Eddie Mbugua’s actions in the ongoing Apprentice Africa stand him out as a true leader
By Blessing Ogunli
To followers of Apprentice Africa, the pan-African business reality television show sponsored by Bank PHB, Eddie Mbugua, who was evicted in episode nine of the show, is a rare personality.
 |
| • Eddie Mbugua. |
As the Project Manager in the week’s task carried out by Matrix Corp, which they lost, Mbugua did the unthinkable. He sacrificed himself as the team leader for a fellow contestant, adjudged to be the weakest link in the task embarked upon by the group.
This brave act by the 30-year-old psychologist, however, cost him his place in the contest, losing out in the battle for the $200,000 prize money, a brand new car and a chance to become the first Apprentice Africa. Before taking the strange but worthy action, Mbugua had displayed commendable traits and skills that set him apart from other contestants.
On a weekly basis, he gave a sterling performance in the various tasks carried out by either of the groups he belonged to. His inputs had always been rated high by other contestants and followers of the show across the continent. For the week nine assignment, the two groups were to operate a call centre using Celtel Red Phone–a phone with precise billing technology, where a customer can make calls with a little as N5. The task would also see them advise Celtel on the best way to introduce the product to the market, by designing a route-to-market strategy.
To carry out the task, both teams had a brief interaction with the executives of Celtel, where they were given tutorials on the new product and its unique selling points. In addition, they were given promotional materials to assist them in the task.
Both teams set up shops in the streets, wooing customers with all manner of sales talk and gimmicks. Eddie and his team mates gave away T-shirts to customers who made calls to the tune of N100 and above. Zulu Corporation led by Isaac Dankyi-Koranteng made brisk sales, attracting greater customer traffic than their rivals.
With the completion of the first phase of the task, the teams moved to the next, which was the concept to be adopted in marketing the new phone.
Zulu Corp. used the timelines and precise-billing nature of the product as a selling point. The team’s strategy was applauded by Celtel executives, who confessed that the strategy conformed to what they were proposing to adopt.
Matrix Corp. led by Mbugua also gave a brief but captivating presentation which impressed Celtel executives. However, their financial projects were off-mark and attracted negative comments from the executives.
In the boardroom, the CEO, after consulting with two Celtel executives, who acted as his advisers for the task, declared Zulu Corp. as winners. For their victory, they were rewarded while somebody in Matrix Corps had to be sent packing. Inside the boardroom, the CEO asked the Matrix team what went wrong. “We were outnumbered yet we approached the task with passion…” Eddie replied.
“For every task I had given, I thought about it very carefully. There’s always something I’m looking out for in each task,” the visibly angry CEO began. “On this task, I was looking for your team knowledge of the route-to-market and strategic marketing skills,” he added.
Lambasting them for their underperformance, he said: “Zulu’s presentation made mincemeat of your presentation…” The CEO asked Nancy what happened, and she replied, “We worked as a team throughout the task.”
When the question was put to Blessing, she told the CEO that they did their best but a slip in their financial projections, a mistake by an individual in the team, cost them the task.
The CEO asked the Project Manager who was responsible for that slip. Eddie replied that it was Nancy. He, however, claimed that though the task was assigned to Nancy, he was taking responsibility for the slip because he checked and cross-checked the intended presentation without detecting the mistake.
When it was time for Eddie to pick the two weak links to accompany him to the boardroom to face the CEO, he surprisingly picked Regina and Blessing. He argued that he was picking them to “escort” him.
When the CEO asked Eddie why he brought Regina and Blessing, he replied that he wanted to tell the boss how proud he was of them. That statement effectively sealed Eddie’s fate in the reality programme.
In a brief speech, the CEO acknowledged Eddie’s sales skills as well as his leadership qualities. He, however, castigated him for not taking into account all aspects of the team’s marketing strategy, and his failure to steer them to victory.
He made reference to the sales forecast that was off the mark by 1,000 per cent, a mistake he believed was capable of totally ruining an organisation. For that he fired Eddie from the show.
Eddie stood up gallantly and said, “Thank you sir.” However, he expressed optimism that the Apprentice will ultimately emerge from either of the two ladies.
In an emotional farewell in the boardroom, Regina and Blessing took turns to cry on Eddie’s shoulders. Eddie shed a few manly tears, which he claimed constituted an act of penance. His parting words were: “Every decision you make, you should be ready for the consequences.”
Comment