Biodun Shobanjo: CEO, Apprentice Africa

The name Biodun Shobanjo probably means only one thing to most Nigerians – Advertising. Aptly described as the industry’s super icon, a deeper perusal of his career progression would defnitely give a deserved summation of a total professional, who has become a role model for the younger generation for the man.

He rose to the post of Deputy Managing Director of Grant Advertising before his 30th birthday and co-founded Insight Communications (now Insight Grey) in 1979.

A larger view of the man’s life would also reflect a cosmopoltan image of a complete manager, who can conveniently hold his own among the super chief executives officers in the world, having successfully grown the Insight from the initial 18-man team into an advertising behemoth.

Born some 63 years ago to a peripatetic civil servant, the Shobanjo family‘s peregrinations imbued the young man with a cosmopolitan worldview and his early experience as a broadcaster prepared him for life as an advertiser.

The Troyka Group, which is the holding company for Insight, SKG2, Optimum Exposure, Media Perpective, MediaCom, Quadrant and Halogen amongst others, employs over 7,000 Nigerian men and women.

The superlative attributes and records of success unarguably informed the choice of the man by Bank PHB Plc as the icon of its new television rave: The Apprentice Africa. As the CEO of the new TV reality show, he is expected to bring to bear his professional and managerial acumen, with the sole aim of impacting key lessons in human and material mangement on the aspiring goal-focused yung individuals, who are still learning the ropes of the different life’s experiences.

What could have made the difference in the iconic man of advertising and marketing? Shobanjo attributes his success to his fierce determination and a steely can-do attitude. ”I was young when I left Grant advertising and young people are very daring. So it didn‘t cross my mind that I wouldn‘t make it. Again, without meaning to be immodest, I really have never failed in my life. If you‘re not used to failing, you don‘t even contemplate failure,” he says.

The ever dapper and sartorially elegant man of style says there are four essential elements of success. According to him, “The first is professionalism. The other is honour. The third is integrity. The fourth is passion. They come in any order, but if you have these four things, chances are that you‘re going to succeed.”

A consummate advertising and marketing communications practitioner, Shobanjo, as many would agree, is a perfect choice for the CEO of The Apprentice Africa. A big shot within the Bank PHB family gives credence to this as he explains the reasons for the man’s choice a the CEO of The Apprentice Africa.

“As a believer in people, his business style has favoured a mentoring ambience, which has spawned proteges who are leading lights of the advertising and marketing communications industry in Nigeria.

“Today, the CEOs of the top 10 advertising and marketing communications outfits in Nigeria are proud alumni of what admirers love to refer to as the ”Insight University,” says the man, who, however, prefers to remain anonymous.

As the CEO of The Apprentice Africa, Shobanjo says his acceptance of the post was informed by his knowledge and perception of the sponsoring bank, Bank PHB, as vision- based organisation.

Shobanjo brings to The Apprentice Africa almost 40 years of top-notch corporate experience, entrepreneurial savvy, multi-disciplinary industry experience and a business maxim founded squarely on the belief that success is not negotiable.

Perhaps, his life’s make-up revolves around this often maxim of his: ”Winning is not everything. It is the only thing!”

Shobanjo speaks on the essential aspects of the TV show and its relevance to real life situation.

The Apprentice and industry

The Apprentice is a television franchise that originated in 2004 in the United States. As originally conceived, the show depicted 16 contestants from the different sections of the country, having various backgrounds but competing in an elimination-style scenario to become an apprentice to Donald Trump. They would have the opportunity to work for him as the president of one of his companies for, at least, one year with an annual salary of $250,000. The Apprentice was developed by Mark Burnett, who successfully brought Survivor to the US. Since its premiere, the show has spawned many licensed international versions as well as several imitations

Apprentice Africa and our environment

Apprentice Africa is the African version of this highly popular TV series. The reality series will be the first Africa-wide version of the popular American TV format, which has been a huge success around the world. The Apprentice Africa is an original format of Mark Burnett Productions, creators of other major reality series, such as Survivor and The Contender. The Apprentice is described as the ultimate, 16-week job interview, where contestants will compete in a series of rigorous business tasks, many of which include major companies and require street smartness and intelligence to conquer. By these, they would be able to show the CEO that he or she is the best candidate for the job. In each episode, the losing team is sent to the boardroom, where the CEO and his associates judge the job applicants on their performance in the task. One person is fired and sent home.

The difference between the Apprentice and Apprentice Africa

In Apprentice Africa, there are 18 contestants, instead of the original version with 16 contestants. The 18 contestants have a more diverse nationality than the original apprentice as they are selected from different African countries as well as Africans in the Diaspora. It is also a mixture of experienced contestants and fresh graduates from the university. Also the prize money is $200,000 compared to the $250,000 annual salary offered by Donald Trump‘s version of the Apprentice.

Bank PHB and The Apprentice Africa

The title sponsor of The Apprentice Africa is Bank PHB, one of the fastest growing banks in Nigeria and an emerging icon for banking excellence. The Apprentice Africa sponsorship is a reflection of Bank PHB‘s commitment to socially responsible initiatives that nurture future leaders, foster entrepreneurialism and actively engage consumers.

Other partners in Apprentice Africa

The Apprentice Africa is a co-production of The Executive Group (TEG) and Storm Vision Limited. TEG is a US-based business investment firm that identifies business opportunities across various sectors in developed markets and builds winning consortiums to exploit these markets opportunities. With its Nigerian subsidiary, TEG is where the world meets Africa and Africa meets the world. Strategic plans are on the way to invest in television productions, energy and real estate sectors in Africa. TEG owns the rights to The Apprentice Africa format.

Storm Vision is one of Nigeria‘s leading TV production companies whose mission is to set the standard for dynamic and innovative content, programming and production services and facilities for TV, film and interactive platforms. Past Storm Vision productions include Doctors‘ Quarters, AMBO and Big Brother Nigeria.

The Apprentice Africa producers seek to create a world class, top rated business reality show across the African continent and the Diaspora that has unequalled educational, leadership, management, entertainment and market value.

How were the contestants selected?

A series of auditions were held in different parts of Africa, London and New York to select the contestants for the Apprentice Africa. The contestants are from the US, the UK, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and of course, Nigeria. There are nine men and nine women.

He says all the contestants are at present in the country and have been moved to a state-of-the- art house, where they are preparing for Africa‘s biggest, longest and most lucrative job interview.

Intellectual property is often worth more to a business than its tangible assets. Consisting of business strategies, images, concepts and ideas, lawful protection of intellectual property predates the U.S. Constitution. Now protected by patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, businesses must take the appropriate steps to ensure that their intellectual property is kept safe from competing businesses, defecting partners and even employees. Becoming informed about the available legal tools can mean the difference between success and failure.

Federal intellectual property registration entitles the owner to use trademarks, patents and copyright throughout the United States, and provides some protection internationally as well.
State governments also allow for the registration of intellectual property, although the protection provided is comparatively limited. Furthermore, most state governments will only register trademarks and will not allow the registration of copyrights or patents. In most states, intellectual property registrations are done through the Secretary of State.
Trade Secrets
A trade secret is any piece of information used by a business that isn't known to the general public, including formulas, business plans, designs and procedures. State and federal laws protect trade secrets when other areas of intellectual property law don't offer adequate protection. An example is the formula for Coca-Cola, which remains a secret despite being over 100 years old. This formula cannot be patented because it is considered a recipe, but it can be protected under trade secret laws.
Trade secret law does not provide absolute protection. While the law prohibits competitors from stealing business secrets, they may be figured out by using reverse engineering. Secrets discovered via reverse engineering and then made public lose their protection. Employers wishing to keep employees from taking trade secrets to competitors should look at the Employee section below.
See how the U.S. Department of Labor formally defines a trade secret: U.S. Department of Labor Definition of a Trade Secret.
Employees
Confidentiality agreements and non-compete covenants are most often entered into between employers and employees or business partners. Enforceability of these contracts varies among the states so if you are considering utilizing either, it is recommended that you contact an attorney in your local area.

Confidentiality Agreements
Confidentiality agreements, also known as nondisclosure agreements, ensure that proprietary information disclosed by one party will be kept secret by another party. Such agreements are often the only method to ensure that employees keep trade secrets, allowing both parties to acknowledge that a duty of confidentiality exists, defining the scope of the duty and spelling out the possible remedies or sanctions associated with the breach of the duty.
Non-Compete Covenants
The purpose of a non-compete covenant is to ensure that an employee will not compete against an employer or former employer. Since competitors often recruit each other's employees hoping to gain an advantage, these covenants are especially important. Without such a covenant, a top salesperson leaving to work for a competitor may be able to take a list of important clients, thus harming the business of the original employer.

Selecting a Good Lawyer
Entertainment and intellectual property law cover a very broad spectrum of legal issues involving contracts, patents, trademarks, copyrights and more. The level of expertise of lawyers specializing in these areas can vary from generalists in the field to experts in sub-specialties that may range from information technology to entertainment law. See Selecting a Lawyer to learn more about finding the right lawyer for your business.

Sample Partnership Agreement

This Partnership Agreement is made on [Insert Date] between [Insert Name of Party 1] and [Insert Name of Party 2].

1. Name and Business
   The parties hereby form a partnership under the name of [Insert Business Name] to produce [Insert Business Product/Service]. The principal office of the business shall be [Insert Address].
   
2. Term
   The partnership shall begin on [Insert Date], and shall continue until terminated.
   
3. Capital
   The capital of the partnership shall be contributed in cash by the partners as follows:
   
   • A separate capital account shall be maintained for each partner.
     
   • Neither partner shall withdraw any part of their capital account.
     
   • Upon the demand of either partner, the capital accounts of the partners shall be maintained at all times in the proportions in which the partners share in the profits and losses of the partnership.
     
4. Profit and Loss
   The net profits of the partnership shall be divided equally between the partners and the net losses shall be borne equally by them. A separate income account shall be maintained for each partner. Partnership profits and losses shall be charged or credited to the separate income account of each partner. If a partner has no credit balance in their income account, losses shall be charged to their capital account.
   
5. Salaries and Withdrawals
   Neither partner shall receive any salary for services rendered to the partnership. Each partner may, from time to time, withdraw the credit balance in their income account.
   
6. Interest
   No interest shall be paid on the initial contributions to the capital of the partnership or on any subsequent contributions of capital.
   
7. Management Duties and Restrictions
   The partners shall have equal rights in the management of the partnership business, and each partner shall devote their entire time to the conduct of the business. Without the consent of the other partner neither partner shall on behalf of the partnership borrow or lend money, or make, deliver, or accept any commercial paper, or execute any mortgage, security agreement, bond, or lease, or purchase or contract to purchase, or sell or contract to sell any property for or of the partnership other than the type of property bought and sold in the regular course of its business.
   
8. Banking
   All funds of the partnership shall be deposited in its name in such checking account or accounts as shall be designated by the partners. All withdrawals therefrom are to be made upon checks signed by either partner.
   
9. Books
   The partnership books shall be maintained at the principal office of the partnership, and each partner shall at all times have access thereto. The books shall be kept on a fiscal year basis, and shall be closed and balanced at the end of each fiscal year. An audit shall be made as of the closing date.
   
10. Voluntary Termination
    The partnership may be dissolved at any time by agreement of the partners, in which event the partners shall proceed with reasonable promptness to liquidate the business of the partnership. The partnership name shall be sold with the other assets of the business. The assets of the partnership business shall be used and distributed in the following order:
    

    (a) to pay or provide for the payment of all partnership liabilities and liquidating expenses and obligations;
    
    (b) to equalize the income accounts of the partners;
    
    (c) to discharge the balance of the income accounts of the partners;
    
    (d) to equalize the capital accounts of the partners; and
    
    (e) to discharge the balance of the capital accounts of the partners.

11. Death
    Upon the death of either partner, the surviving partner shall have the right either to purchase the interest of the decedent in the partnership or to terminate and liquidate the partnership business. If the surviving partner elects to purchase the decedent's interest, he shall serve notice in writing of such election, within three months after the death of the decedent, upon the executor or administrator of the decedent, or, if at the time of such election no legal representative has been appointed, upon any one of the known legal heirs of the decedent at the last-known address of such heir.
    

    (a) If the surviving partner elects to purchase the interest of the decedent in the partnership, the purchase price shall be equal to the decedent's capital account as at the date of their death plus the decedent's income account as at the end of the prior fiscal year, increased by their share of partnership profits or decreased by their share of partnership losses for the period from the beginning of the fiscal year in which their death occurred until the end of the calendar month in which their death occurred, and decreased by withdrawals charged to their income account during such period. No allowance shall be made for goodwill, trade name, patents, or other intangible assets, except as those assets have been reflected on the partnership books immediately prior to the decedent's death; but the survivor shall nevertheless be entitled to use the trade name of the partnership.
    (b) Except as herein otherwise stated, the procedure as to liquidation and distribution of the assets of the partnership business shall be the same as stated in paragraph 10 with reference to voluntary termination.
    

12. Arbitration
    Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement, or the breach hereof, shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with the rules, then obtaining, of the American Arbitration Association, and judgment upon the award rendered may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. In witness whereof the parties have signed this Agreement.
    

Executed this ______________ day of _________________, [Insert Year] in [Insert City, State].

________________________	________________________
Signature of Party 1	Signature of Party 2

How to Delegate Easily.

1. Delegate one thing.
2. Immediately, delegating more things becomes easier.

You start freeing up more time.

You start getting more things done.

Win.

Take Beebop Bebobebop

Beebop Bebobebop has many tasks on his plate.

He has to do X, Y, Z, then help out with 900854932864930 more tasks that his company needs.

So, one-by-one:

1. Beebop starts completing the first task.
2. Then the second task.
3. Then the third task.

But then, he gets burnt out, waits a while -- and later continues with the:

• Fourth task.
• Fifth task.
• Sixth task.
• Seventh task.

He's getting completely flustered; even more burnt out, but still continues working on his subsequent tasks like a robotic one-armed ostrich sipping his Hennessy in the hood.

Take Productive Beebop Bebobebop

Productive Beebop Bebobebop taks a different route. Instead of jumping into his tasks -- grudgingly doing one-by-one consecutively, he does this the first thing in the morning:

1. He delegates one task from his schedule.
2. He then tells himself, "Hey! I can delegate this other thing too!"
3. So he delegates another task, then a third, then a fourth, then the yaddas.
4. He gets more and more things done.
5. YAY!

He's now cut down his weekly schedule to-complete-list to a day, freeing up more time to get even more things done (or to chill-ax).

WAIT I CANNOT AFFORD

Peep this financial wisdomizzle:

1. An hour of your time costs: $X.
2. With the internet, classified ads, the yaddas, you can delegate tasks that cost you Y dollars for a good amount less than Y dollars.

Making a little manual on how to do various things you do everyday will save you $KACH-ING$, as you're able to delegate a massive freakness out of your schedule.

Delegate. Soar.

Start by delegating one thing.

How to Promote Your Employees

Scenario: "Dude, we'll promote people to manage ___(enter completely unrelated position here)___ by the results they generate. Yay!" You know the usual up-the-chain ladder that most companies use to promote people:

1. Hire Maggie.
2. She kicks absolute butt cooking breakfast omelets, sausages, bacon, pancakes, yadda.
3. 99% of customers rave about her cooking.
4. Manager light pops up: "Hey! Let's promote her to manage employees!"
5. Manager Sally lacks proper people skills to manage employees well.
6. Employees walk all over her.
7. Manager to Sally: "Sally! You suck! You = fired!"

What was a once-ridiculously-promising star became a fired employee. Ouch. Instead of promoting employees to completely-and-ridiculously unrelated positions, do something else: Promote them to complementary positions where they'll exploit their strengths. Sexy.

Why Most "Managers" Suck

You know your typical managers:

• control-freak
• runs the company by the numbers
• has no sympathy for employees
• disciplines failures
• doesn't understand where you shine higher than a mutha-@#$% eagle on crack

Why? The typical business-school-train of thought goes: "Hey, if Timmy's a great software engineer -- that means he'll be a great people manager too! He'll shine! Let's promote him!" Oh, no. They don't consider: "Hey! Would Timmy manager teams well? Can he relate to everyone on the team? Can he optimize their strengths?" So what do the zero-promotion-IQ businesses get? Once-rising superstars transformed into lousy ___________. Because X does Y well, doesn't mean X will do Z well.

"So, where should I promote people?"

Instead of promoting your fabulous people to unrelated positions, provide them an arena where they'll fatten their super talents. Going back to the Sally-and-restaurant scenario above. If you were to promote her, how would you do it?

• a) Let her manage entire employee shifts.
• b) Let her manage customer relationships.
• c) Let her manage the newly-formed "Breakfast Division" of your company.

If you answered anything other than (c), you'd still be sexy -- but you'd be incorrect. If you answered (c), great job! Ding. Ding. You're right -- and, a sexy badass. Promoting her to the "Breakfast Division" lets her exploit her strengths like the breakfast badass that she is.

• She'll devise with daily breakfast delectables.
• She'll provide breakfast aesthetics to enjoy the delicious food.
• She'll form sexy atmospheres to make breakfast meals shine.
• She'll provide innovative breakfast dishes to enthrall your customers.

The breakfast part of your restaurant? Smokin' rad. Cheese omelet with saut - ed onions, green peppers, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, and juicy tender strips of steak, topped with sour cream and shredded Parmesan-mutha-@#$%& -cheese. Loaded with strips of chopped hickory-smoked bacon. Served with hash browns. Ya heard? Yum-o! So when you see your employees rock your business, and you want to promote them -- find or create positions that lets them expand their super strengths. The template for ya:

"Schmitty, you're kicking major booty at ___. I want to amplify your strengths by letting you: ___."

What Motivated Sam Walton.

• Todos? Nah!
• Priority lists? Naaah!
• Special tools? Naaaaaaah!

One super simple question drove Sam Walton's daily work:

• 'What can I do today to improve the business?'

BAM.

He measured how much his business improved by how much earnings it increased each quarter.
More net profits indicated his business provided more value to customers.
Improvement drove him to focus on serving customers better, fuller, and in larger quantities.
What can I do today to make customers:

• Like us more
• Come in more
• Buy more things
• Save more
• Etc., etc.

How can I make the company:

• More agile
• More responsive to customer feedback
• More efficient
• More productive
• Etc., etc.

Daily improvement, aggregated over four decades, made Walmart a Fortune 1 company toward the end of Sam Walton's life.
Improvement. Simple. Easy.
FREAKishly effective.

Improve daily.

How to Keep Your Business Start-up Afloat.

 Scenario: "Dude, we can be millionaires if we build this mega-duper-super-center. Build. Build. Build. Yay!"

Say you need to keep yourself in business, and:

• You want to avoid debt, so you take financing from nobody.
• You have one month's worth of money in the bank.
• You want to eventually build a ridiculously successful business.

If you're gunning to build that mega-duper-super-center with barely any money in the bank, and with no financial support, what do you do? Most of those whacked-out business "experts" would go: "You can do it! Believe in yourself!" We're here to tell you those suckas are wrong. You can certainly be optimistic all you want, but to paraphrase what our main man Jim Collins says: If you don't confront the brutal facts of your current situation, you're in for a disastrous entrepreneurial experience.

Know the Realities of a Cash-strapped Start-up

Your brutal facts:

• If you don't have enough money next month to keep your business afloat, your business dies.
• If you can't make a decent living from your business, your business dies.
• If you can't find customers who will pay you before next month, your business dies.

Now that you know what you're up against, here's how to keep your start-up afloat:

3 Ways to Keep Your Business Start-up Afloat

To keep your business start-up ticking:

1. Sell things with quick sales cycles.

   If you're a mega-bootstrapper, you'll need enough money to keep food on the table -- then some extra to build your business. Let's say: you need around $2,000 in cash every month to: stay alive + build your business. Once you know that figure, start look for opportunities that can get you that $2,000 quickly (i.e. by the end of the month). For instance, building a mega-center can take months/years; you can start selling wholesale kitchen items from distributors through the phone, now.

2. Forget selling low-price items.

   Say you have two options:
   • Sell frying pans for $10 profit each.
   • Sell stoves for $1000 profit each.
   
   To get that $2,000, you'll need convince at least 200 people to purchase your frying pans. Getting one customer to purchase from you is pretty freakishly hard enough. Two-hundred for the first-time entrepreneur is a near-impossibility. Yet, if you're selling a stove, you won't need to convince 200 people: just a tiny 2.

3. Do: What you love + What you know.

   When you do this, the "doing" part becomes so much easier, more efficient, and boosts productivity. Imagine studying for your favorite subject in school. Now, imagine studying for your worst subject.
   • What went ridiculously quicker?
   • What did you enjoy more?
   • What gave you more confidence?
   • What empowered your badass?

"But dude, I can't see myself selling these things for the next 10 years."

If you don't have money in the bank to keep your business afloat every month, you won't be selling what you ultimately want anyway. The key is to get you enough cash this month to (1) live, and (2) keep your business afloat, and (3) eventually fund what you really want to do. Our tip -- Do it simultaneously:

1. Sell quick-sales-cycles-stuff to get enough cash for this month.
2. Build whatever the heck you want to build with the extra cash that you have.

Of course: when you have sufficient cash flowing into the bank each month, where you and your business could very well survive without selling "those things," you can stop offering 'em. The template for ya:

"To keep my kick-ass start-up afloat, I will sell big-ticket items that have quick sales-cycles."