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....