Zulu corp. was operating and the battery of the Jembi phone. The team had to work fast to find a generator and recharge the phone’s battery enough for customers to be able to make calls. This lost them some more customers.

At Matrix Corp, Eddie’s personality was once again shining through as he managed to convince people to come to their stall and make calls. Blessing and Nancy also had the same task whereas Regina's was to take care of customers at the stall. Eddie went a bit far in his bid to bring people to their stall. He offered people Celtel merchandise if they made calls on the Jembi phone to their friends and loved ones. Calling abroad got you more merchandise and so people were actually calling so as to win T-shirts, caps, etc

Phase one of the task over, it was time for the boardroom. Zulu Corp presented to the Celtel executives first. Their strategy focused on billing mechanism which allows customers to pay for only what they ask for or what they use. They also had time lines for projected growth. Their presentation was very organised.

Matrix corp. on the other hand focused on the social nature and giving back to the society. They proposed Celtel creating jobs for the poor and disabled in Nigeria. Eddie tried to apply his personality to wow the Celtel team but they were focused on what was on the projector screen and the figures they showed. Matrix corp. has computed projected growth in figures amounting to over 2.6 billion Naira by 2011. Michael Folly of Celtel questioned how they had arrived at this and Nancy who had done the computations was speechless.

In the boardroom, the CEO started off with his usual lessons. He then went on to admonish the Matrix team for over fraternizing with customers saying that the competition wasn't about making friends with the customers but about business. Isaac in his team's defence said that they had to talk to the people and create emotional appeal to make them come and make calls at their stall.

The CEO then went on to criticise Matrix corp. for the use of Celtel merchandise to "bribe" customers into coming to their stall. This, he said was unacceptable and completely against the rules he had set for the task and Celtel company policy. Eddie was quick to defend his team saying that he had read the dossier and that wasn't in it. The CEO would have none of it so he went on to invite the Celtel executives to give their verdict of who had won the task.

Micheal Folly said that they had not seen a lot of creativity in the two presentations but he applauded Zulu's presentation as well as their handling of the Q & A session, especially Deox. The verdict on their part was that Zulu corp. had won the task based on the fact that they had a good understanding of the business model of the product and their presentation too.

Matrix had brought in the most revenue from their stall but the way they earned the revenue was against the rules. On top of that, their financial projections were horribly wrong. The Celtel team had done a check and discovered that they had over shot by 1000% hence questions were raised about the validity and credibility of the rest of their presentation.

Zulu Corp had survived the boardroom once again!!! Their reward was dinner at the Yellow Chili restaurant with a surprise guest.
Back in the boardroom, Eddie cited the fact that they were outnumbered as the reason why they had lost the task. The CEO said they had concentrated on the first part of the task and neglected the presentation and as such they had presented a completely unprofessional marketing strategy. They had earned 60 out of 60% in the first part of task but they neglected the second part and so Zulu had won.

When asked who was responsible for the financial projection disaster, Eddie said it was Nancy but he was taking responsibility because as PM he should have double checked before the presentation. When he was asked who he was bringing back to the boardroom, he decided to spare Nancy saying that she had become a veteran of the boardroom and he said he was asking Blessing and Regina to "escort" him. Ideally, he had just sacrificed himself for Nancy because there was no way she was surviving had she reappeared in the boardroom. Plus the CEO wasn't about to fire either Blessing or Regina.

So back in the boardroom, it was time for Eddie's funeral procession. Everyone understood that Eddie had decided to sacrifice himself and so it was a real funeral as the girls and Eddie cried as the CEO gave his final lesson to a man many had bet would be the first Apprentice Africa. It was a really somber farewell, the look on the face of Mr. Shobanjo and on those of his advisers was really sad and my heart broke too.
Fare thee well my brother, the Matrix jinx got you!!!!