As Project Manager, he has led his team to victory thrice! He has never lost his cool over tasks. Uganda's Deox Tibeingana is the expert of The Apprentice Africa show!
He has from day one been basking in glory in what so far remains an outstanding season of the ultimate job interview. Of the remaining contestants, Matrix Corporation's Isaac is the only genuine threat to our boy because he's a hard thinker, bold and very articulate. But we shall handle him when time comes.
You might be asking why I didn't write last week. Because I was mad Zulu Corporation was robbed. You remember Matrix Corporation bended the rules and distributed fliers when it should not have been the case. Then the C.E.O went ahead and changed game plan only when the game was over. Both teams were to be judged basing on which made more profit. Zulu did. Zulu were victors. But Shobanjo the dictator judged stage talent, robbing for Matrix. But as God is fair Deox survived.
On Sunday, it was great to see our boy admitting, like any mortal, that he was proud to among the six remaining candidates, and the only one from East Africa –something that will continue to inspire him to keep the regional flag flying high in Lagos.
As Zulu Corp project manager, he once again had a winning plan where each of his teammates would sell 20 cartons of Tetmosol soap. The same strategy worked in the make-your-own-drink-and-sell-at-a-mall challenge, making Zulu win even when they sold out early and couldn't get to mix more cocktails. The secret to this strategy is that it inspires members to work hard because in case of loss it’s the poor salesman that gets fired.
There Deox was trying out his negotiation skills among the business shrewd Igbos. His persuasive prowess as a lawyer came in handy and he managed to close quite some deals. If Deox was a soccer coach leading his team in the Champions League final, he would have been Sir Alex Ferguson while Isaac would have been Avram Grant.
When a customer retracted his Zulu contract and took it to Matrix because he had been told the promotion was going for six months instead of two, Deox's sarcasm was the best: "Matrix will have a 'good' day in the boardroom tomorrow," he declared. I was still relishing that line made more beautiful because Deox knew he would win when naïve Tunde spoilt my fun saying, "I'll take out Deox and Blessing in the boardroom…"
Stupid! He should be the one to be taken out the next time Zulu [God forbid] loses.
As for Blessing, she has, since joining Zulu, become a likeable team player. It was fun watching her hustling with the big boys. She won the respect of tough business men and I liked it when she said she has "renewed respect for the Igbo man" because he can't be cheated. For good measure, she added that she too had a shrewd business sense and could not be intimidated.
It was a proud moment for Uganda, when Shobanjo admitted that it was very good of Deox to win thrice as project manager. In essence he was saying, 'Deox is the man, give way, Deox is the champ!'
So the 'unconquerable' Kathleen was conquerable after all? Great because her performance in that particular task was disgraceful. She wore a mean face all through and managed to seal very few deals. It was fair that she was sent back to Cameroon to eat yams.
Isaac has said it would be very painful for him to leave, and he's smart that one. Eunice knows how to fight and her beauty has consistently blinded Shobanjo. Deox always makes wise plans, he's still big in the game. Meaning Tunde and Blessing have already booked space on the next flight.
Dude, it's like the game has just began!
I'm still shocked that drama queen Eunice survived again. Would Shobanjo like to tell us why? Is he keeping her to amplify boardroom drama? Eunice the schemer, Eunice the losing project manager, Eunice that badmouthes her teammates without any show of respect –why is this Eunice still in The Apprentice Africa?
The guy with the magneti
Can Shobanjo tell me why he ignored Isaac's accusation of Eunice for not having a budget for the team? Can he tell me why he closed his eyes to the cash Eunice burned on cucumbers? Did he remember Nnamdi's ability to harmonise and secure his team victory when he was Zulu project manager in task no.7? Did he remember that Nnamdi was the brain behind the magnetic juice-dispensing machine that attracted more customers? Didn't he know that Nnamdi got the best price deals on the few of needs they needed for the task? The mediocrity of Eunice in this task was inexcu
Viewers will miss Nnamdi's flamboyance and ability to light up the show. He always served the viewer his trademark broad smile whenever Zulus were declared task winners. Though out, his never-say-die mentality and competitive style reminiscent of his idol, Sir Richard Charles Branson, will help to build his own business empire. He said it right when he told James Amuta in a post-eviction interview that TAA house is like "a business school crack programme, teaching you what people spend a year or two to learn in eighteen weeks". He was leaving the house, he said, better prepared to face the challenges ahead.
If Eunice thinks the crown is near now that Nnamdi is gone she's wrong because Deox Tibeingana lingers. The Ugandan lawyer has become the professor of TAA; he has mastered the game, and his ceaseless tactical maneuvers have so far helped him to successfully dodge the swinging pendulum that has knocked down five of his fellow East Africans and six others from the rest of the continent.
While Matrix members were dumping their seed money on the impressionable juice-but-not-money-dispensing machine and other expensive fruits, Zulu bought cheap concentrates which Deox mixed to make the famous drink that buyers found tastier. When Matrix stationed in one place with the bully-look-alike Kathleen behind the counter, Deox asked his teammates to vend a bucket worth 50 drinks and t
Think about this: Matrix had their marketplace in entrance 1 jammed with all kinds of people (potential customers) and Zulu were in a ‘hideout’ with hardly anyone about. Matrix had a 'magnetic' juice machine. Zulu didn't. Matrix had a catchy brand name –'Sunblast'. Zulu didn't. Matrix run out of cups and purchased more. Zulu run out of drinks and couldn't get more because their office was locked. Matrix sold more. Zulu sold few. Matrix lost. Zulu WON!
Why? Because being wise is better than being strong. Deox Tibeingana was the engine behind the wisdom of Zulu Corporation. And how can one forget the hilarious sack race at Takwa Bay in which he beat Regina, or his quotable quote of the week –the about Matrix's machine or robot that never scared him? Uganda is proud of its son.
God did you see Eunice Omole hacking Nancy Kalembe with her hard and long beak?
She has no leadership genes, she had no plan for the task, she didn't know what a media campaign is, The Apprentice Africa is above her station, she should be fired, the shameless Eunice blubbered on, in the ugliest drama of manners I never want to watch again.
By the way, is she not the one that threatened to slaughter Omar Bar and scatter his pieces all over the boardroom?
And they say in her profile that "Eunice can easily be described as the warmest person in the world?"
Save us.
Tell Eunice to give glory to Jesus, for had she not arrived when Nancy had long been soiled by preceding tasks, she would have been buried in the boardroom, her drawn beak not withstanding.
To think she thumped her chest saying finished off Nancy. How dumb can one be? We all know Nancy got fired not because Eunice told Biodun Shobanjo to fire her. She was fired because she had become the boardroom veteran.
The thing is, Eunice didn't like Nancy's "balls." When she returned to Matrix Corporation, she wanted to drive everybody about but Nancy exerted her authority as Project Manager and told her off. Naturally she was happy to see Nancy go but she should not kid us that she masterminded her exit because she lacks the wits to do so.
I interviewed one of the fired contestants who described Eunice in the most dramatic fashion I've ever seen and heard: "She's witch, a witch. Eunice's a witch, that woman's a witch!!”
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Welcome back home, Nancy, and may God's richest blessings surround you and everything you do.
And to you Deox Tibeingana, in your steady hands, the East African flag will flutter on in the Lagos wind till the night you'll return with the ultimate The Apprentice Africa scoop. To the very end, we are with you.
P.S. Read about Sunday's episode on The Apprentice Africa website.
Deox de Man
Dear Eddie Mbagua,
Allow me to begin by saying that your shelving of Nancy Kalemba from Biodun Shobanjo's missiles was not the most selfless move after the death of Jesus Christ for mankind. It should go down in history as the stupidest move ever pulled by anyone.
You really disappointed Mr. Shobanjo. I saw the hurt in his eyes as he praised your salesmanship and leadership abilities before he pointed his revolver at you and fired, and I knew he'll never forgive you.
The famous tagline --"You pay for what you use" -- was brilliant, and should have won your team praise from the Celtel executives had you made that the main thread of the Route-to-Market presentation. But you let Nancy [who has found a niche messing things up] handle the important financial projection, thus overshot it by 1,000% and cost the team dearly.
For that, she deserved to be 'shot' a dozen times but you used your prerogative as Matrix Corporation project manager to remove her head from the noose because she had become the veteran of the boardroom? It's true she had but only because of her devastating performances. Should a 'criminal' then get off like that?
Looking back, your austereness and electric approach to things was always great to behold. You were Kenya's last soul surviving and the third East African but you chose to deny us when we still needed you. In fact, you were my number one dangerous substitute in case intrigue and politics in the house brought down Deox Tibeingana.
By sealing your own tragic fate, you confirmed what your 'predecessor' Oscar Kamukama told James Amuta his post-eviction interview –that Matrix Corporation is 100% jinxed. It showed in the way you cried after hearing the dreaded "You are fired." A man does not cry like that. Besides, you left Shobanjo no option but to fire you. What did you want him to do? By the way, did you cry because you were going to miss Regina or you wept after a late realization that you shouldn't have sacrificed yourself for a poor performer like Nancy?
Dude, your guts to "thank" your boss after firing you were out of this world. Hopefully the woman you saved will take an old advice from my primary English teacher, pull up her socks and show the world that it was not in vain that you rescued her.
Otherwise, big ups to Zulu Corporation's winning ways and more so to Deox for remaining the team's Midas touch. When the self-assured Eunice was asked by a Celtel executive how they should move the Red Phone faster among the public, the beauty lost her self-assuredness and mumbled incoherently until Deox saved her from further humiliation.
With a -don't-worry attitude, Deox talked of Celtel's transparency, that all that was needed was to convince the public; make them see the great qualities such as the precise billing the great Red Phone had over other payphones from their competitors. The official smiled satisfactorily and told Shobanjo how Deox had been impressive in the "Questions and Answers following the presentation…"
Shobanjo has consistently said he's looking for the best manager, someone with passion and insight, a delivery man, a leader, a fast thinker, a strategist, an individual that knows something on everything. Mix his real life ventures with the extraordinary way he has continually helped Zulu Corporation lift the coveted 'trophy' from Matrix Corporation and that man is none other than Deox.
If you think otherwise, stand up and let's hear what you think.
Last week was a black week for Uganda as our son Oscar Kamukama became a sacrificial lamb at The Apprentice Africa.
I knew something fishy has been going on when the C.E.O closed his other eye to Eddie's confession that he priced the art pieces cheaply thereby making Matrix Corporation lose to Zulu on the financial front. Shobanjo allowed Regina to bring Oscar to the boardroom without questioning. Had he been as fair as Portia of Shakespeare, he would have fired Eddie for incompetence the moment he confessed.
Besides, he should not let steamy romance spoil things. It's no longer a rumour; Regina and Eddie have something going between them, otherwise it should have been Eddie and someone else in that boardroom. Oscar and Nancy had four paintings each, two more than their counterparts in the team. Oscar wooed all the guys who bought the pieces and his painting of a voluptuous woman was the highlight and sold well. We must not forget his previous magnetic performances –like when he sold ropes in the Street Hustle task and got a tip, and his concept of shoes for the Bank PHB newspaper insert that helped his team to excel when he was project manager. How could he then be in the boardroom on Sunday?
I've been the number one fan of Mr. Shabanjo but if he continues to foment this unfairness he'll lose me. First it was Omar and now Oscar? Although I know such glitches are left to pass to heighten drama and tension, after all controversy always sells, it hurts when it's overtly done.
Thanks for allowing me to vent.
And now, kudos once again to our boy Deox Tibeingana. His determination as project manager to steer his team to victory as the only sure way of avoiding the ever raised glistening axe of Shobanjo must be applauded. We must remember this is his second victory as project manager –no mean achievement by any standards considering many project managers have been fired.
Besides, Deox has come to be that only man at the show that says something and means [implements] it. He said "of all the tasks we've had this is the most difficult" but was glad it would bring out the best in him and his team. It's this inspired brilliance that has turned him into a golden boy –the kind that Shobanjo is looking for, the one who leads by example, the one who dares, that one who dreams, achieves and actualizes.
Then he compellingly narrated that story of needy school boys headed by one Victor he met at the gallery. That he asked Shobanjo that part of the proceeds from the paintings be used to meet the scholastic needs of the boys to put a smile on the little faces, tells of that big heart dwelling in his broad chest. My sister, who was watching the show with me, was overwhelmed by his kindness and shed a tear. We now know that if he lands the fat-salaried job that The Apprentice Africa will offer the last man/woman standing, he'll use most of his earnings to help the underprivileged.
Friend, it does not hurt to identify with a man with a heart of gold. As I've often said, and as surely as heaven rhymes with haven, if Deox is not betrayed by the ugly politics already brewing in that house he'll be the next African Apprentice.
So the Kenyan beauty, Joyce Mbaya had herself fired this week? That's why I don't harbour tender feelings for worms that allow the waves to swallow them without putting up a fight.
Otherwise, I'm here, by way of analysis, to present to you the second and last part –why I think Deox Tibeingana will be crowned the 2008 African Apprentice.
Deox never forgets his winning mentality. In his first role as Zulu Corporation task manager, Shobanjo asked him how his team had performed, and was assured they would win by a 64% margin; something that was confirmed minutes later. This quality has made the doting father of two an outstanding achiever at a tender age of 30.
Deox doesn't call a spade a big spoon. He voiced his disappointment with the leadership of our brother Oscar in the sixth business task but rescued him with enterprising ideas. Even Kathleen noticed that "Oscar has not been able to make a central decision and stick by it without assertion from Deox." But the Zulu Corporation won and our boys survived.
You may raise your hand if you have a different view but Deox has been the fulcrum of Zulu Corporation from day one. The likes of Nnamdi are cocky but when Deox opens his mouth, he pulls the attention because his ideas are always great. It's for this that he has never faced the 'army court martial' presided over by Shobanjo since the show began.
In fact, evening whispers reveal he impressed the judges the most during auditions. Whereas Nancy's "average ideas" have miffed Blessing, Deox continues to wow his 'friends'. One of his philosophical ideologies goes: "A fit body is the domain of a sound mind" and at the show he's been striving to remain physically and mentality fit which explains his stellar performance.
Deox is a game reader and team player and comes with the shrewdness of a street lawyer. He has traveled widely and not even Shobanjo can intimidate him with his curtness. Pundits have defined him as quiet but with "some sort of very powerful personality about him" while his fellow competitor Eddie called him "a pillar of stability that can hold a team together."
It's a mark of integrity to give credit where it's due. When Kathleen joined Zulu Corporation, Deox was visibly disappointed because "We've always known Kathleen even before she came to Zulu as a b****" but when she excelled by steering the team to victory, Deox retracted his statement and embraced her. It's this sincere integrity that fellow contestants and viewers have come to immensely admire about him.
Did you know that he began taking lessons in Pidgin English from his chaperon as soon as he landed in Lagos for the show? It helped him to quickly adapt to the new environment and to feel at home and communicate well and get along very well with fellow contestants.
The likes of Tunde are openly opportunistic and loud-mouthed like the dogs that bay but don't bite. But if The Apprentice Africa was a fable, Deox would be clever little Mr. Hare with the doctor's white coat, a protruding tail and goggles to complete the package.
Call him crafty if you want, but for Deox, there is a time to bark and a time to lurk. For him it ain't over till it's over! He wants the money but more than that he will enter records for inspiring young Ugandans to hit the world stage and play with the big boys without fear, as he's doing.
Six contestants have so far been fired and emotional pressure is high but Deox calmly observed that the "spirit is very low… people are busy collaborating and conspiring, thinking of whom to take to the boardroom" meaning that he has dissected the situation. He was conspicuously missing in the boardroom on Sunday and Shobanjo said he was sick. But I think Deox used his time to think, so watch out.
It's no longer a secret that the man of all seasons will be the last one holding on after the swinging pendulum has thrown off the rest down the cliff. Then he will be handed the keys of the Mercedes, a job with an annual salary of US$200,000 and Uganda will feel proud than ever! If you have a different view, you have the privilege of having the matter settled in the courts of law. But until next time, God richly bless you!
Part I
When I first wrote on this blog that Deox will be the Apprentice Africa champ, a friend who's following the show keenly asked how can I be sure. I told him I was going to analyze the life and times of Deox so far to determine if indeed he has a winning personality.
Deox, according to his website, was born in Rukungiri, a small district in south western Uganda, 30 years ago, to humble parents. So humble in fact that at the age of five, he was already slashing people's compounds for money with which to buy scholastic materials.
He finished his primary school with flying colours and joined Kisubi Minor Seminary from where he seriously thought of becoming a priest. Luckily he didn't otherwise we wouldn't be enjoying watching him on The Apprentice Africa.
His was an academic rollercoaster that saw him admitted to St Mary's College Kisubi for his Advanced Level studies. He took to French heartily and shortly after A-Level won a scholarship to study the language at the Universite de Poitiers.
Upon his return, Deox joined Makerere University on government scholarship to study Law. But the spirit of entrepreneurship made him restless and he started supplying pineapples to university canteens and shops in neighbouring Wandegeya. Deox used his profits to open a tour travel firm where he flew students on trips South Africa.
Later, after university, Deox flew to the U.S where he did several stints: data entry specialist, call center specialist and cashier and teller at the successful Stop & Shop super market chain.
He even took to modelling. Had the love of mother Africa not impelled him to return home, Deox would perhaps be big in Hollywood today!
Back home, he joined UTL as a call centre supervisor and was swiftly promoted to Online Customer Care Manager.
But his adventurous hormones drove him to UK where he worked in a butchery, and later as a truck driver and delivery man. With his savings he set up Lincom Staffing, a sales company and some of his clients included One2net.
He also opened a call-box company, opening the way for several others to sprout across the city.
It was time for Deox to return to his noble profession. He set up his own law firm in 2007, partnered with some of the brightest lawyers in what is today known as Tibeingana & Co. Advocates.
Alongside law, he became a property developer, a real estate agent and construction worker. Was hired by UMEME, Uganda's only electricity distributor company to handle the technical aspects of customer care.
As a lawyer, Deox visited prisons to give free advice to prisoners on how to arrange for bail.
He also empowered his people with the knowledge of their rights and constructed three boreholes with his money.
He may be young in lamb but he has verily done it all, and successfully so. He's handsome, inventive, considerate, magnanimous, thorough, vigorous, erudite, ambitious, adorable, resolute, alert, experienced, steadfast, audacious yet modest, versatile, independent and charismatic.
In the final part, I'll examine his stellar performance at the show and why it will win him the crown.
Blame WBS, dear lover of TAA, I've had to rely on the official website to let you in on what transpired in the fifth episode.
As shattering as it may come, the unbwogable Akatu, became the second Nigerian and fourth West African to get booted.
Although I'll miss the man who used to joke that sharks feared him out of professional courtesy, his going also left me with a sigh of relief because he was a clever one that one and I was afraid he might beat our Deox to the money.
As it is, the task that earned him the sack was about crafting a mission statement and a 30-second television commercial for Sahara Group, a huge oil company in Lagos.
In a surprising move, Shobanjo asked Matrix Corp to choose someone from Zulu Corp to join their team and Isaac became ladies man. I mean it's not everyday that such modern sophisticated beauties show confidence in son of a gun!
Soon, the teams had deployed their brain power, for this task called for fast and original thinking.
In one camp, Eddie used his theatrical experience to direct the TVC and in the other Isaac was busy hatching a winning formulae for the ladies who had appointed him 'associate' producer of their commercial.
As Matrix Corp hired a storyboard illustrator to add a graphical Midas touch to their ideas, the punctilious Deox was irritated that Akatu was behaving like a zombie instead of contributing ideas to help the team.
The old saying you reap what you sow was much into play when it came to shooting for the commercial because both teams sowed excellence by hiring professional film crews. The ever ebullient Nnamdi compared Eddie's film exploits to Spielberg's.
The end of the task was the beginning of the presentation by the contestants to the Sahara executives who then assessed the teams and pronounced Matrix Corporation task winner.
Victory was rewarded with a sumptuous dinner at Lagoon Restaurant and a bike-riding do with the Sahara Bikers Club.
Back in the boardroom, an angry Shobanjo probed Tunde, "What went wrong?" The project manager then went on about how they had put in their best, but if your best can't guarantee you victory, isn't it better calling it your worst? Shobanjo seemed aware because he reminded Tunde he judges not input but results.
When the other guys had gone and left behind Akatu, Eddie and Tunde, "AK47" as Akatu is known among contestants, cocked his gun and pointblank gunned down Tunde's defective leadership because "…he was not open to criticism" and "sacrificed our victory on the altar of his ego."
But Eddie jumped to Tunde's defense accusing the 'gun' of only shooting his mouth off only when they were in the boardroom, and even advised Shobanjo to fire him.
I don't like that Tunde and Eddie have become conspirators and will crush anyone that stands in their way just like they crushed Anthony. But then again, this is a war and if pairing up will help them survive so be it.
So the showy litigator was fired for not cooperating but who will go next?
WBS should style up! Last night I rushed to catch the fifth episode of The Apprentice Africa and reached home panting. And what do I find? Some old school documentary by Ali Mazrui, that has been played endlessly by the same station.
"Due to unavoidable circumstances, we are unable to broadcast Apprentice." is all they kept splashing on my screen much to my irritation.
This is not the first time WBS is disappointing me. A year or back, they scooped rights to broadcast Champions League but would push live games deep into the night without apologies! UBC TV had been doing quite good work until WBS stepped in. My prayers were answered the following year when the national broadcaster won the rights again.
Now it has come to Apprentice. I've been hooked since day one and have been monitoring the progress of our boys, especially Deox and now WBS is beginning to play games. If the problem was from the source –Nigeria – where the shooting is taking place, they should have let us know.
Every viewer is important and if WBS cannot reliably show me the great business show, then the producers of TAA should switch to our good old UBC or NTV.
Then I won't have to suffer migraines grumbling.
Week IV
You must agree with me, lover of TAA, that the fourth week is so far the most exciting!
There was an unpredictable twist when Omar having been chosen by the Zulu Corporation to be their next task manager was switched to become the project manager of the Matrix Corporation and replaced with Kathleen.
As for the task, the two teams were driven to Eko Hotel and instructed to "refurbish and decorate a hotel room that meets the standards" of the hotel and in a way that somebody like Shobanjo "will be happy to live in".
Down on it, the unshakable Cameroonian, hard like the yams she grew up eating, handled the obstinate boys, delegating tasks, and impressing it upon them she was the boss.
In the 'enemy' camp, Omar behaved like an African chief, imposed his authority on the girls, apportioned functions and then fell back to scratch his itchy chin.
He then made a fatal mistake when he insisted the Zulus be subjected to a thorough search alleging they had planned to sneak in items from their Lagos mansion to the hotel room they were about to decorate. To my amusement, this move backfired on him when our boy Deox suggested that the Matrix be searched as well. In the process, the calculative boys saw everything the Matrix Corporation had bought and fast alerted their guys who were still shopping to get better decorations than what the Matrix had bought.
The contestants who had put a lot of effort in preparing the concepts for the rooms busied themselves, and those who remembered Extreme Makeup tips put them to good use and put up a quite a good show.
Later while assessing their efforts, the two Eko Hotel executives observed that the Matrix Corporation had created a little home away from home, but added quickly, that the Zulus were winners because they had coordinated the colours and arranged their room to meet the desired standards.
A smiling Shobango congratulated the boys and sent them to Swe Bar to sing karaoke with Nigerian's foremost artistes 2Face Ibibia and Sasha. He even cracked the boys up when he joked that if any of them didn't sing well during the karaoke he would be fired!
In the boardroom, tension was high meanwhile. The C.E.O was pissed off that Matrix Corporation had lost at what they were conceived to do better, and by the fact that this was the third time in four weeks that he was meeting them.
The girls heaped blame on Omar saying he had used a dictatorial approach and refused to listen to their ideas and done nothing himself.
Omar said his concept of "focus, accountability and cohesiveness" was strong but that the girls had remained disorganized. He made the mistake of accusing Eunice and Bekeme as the weakest links. It was a mistake because an incensed Eunice shot Omar saying he had had a premonition they would lose and even wooed her into conspiring with him to save their hide. She said she had assured Omar she would kill him if he dragged her to the boardroom. She literally fulfilled her threat because the ruthless Shabanjo was shocked by her confession and angrily fired Omar!
That this was a second time a project manager was being fired after Anthony proves that being a leader sometimes does not pay.
On his way home, the crestfallen Guinean left us something with which to remember him –he said Shabanjo had sacked him because he didn't like the cologne he wore!
Watch out Deox because in this game it is every man for himself, and remember, wolves devour each other!