What's happening?

I really don't get it, i don't get it at all. I thought that as the competition went on, The Apprentice Africa would get more interesting but i have been proved terribly wrong. If you watched Episode 13 and didn't doze off at some point, congratulations are in order. If you actually understood what went on throughout the task, you deserve a standing ovation. It was the most boring Episode ever!!!
This last week's task was boring, perhaps because they were selling soap but i strongly doubt it. It was just that, boring.
Am really at a loss of words as regards the last two episodes, perhaps that's why i haven't written anything till now and even now am really struggling but as usual, I'll do the best i can to review both.

Episode 12's task was about Corporate social responsibility where the CEO stressed the importance of giving back to the society. To illustrate this was Bank PHB's national scholarship scheme. The contestants were to make public performances to raise money for the Bank PHB sponsored Victoria Island secondary school. They were to be given a choreographer to work with and access to the National Art Gallery to practice and perfect their performances. They would then make their performances at Galleria shopping centre however, the rules were that no one was allowed to print or prepare any materials to advertise or promote their performances.

Next order of business was picking project managers and this was basically done through rotation because everyone had been PM before. By simple rotation it was Kathleen for Matrix and Regina for Zulu Corp.

Zulu corp then made an emotional visit to Victoria Island secondary school to get a feel of the situation on the ground, get to know the children and their needs. Matrix corp on the other hand went about planning their performance as Zulu was looking for inspiration.

Matrix decided on a short skit about a little orphaned boy forced to sell bread on the streets instead of going to school. Zulu decided to perform a monologue so that at any one time there was only one person on the stage while the rest would move around collecting money.

Matrix was seen distributing fliers at Galleria the day before the performance which was against the rules but they claimed that Zulu had done the same thing though off camera.

On the day of the performance, both teams had a group of young people to help with collecting the money not the performance. Matrix corp was up first and they made a very compelling performance with Isaac as the young bread seller, Kathleen as his poor widowed mother and Eunice as the good Samaritan who eventually helps send him to school till he graduates and becomes a doctor. People were captivated by their performance and as it went on, the volunteers went around the crowd that had gathered collecting money.

Zulu's turn and they took along students from the school for the presentation. Deox opened the show with a loud gong calling people out of their shops this was his only contribution to the performance, he then went off to collect money. The public address system and projector they had hired for so much money failed to work. so they had to scream at the top of their lungs to be heard. The monologue involved Blessing, Tunde and Regina coming on stage one at a time and making a short speech of sorts asking for donations. It was quite plain and boring as compared to the Matrix show.

It was therefore no surprise when Matrix was pronounced winner however there was no prize because both teams had cheated and the CEO was really angry and lectured them on the importance of integrity. When got to to firing time, Regina brought Deox and Blessing into the room thinking that Blessing would support her and they could oust Deox on the grounds that he was the one advising her to concentrate solely on making money.
Deox of course defended himself quite well, no surprise, the man is a lawyer. When Blessing was asked whose fault it was that they lost, she pointed a finger at Regina because it was her idea to do the monologue and they had lost due to the creative aspect or lack thereof in their performance. At this point, nothing Regina could say would help so she was fired. No surprise there.

On to Episode 13, the task was for Jagal Pharma, makers of Tetmol soap. The contestants were to use their personalities as well as marketing skills to convince the already authorised distributors to purchase larger quantities than they usually did. I think the show's producers specifically organised to have the most difficult distributors because they gave both teams such a hard time.

At one point, Kathleen was so aggravated by one of them that you would think she was about to slap him. She was so rude to him in the way she spoke and her body language that everyone was shocked. Blessing on the other hand, tried to endear herself to her tribesmen, the Ibo whereas Tunde resorted to his local dialect to try to convince one of the female distributors.

At one point, Zulu corp closed a deal with one gentleman only for Matrix corp to convince him to cancel that deal and make one with them. Deox was not amused that Matrix had "stolen" their client. It was later ruled that it was completely legal and that the client had the right to change his mind.

In spite of their "stolen" client, Zulu corp was declared winner of the task for two reasons; they had better customer care in their tent and they also made the most sales. In the boardroom, the three remaining members of Matrix had to face the CEO. Isaac, when asked who was responsible for their loss said it was Kathleen. He blamed their loss on her aggressive character, short temper and poor customer care. He said she always treated people badly and in this case, their clients.

He also pointed out that on top of this, she had made the least sales in the group and when Eunice was asked if she agreed with Isaac, she hesitated but she finally said she did. Without further adieu, Kathleen was fired. Kathleen was given very little chance to defend herself, understandably because i believe the CEO had been told of her behaviour on the day and this together with the fact that she had made the least sales made her the obvious choice for firing.

I sincerely pray that the next Episode will be interesting because i can't doze my way through it and then write a review. If you're still reading this, I hope you didn't doze through it, and if you did, i forgive you, i understand.....

one by one they fall

Episode 11 started off with the 8 remaining contestants gathering in the Troyka quadrangle just like the previous week. The CEO noted how much the number had reduced then went on to deliver the week’s task. Each team was to create a non alcoholic drink which they would then have to sell at a popular shopping mall in Lagos. The team with the most profit would win and the objective of the task was to test the viability of small businesses in Africa.

The CEO appointed Eunice and Blessing project managers for Matrix and Zulu Corp. respectively. They were to pick their teammates but retain team names. Eunice picked Kathleen first whereas Blessing picked Regina first. Blessing went on to pick Deox and Tunde leaving Eunice with Nnamdi and Isaac. The new Matrix team therefore comprised of Eunice, Kathleen, Isaac and Nnamdi whereas Zulu Corp had Blessing, Tunde, Deox and Regina.

Deox went right to work with his new team and we could see him lugging polythene bags full of sachets of water to the house and working together with Regina to come up with different cocktails using the different concentrates they had been provided with. Tunde was in charge of designing the logo for the team’s drink with input from the other team members.

At Matrix Corp, Kathleen and Eunice bought fruits to mix together with the provided concentrates to come up with the fruit cocktails. Nnamdi and Isaac were sent out to do the graphic design for the team’s logo. They quickly discovered that they weren’t going to be able to afford to hire someone to do the graphics for them so they decided to do it themselves. Nnamdi also had the idea of leasing a juice dispenser for the day as was able to negotiate a really good deal for the team.

On the day of the task, Matrix Corp was positioned at Entrance 1 of the Palms shopping centre whereas Zulu Corp got Entrance 2. Deox was quick to note that this was a disadvantage for his team since Entrance 1 had more traffic with people heading into Shoprite and Game stores whereas Entrance 2 had less traffic. He said that they would not let that hold them back and they would be more aggressive with their sales.

Matrix Corp used the juice dispenser in one location and their strategy was to lure customers to their stall to buy the juice of their choice. Zulu Corp on the other hand had individually packed juice cups which they divided equally amongst themselves and everyone was to move around the mall and make maximum sales on the cups they had received. It was agreed that if the team lost, the person who brought in the least amount of revenue was going home.

Deox took the motive of profit making to heart and he was selling his juice at a minimum of 500 Naira per cup and for as high as 1000 Naira whereas his teammates sold for between 200 and 300 Naira. At Matrix Corp, a cup of juice was going for 250N and when the first batch got finished and the team had run out of cups, Eunice bought more cups and the cost was cut to 200N.

Zulu Corp quickly sold out their juice and Deox and Regina rushed back to the house to make more cocktails only to discover that the room was locked and they failed to locate the key. The team then resigned themselves to their fate and prayed and hoped that the sales they had made in the morning would be enough to keep them out of the boardroom.

Boardroom time and the CEO was bemusedly disappointed that none of the teams had kept him some juice to taste. They told him that they had completely sold out which was a good thing. Back to serious business, Mimi and Paul were asked how they teams had performed specifically their costs and gains. Mimi said Matrix Corp had spent 31,035 Naira and earned 84,680 Naira therefore their profit margin was 53,645 Naira.

Paul said Zulu Corp had spent 12,200 and had earned 72, 795 Naira from their sales thus their profit margin was 60,595 Naira. Matrix had sold more but they had also spent more so they lost the task. The new Zulu team had won again and the Matrix jinx continues!

Zulu Corp’s reward was a day of relaxation at the beautiful Takwa Bay whereas Matrix Corp was to remain in the boardroom and try to apportion blame as is the trend these days. Nnamdi and Eunice had an all out war in the boardroom where Eunice accused Nnamdi of misleading her on pricing whereas he accused her of over expenditure. Eunice chose to bring Nnamdi and Kathleen back into the boardroom, her reasons being that Nnamdi was the weakest player in the team and that Kathleen could corroborate her story against him. Nnamdi took this very personally and was incensed to the point where am quite sure that if it wasn't for the fact that Kathleen was in between them, not even the CEO would have stopped him from slapping Eunice.

Eunice said that she had asked for Nnamdi's advice as a resident Nigerian on what price to charge per cup and he had told her that if she charged anything over 250N, people would laugh in her face. Nnamdi later admitted that he had indeed said this but that this was not the reason that they had lost the task but it was due to her unnecessary expenditures. He said that she and Kathleen had bought fruits that they did not even use, something which Kathleen vehemently denied. At some point, he tried to shift blame to Kathleen who accused of having done nothing on the day because she stayed at the juice machine expressing juice while the rest of them went out to bring in customers. The back and forth was seriously on the verge of getting physical if the CEO had not called a time out.

Mr. Shobanjo went on to pass his judgement. He berated Nnamdi for not adequately advising Eunice on pricing yet he had been on the winning Zulu team for their very first task where skipping ropes were sold at way more than the average price. He said he was disappointed that the team had failed to harness their strengths and use them to win the task at hand. He said he believed that Nnamdi was very aggressive and had failed to work well with the rest of his team mates and for this reason, Nnamdi was fired.

I believe that Nnamdi's time had come. The only reason he has been able to survive this long is because Zulu had always been winning but in the event of a loss, he was always a target as he had been singled out as not being a very strong contender. Next week, if Zulu Corp loses, Tunde is the target and you can be sure that if Matrix loses again the ladies will oust Isaac.
The plot thickens and the drama continues....

Finally!!!!!!

Episode 10 of the Apprentice Africa began in a different fashion from the norm. This time round, there was no phone call. The contestants gathered in the quadrangle at Troyka Holdings where the CEO introduced them to the heads of the various companies that make up the Troyka group eg; Halogen Securities, The quadrant company, Insight Communications, Mediacom, etc

The week's task was to come up with a marketing communication strategy for emerging businesses in Nigeria. This was to be a wholesome task involving conceptualisation, a media strategy, media plan, PR strategy as well as creative output.

Matrix Corp was down to 3 members; Blessing, Regina and Nancy whereas Zulu Corp. had double that number with Nnamdi, Isaac, Dex, Kathleen, Eunice and Tunde. The CEO asked who from Zulu Corp would volunteer to join Matrix Corp as they were outnumbered and before he had finished the question, Eunice's arm shot straight into the air.

Eunice's reason for crossing back (according to her) was that Matrix needed all the help that they could get and she believed that having experienced 3 straight wins at Zulu Corp, she would be in position to help propel her team to victory since she knew how both teams operated.

Her joy and enthusiasm at returning to Matrix Corp however was very short lived. This is because Nancy appointed herself Project Manager and Eunice had hoped that it would be put to a vote. She herself was hoping to be PM and since she lacked confidence in Nancy's abilities as a leader, she predicted trouble ahead and oh, was she right!!

At Zulu Corp, Tunde volunteered to be PM and he noted that this was a precarious position to be in because if the team lost, the PM would certainly be sent packing. In the event of a loss, Kathleen was the target at Zulu Corp. This is easy to understand as her aggressive and strong character make her a formidable opponent and the strategy is to get your strongest competition out of the way. Eunice sniffed this out at Zulu Corp hence her return to Matrix Corp. There will certainly be a lot more conniving and drama as the contestants reduce in number.

There was chaos at Matrix Corp. The team was disorganised, constantly bickering and they were completely unable to agree on what direction to take. Regina was very concerned about the team's issues and hoped they would be able to work through it, alas, this was not to be....

Nancy as a leader.....well, in Blessing's words, "she is a really nice person, inside and out but she is just not a leader" In Episode 1, she led her team to a loss but this time takes the cake. She was constantly changing her mind and the team's direction which was quite disturbing especially to Blessing and the very outspoken Eunice who questioned her every move and decision to the point where am sure Nancy would have loved to fire her from the team and in a way, she did.
At some point, the team had agreed to focus on agriculture in Nigeria and the surrounding opportunities. After meeting executives from Troyka, Nancy changed focus to Power to the total bafflement of her team mates.

At Zulu Corp, everything was coming along smoothly and sanity prevailed. Team members were assigned roles and everyone did their part. Tunde was in charge of creative, Deox was handling the media plan, Nnamdi was handling PR, whereas Kathleen was in charge of the strategy.

Presentation time and Zulu Corp was in first. Their campaign was titled WIN (Wealth In Numbers) It highlighted the best opportunities in Nigeria such as tourism & hospitality, real estate, food and agro processing. They made a wholesome presentation including a media strategy and plan, a television commercial showing a foreign investor in Nigeria encouraging others to come and do the same. The part of the presentation that was questioned by the Troyka executives was Nnamdi saying they would allocate 1 quarter of the budget to PR. Nnamdi was asked how they came to this conclusion and whether they had actually costed the campaign. They had a quick lesson in media planning then and there. They were told that it isn't a must for 1 quarter of the budget to be allocated to PR but that budgetary allocations were determined by the overall strategy and the budget.

Matrix Corp's presentation left a lot to be desired. First of all, Nancy came up with a brand, EBIN (Emerging Businesses in Nigeria) which was not very creative as this was actually the topic of the task. She went on to say that their biggest medium would be print specifically in flight magazines....
Instead of a TV commercial, they presented a story board citing time constraints. Nevertheless, no one in that boardroom seemed excited about it, actually, they looked rather confused. Its rather difficult to write about it because it was so confusing and not interestingly so, i must add.
The radio commercial wasn't any better....First, it was way too loud and completely uninspired such that one of the executives from the Troyka group could hardly contain herself, she actually started laughing.

Then it was Regina's turn to take them through the website they had created, only there was actually no website but print outs of what it should look like. Regina did her best to explain everything in this area but she was soon lost for words at question time.
First, they were put to task about the absence of an actual media plan whereupon Regina said they had a schedule and a budget amounting to 1 million dollars for a year which led to more and more questions and when asked to break down the numbers, the whole team was speechless for a while till Regina tried again to redeem the team. Some of the Troyka executives were really amused by the way they were squirming.

To the Boardroom: The CEO noted Tunde's nervousness then went on to introduce his associates from Troyka who would deliver the verdict on the task. The Troyka executives said the Matrix presentation was really lacking specifically because they did not adequately define who they were targeting with the campaign and he also cited deficiencies in their choice of media.
Zulu Corp was praised for the WIN idea. However, they were criticised for not following through with this brilliant idea in all of their communications. On the plus side, Zulu was praised for having a very coherent strong team. It was a tense moment when the Troyka executives were asked who had won the task but team Zulu breathed a sigh of relief when they were announced as the winners and there were no looks of shock at Matrix Corp.

Zulu's reward was lunch at La Scala restaurant with the president of the Nigerian stock exchange. They were also given plagues and certificates of achievement from the Troyka group. For team Matrix, it was time for war.

The CEO was so disappointed with Matrix Corp and when he asked Blessing what had gone wrong, she cited lack of focus as the reason for their loss and then went on to blame Nancy without actually mentioning her name. Regina cited lack of team cohesion. When it was Nancy's turn to speak, she went through who was responsible for what and then went on to defend the "focus". She also said that she had been advised by the media executives to change from agriculture to power but that nothing else had changed. which is quite ridiculous if you ask me...She said some people had just failed to understand the focus of the task.

Eunice's turn and she blamed the loss on Nancy's leadership. She went onto detail all of Nancy's errors during the task. At this point, it was clear that there was a personal war between Eunice and Nancy.
The CEO questioned Blessing's dormancy at the presentation and she defended herself and Eunice brilliantly, putting more nails in Nancy's coffin. Nancy refused Eunice to participate in the presentation but took her along only as a story board holder, Blessing refused to participate because she knew the presentation lacked depth and that if she was put to task by the executives to explain certain aspects, she knew that she would be lost for words.

The CEO asked Nancy how come they had delivered so little whereas they had the same time as Zulu Corp and they had managed to make a full presentation. He was puzzled by the absence of a TV Commercial and the web page whereupon the girls started bickering and Regina said that Nancy kept changing the direction.

When asked who she would be bringing back to the boardroom, Nancy excused Regina and the remaining three started to fight for their lives, literally. Nancy said she brought back the two of them because Blessing had a defeatist attitude whereas Eunice had a self righteous attitude. Blessing accused Nancy of lying and having problems with understanding English. At this point, i felt like screaming cat fight!!! because this was actually what was going on albeit with a little subtlety.
At the end of it all, The CEO stated that he was usually amazed whenever people clamor for leadership roles without first assessing themselves and their capacity to deliver as leaders. He went on to tear apart their presentation and cited lack of coordination and proper leadership. On this basis, Nancy was fired.
No surprises there. It was only a matter of time before Nancy self destructed and appointing herself PM for this time was a terrible mistake. She has been responsible for quite a few of Matrix's losses most notably in episode 1, 7,9 and 10 where she did not survive.

Many viewers have constantly been amazed whenever Nancy survives being fired and in a society that loves drama......unsurprisingly, there has been a theory going around that the CEO has a thing for Nancy or that there is something going on between the two. This i believe is completely untrue and it was just a matter of time so this time round, the bell had tolled for Nancy and i doubt that she will be missed.