Kenyan Liza Mucheru Wisner In "The Apprentice Season 10"

 A Kenyan born lady has for the first time made it among the 16 handpicked cast for the Donald Tramp reality TV Series " The Apprentice-Season 10". Wife and mother of two Liza Mucheru Wisner of Corpus Christi Texas will ride the Country's flag high as she demonstrates business acumen, innovativeness and agility in the reality TV show.

Lol, with no pun intended ,ladies from central Kenya often are Business savvy ,its no wonder the first Kenyan to make it to the show hails from the region,we can be certain that she will deliver in the show(...had to include that in this post).As a Country the international media has made it a habit to focus on our downside and weaknesses but as Wangari Mathai,Barrack Obama, David Rudisha, Pamela Jelimo,Liza Mucheru and a bevy of other accomplished Kenyans have proven ,this country is not bereft of talent and positive emoluments.People better recognize.

 
Season 10 of the American Apprentice show premiered on Thursday September 16, 2010.For a certainty ,this show will receive massive attention and viewership from the Kenyan audience.

You can follow Liza Mucheru on twitter @lizawisner

Apprentice Africa-Episode 5

Akatu Ochai was fired in last nights fifth episode of the Apprentice Africa basically because of keeping in reservations he had about a comercial advert that Zulu Corp came up with.But most importantly from the episode one could clearly see that Biodin Shobanjo has a soft spot for Eddie Mbugua and Tunde(Babatunde Ojikutu) .Will one of them end up being the Apprentice in the final show? ...who knows?lets just wait and see but the CEO's liking and preferences are starting to manifest themselves.

In the meantime,Kenyan fans of the Apprentice Africa lets us please root for Eddie.He is eloquent,loyal to his team mates,apt and equal to the tasks ,decisive ...among many other positive qualities.I know he will go the whole ten yards but in the event he doesnt.I hope the top Kenyan companies will give him a good deal.If you are a CEO and are reading this kindly give him offers and let us just know about it! It may just be good marketing and a branding opportunity.

Apprentice Africa Episode 3

This is a power blog and people are reading it!last week i suggested to the apprentice Africa team to incorporate a multinational task that would be truly African and mirror the dynamics of the African Businesses.I also pointed out to the team to evaluate the performances of the participants objectively both in terms of preparation and actual execution of the task and guess what!The Apprentice Africa team got the queue and as much expected Matrix corp carried the day which i believe they should have in the task done during the second episode.

The task this time involved managing an indigenous fast food outlet(Food Concepts) that has outlets all over Nigeria and in Pretoria South Africa as well as come up with a unique Combo that would be sold in the fast food outlets.The task brought to the fore the unpreparedness,neglectfulness,management and leadership deficiency in the Matrix group.The male only team has always counted on last minute efforts and ingenuousness to carry them through the day! I guess that doesn't work all the time!Good managers are in charge of defining their destiny, anticipate the unforeseeable and try to mitigate on the challenges that may crop up.

Zulu corp went to their advertisers without a visual image or picture of the Combo that they ere going to prepare,when asked they gave a lame excuse that Africans more or less tend to rely on oral word of mouth rather than the visuals.Please! Mr. Biodin Shobanjo the CEO is where he is because of advertising, visual advertising thereby underscoring the need to embrace this rapidly expanding and vibrant sector of modern economics.For this they reaped costly when the cool hands off Kenyan team leader Anthony Njagi was sent home packing!

Matrix corp had a combo featuring the mouth watering Nigerian favorite Joloff rice,fried Chicken and Salad.Their presentation included an impressive flier but what was personally astounding to me is how each time they handle their assignment by discussing objectively on the task,analyzing it ,thereafter infusing ideas and trying to gauge consumer needs.Their openness provides a conducive environment for mobility of ideas and these works well for them.This week we salute you Matrix corp but remember the contest has just began and for the groups, ooh yes... never forget to factor in tax in any business venture!

The Apprentice Nigeria -Episode Two

To dub the show that is currently airing on Africa Tv as "The Apprentice Africa" is a misnomer.Majority of the contestants are Nigerian,the production team is nearly wholly Nigerian, the adverts are predominantly Nigerian ,the tasks are Nigerian.....and i can continue and the Judging reeks of African paternalistic ,chauvinistic mentality.There is no Egyptian,Libyan or Arab in the show despite this areas being bastions of power and economic power horses in the region.What crass exclusion!

Episode two had the 23 year old Michelle Ikeandor,banker and team leader of Matrix Corp from Imo state Nigeria fired!Unfortunately the task both teams were given were to come up with a sales product that would pitch Bank PHB sales but the experienced banker faltered in the assignment.But i stand to differ with the executives of Bank PHB and Biodin Shobanjo.For one the ladies were well prepared, while their idea was not novel but it mirrored the passions and angle that businesses should take.Giving subscribers more value for less.You only have to look at mobile phones and the I.T industry to understand what im getting at.According to Shobanjo the more the products, the more the customer is confused.That is such shallow thinking.I want my phone with all the features that can ever be and at lesser cost and trust me most customers would go for that!The bouquet package that matrix corp came up with was genius it incorporated the latest in I.T and maximum user ability.One has just to look up at one of the worlds biggest and growing company Google inc of Larry Page and Sergei Brin (who founded the company at age 28)their fuel for growth and dream is to accumulate and make available all sources of information in one place ,that is not confusing Mr Biodin Shobanjo,Please wake up its the 21st Century. The invigilators just mirrored male bias and chauvinism.

Finally the presentation of Matrix corp was marvelous,captivating complete with a powerpoint presentation.Zulu Corp on the other hand were ill prepared,did a shoddy job with their presentation,were too wordy showing lack of preparation and more than anything else lacked confidence but put up a brave front.Their strong point is that they exposed an untapped market for banking products with their futuristic education savings account!Everyone could see that matrix corp were better in their task,put more effort and had collective input but not the CEO.A sad affair for enterprising young African women !The male sharks in the business world are not bulging!

Hope the third episode will be much better, and can we have the contestants exposed to the real African Business scenario.It would be better if they would be shuttled in between countries from Cairo to Nairobi to Windhoek,to Jo,burg and Capetown and not forgetting Lusaka and other business hubs within the continent so as to see them exuberate dynamism .Only then can we truly talk of apprentice Africa!

Well who are the Kenyans in the Mansion,lemme display their photos (courtesy of The Apprentice Africa Website)so that you can look out for them!for a link to their profiles see my earlier post herethe official website link is www.theapprenticeafrica.com

The Apprentice Africa TV Show

The Apprentice Africa (Nigeria Version)began airing on local KTN tv las week and the opening show was a rather pleasant surprise!The CEO for the Nigerian version of the much famed Donald Trump Apprentice franchise is Nigerian Advertising Business Mogul Biodun Shobanjo of the Trokya Group Holdings (Insight Grey).There is a South African Version of the same show which was hosted by former politician and mining magnate Mosima Gabriel Sexwale also known as "Tokyo Sexwale" CEO of Mvelaphanda Holdings.

The apprentice is a television franchise dubbed "the ultimate job interview" was originally begun in the USA in 2004 and became an instant commercial hit.The objective of the show is to conduct a talent search through elimination style process resulting in the "perfect apprentice"to a leading business figure.The American Apprentice show is produced by Mark Burnett.The show has inspired the production of a computer game "The Apprentice Los Angeles".

The program was initiated in Africa with the following objectives:

1. To create a gateway and platform for access to the exponential robust pool of entrepreneurial talent within the continent.
2. Change the perception of African Business environment to the international community to depict its competitive laissez faire nature
3. To create value on three aspects,entertainment ,market and educational value.

The winner of the show is poised to win a well paying job paying no less than US Dollars $200,000 per annum alongside with other job perks and benefits.

The title sponsor for the current apprentice Africa is leading Nigerian Bank PHB one of the fastest growing and dynamic bank in Nigeria which is enjoying a modest amount of advertisement time as the program airs across the continent.The program is being produced by the USA based international production house The Executive Group(TEG) in conjunction with Storm Vision Limited of Nigeria.The show is currently being filmed in Nigeria for four months starting mid January and begun airing across African Television screens on 25th February 2008.

Last weeks show saw the 26 year old UK based Hannah Bertilla Acquah of Matrix Group fired for actually not being able to sale a single football which was the first task given to the all ladies group.However the CEO Biodun Shobanjo did a bad job trying to ape the mannerisms of Donald Trump instead of being his own person.My advice to this esteemed gentleman and distinguished businessman is that you have got to where you are now by being yourself and not Donald Trump so let us see more of you.The apprentice participants hope to become your apprentice not Donald Trumps apprentice.So keep it local, keep it African.

The Kenyan participants in the show are Edward Ngugi Mbugwa a marketing Manager who has an undergraduate Degree in Psychology from United States International University of Kenya(USIU) and always smiling Anthony Njagi Miguia a Bachelor of Commerce graduate of Strathmore University.On the ladies front we have Joyce Kathomi Mbaya a 28 year old computer science and mathematics whiz and Kathleen Ndogmo a Cameroonian resident in Kenya I bet the locals will all be eagerly rooting for them to become the next African Apprentice.Next from Home is media personality Nancy Linda Kalembe of Uganda and Oscar Kamukama a marketer.

Well im sure we are all going to be glued to the screen this week to see,enjoy and constructively critique the participants!