Conquest finally conquered. Victoria Fired!
The women of Conquest converged around the dining table, anticipating which of their fellow candidates would be dropped from the interview. They were startled when not five, but seven of the opposing team members walked in at once. The men then told them of the immediate firing of Shi Hao.
For their next task, the candidates were told to meet the TTC at the Ngee Ann City civic plaza. There, the women of Conquest were told to select a Project Manager on the spot. They nominated Esther who was then told that she would now be a member of the King Corp and lead them in the next task.
He then told the teams that their task was to organize a road show promoting the new OJ Twist drink. The teams would be sent to two neighbourhood town centres toconduct the roadshows. King Corp would be located at Jurong East and Conquest in Tampines. The team that had the most sales at the end of the weekend would win. He wished them good luck and left them with Farahain and David.
On the ride down to the Jurong East town centre, Esther got to know her team member’s strengths. Yen Hao had some knowledge in the Fundamentals Of Marketing, Beng Loong could keep track of the accounts and hence budget, Stephen could come up with projections for patronage to the road show and conduct surveys, Antonius could make sure the layout was right so that there wouldn’t be any blocks preventing movement. James was experienced with computers and the technical things while Ben and Jin Hui were wildcards.
As they got to the area where they would be having their road show, Esther obtained the number for the executives of Yeo Heap Seng, the company that produced the OJ Twist drink. She called them to find out what kind of promotion they wanted. They told her that they wanted something big enough to create a buzz in the heartlands.
With that in mind, Esther returned to her team to delegate duties.Yen Hao, Beng Loong and Stephen would work on marketing the product. They were to come up with ideas to attract the crowd in and she would keep tabs on them and fuel them with creative input. Meanwhile, James, Antonius, Ben and Jin Hui would work on the logistics. She asked them to meet back at the site at 2pm.
The team was evidently pleased with Esther’s leadership, with Beng Loong stating, “We are finally going somewhere, very sure can win.”
Farahain observed the team work together this, and was impressed with Esther’s leadership.
In Tampines, Conquest arrived at the site of the road show. It was conveniently located next to the MRT station and bus interchange. Victoria then proceeded to order her team members around. Sharmaine became Victoria’s “assistant” because Victoria claimed she needed a secretary, pulling Sharmaine out of the available work force. Like a personal assistant, she went everywhere Victoria went.
Victoria commanded her team, each with their own job to do. Shu Hui was given th task of managing the customer relations, of which she had no experience in. Yessita was put in charge of the accounts and logistics when the drinks would come. Debbie, Carol, Kimberly and Syaza were told to dress up and walk around to create a buzz. Nobody was assigned to sell anything.
David was astounded at Victoria’s leadership, making a prediction that the team would ultimately have a hard going, maybe even facing their first boardroom experience.
Back at the King Corp road show, workers were busy putting up the temporary shelter for the road show. The marketing team had come up with the idea to market the OJ Twist as thirst quencher. They would set up stands offering free drinks and even have a lucky draw on the spot. There would also be a special promotion, when a customer purchased two bottles, they got one free.
Esther contacted an agency to hand out the coupons at the MRT station and the nearby Jurong Entertainment Centre so her team members would be free for other tasks. She then pulled James and Jin Hui out from the logistics team and had them trained to operate the cash registers at the purchasing counter, and then added two more counters for purchasing customers to buy the drink. Yen Hao then came up to her and suggested that they get a local celebrity to come and make an appearance and even to “taste test” the drink itself.
As the sunk sank and the sky over Tampines grew dark, Victoria pulled her team out of the area for a meeting. Kim, Syaza, Debbie and Carol had only gotten their outfits for the big day, spending the entire day shopping while Victoria and Sharmaine had sat at a McDonald’s outlet reviewing their statistics.
Yessita had contacted the suppliers and asked how many bottles of drinks they would be sending over. They had told her that they would be sending in three thousand. Thinking that this was a insufficient amount, she asked that they send five thousand instead. Shu Hui had tried to work with Yessita as there was nothing she could do for customer relations that day.
The day of the road shows dawned and Esther had King Corp down at Jurong East early on. A last minute check was conducted before they would open the road show at 11am. Esther then called for a simulation so as to give the cashiers from the Yeos company and James and Jin Hui some practice at handling the machines. All the people involved in the road show then thronged the displays and started grabbing bottles and queuing up at the counters to “pay” for them. Over time, Jin Hui and James became more deft at handling the machines.
Satisfied with the simulation, Esther gave everyone a half-hour break and they all went down to grab a bite.
At Tampines, Victoria just realized that she hadn’t got a proper plan for marketing the product. She didn’t arrange for cashiers either. Calling upon Sharmaine who had previously worked at Mos Burger, she told her to be the cashier for today for the sake of the team. Shu Hui was also then assigned at a check out counter. Victoria then asked Yessita to go buy some cups so that the people could taste the drink before purchasing it.
David shook his head in wonder as Victoria rushed her last minute arrangements.
At 11am sharp, the Jurong East road show by King Corp took off. A small crowd began to form as the free drinks were given out. An emcee was on the stage, telling the people how good the drink was at quenching your thirst. And he also emphasized on the twist which came in two flavours, lemon or orange. On the board behind the stage, there was a list of the events that would happen during the day. It showed that the famous football player, Fandi Ahmad, would be making an appearance.
Gradually the crowd grew and grew, many waiting to catch a glimpse of Fandi Ahmad. Esther told her team to get ready for Fandi Ahmad’s arrival at around 1pm. The crowd was not disappointed as he walked onto the stage at 1pm on the dot to a frenzied screaming and shouting. Waving to the crowd, he managed to catch the attention of everyone under the temporary shelter. He was then brought a bottle of the OJ Twist with the lemon flavouring.
After taking a sip, he smacked his lips and said that it was the best tasting drink he had ever drank, causing the crowds to erupt into cheers yet again. After a bit he came down to the front of the stage and signed a few autographs for the crowd. The media had even rushed down to the road show, covering Fandi Ahmad’s visit. Esther’s photo was taken in one shot and the reporter told her that she would be featured in the next day’s newspapers. Meanwhile, James and Jin Hui were busy accepting payment for the purchases and everything went relatively smoothly.
Farahain was impressed with Fandi Ahmad’s visit and even got him to sign an autograph for her. She remarked, “King Corp has certainly organized a good road show, I managed to get Fandi Ahmad’s autograph!”
The Tampines road show was slow going with people only coming for the free drinks and not purchasing any drinks. Victoria tried to look out for Syaza, Kim, Debbie and Carol who were supposed to be giving out flyers to promote the event. They were nowhere to be found. Finding traffic at the purchasing counter slow, Sharmaine left her stand and went to take an indefinite break, leaving Shu Hui to be the sole cashier. Without any experience in operating a cahs register before, Shu Hui panicked and made a series of errors and had to keep apologising to the few customers that were there.
At the end of the day, the teams met the TTC back in the board room. The TTC then asked his advisors for the results of the team. David reported that Conquest had sold a total of 500 units at $1,000. Farahain reported that King had sold a whopping total of 7,000 units for $3,500. The winner was King for the first time! As part of their reward, King would be treated to a rare view of the island by helicopter.
In the suite, the atmosphere was tense as everyone wondered who would be the first woman to have their interview terminated. Victoria accused her team for not rallying together. Shu Hui and Yessita silently commented that Victoria did not meet the cut as Project Manager. Victoria decided that she would take Yessita and Shu Hui into the boardroom that night and told them straight to their faces. The two girls then agreed to shoot Victoria down.
The Conquest Corporation moved into the boardroom for their first meeting with the TTC where someone would be fired. The TTC came in and asked Victoria why her team had failed. She pinned the peg on her team not co-operating with her and highlighted that Shu Hui and Yessita were incompetent. The two girls then fired back that Victoria had given them useless jobs to do to occupy time. She didn’t have a strategy to market the product.
When asked who they would fire, most of the team members said they would choose Victoria. David then asked why Victoria wasn’t more proactive in the sales. She answered that she thought her team was more than capable. Farahain called her short sighted and then questioned her need for a secretary. The TTC then asked Victoria to choose two people to bring back into the boardroom. Victoria remained true to her word and chose Yessita and Shu Hui.
David told the TTC that Victoria didn’t know what she was doing and planned poorly while the other two did put in a lot of effort into the senseless jobs that they were given. Farahain questioned why she sent Sharmaine who had left her position at the cashier back to the suite. With that, the TTC asked Ms. Dewi to send the three back in.
The TTC began his questioning, asking Victoria why she sent Sharmaine back. Victoria told him that she thought Sharmaine had done a terrific job. He then asked as secretary or as cashier to which she replied secretary, revealing that Victoria was instead protecting her friend. Yessita and Shu Hui ganged up on Victoria calling her indecisive, unable to plan properly and a slave driver. She only liked things when they went well and took credit then, but when things went bad she blamed everyone else but herself. She had poor planning skills and delegated too many people to attracting people to the road show while too few were there to man the cash registers.
With the explanation from the two women, the TTC looked at Victoria and told her, “I don’t think you can make the cut. You made too many errors. Victoria, you’re fired!”
Friday, July 29, 2005
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Episode 2
Kings back in the black throne room. Shi Hao Fired!
Back in the suite, speculation began on who would be the first candidate out of the running in the fifteen week interview. Many hoped that Kum Hong would be the one out, but many felt that James was a likely target.
When James and Shi Hao walked into through the door, luggage in tow, there were cheers at the return of the two candidates. Happy as though they were, Conquest vowed to try beat the men again.
The candidates received a call at 6 a.m. from Mr. Tan’s secretary, telling them to meet him at Rochester Park at 8 a.m.
At 8 a.m., the candidates met Mr. Tan and his advisors at Rochester Park in Buona Vista. Mr. Tan explained that for this task, the teams would have to redecorate two old bungalow houses and thereafter attempt to rent them out with the highest rent. One house was located in Rochester Park and another in Portsdown further down the road from where they were. The teams would have to nominate their Project Managers again. By random drawing, Conquest had gotten the Rochester Park house and King the Portsdown one. Before leaving, Mr. Tan informed that Farahain and David would be observing again, as usual.
After the TTC had left, King Corp moved to inspect their house. It was in a quaint little area, near to a bus stop. The lush greenery around made it look like it was from a story book. They then turned to the business side and elected their Project Manager. Each of them wrote their names on a piece of paper and they then did a random drawing. Shi Hao was the name withdrawn, thus he became King’s Project Manager.
Meanwhile at Rochester Park, Kimberly was elected as Project Manager of Conquest. Following Syaza’s footsteps, she divided the team into two groups. Esther, Victoria, Sharmaine, Debbie and Yessita would work on re-decorating the house while Syaza, Carol and Shu Hui would be in charge of attracting potential tenants. She then took Syaza’s method a step further and put Esther and Syaza in charge of the two divisions to report to her on the progress.
Esther assembled her team and got them to evaluate the state of the house. Some repairs were due, such as the toilets and the flooring. She asked if a few of them, preferably two people, could contact a contractor to start the repairs. For the rest of the team, she asked them to think up ideas on how to re-decorate the house. Kimberly then offered a few suggestions.
Back at King’s house. Shi Hao was going around, making sure everything was in working order while the others lounged around. Nobody was doing anything and Shi Hao wasn’t delegating jobs. David walked in and around the house. He came out and told the camera, “They want to lose this one too, they’re just sitting on their bums!”.
After about half-an hour of waiting, the King Corp men got up and began to take things into their own hands. They talked of getting many gadgets into the house and making it every man’s dream home. Without telling Shi Hao, who was in another room, the guys left for the Ikea store to look for some nifty furnishings to put in the house.
Back in the suite, Shu Hui, Syaza and Carol brainstormed on different ways to get potential tenants to come take a look at the house. Carol suggested having a free shuttle from the nearby MRT station and advertising in the newspapers. Syaza then reconsidered, saying that the rent could be very high as houses in Singapore were a rarity, hence, their target market would be higher ended consumers. They had to rethink their plans.
At Ikea, the guys meandered through the store almost aimlessly, trying to find paint for the walls and fabric for the curtains. They often got side tracked by the different furniture displays. When the last emerged from the store, they had clocked in a total of three hours at Ikea, wasting valuable time.
Shi Hao had finally realized that his team was no longer in the house and he was immoblised. He had one of the two handphones that each team was given, but didn’t know the number of the other line which was with the rest of the team. Thus, he had no way of contacting his them.
As the contractor arrived at the Conquest home, Esther sent out her team to get the materials needed to redecorate the house. Kimberly, Yessita, Debbie and Sharmaine went down to the Ikea store for their redecoration needs. However, they were unaware of the King team being in the vicinity as well.
Esther and Victoria managed to get the contractor to help them paint the house’s interior and fix new curtain lines for a small extra cost before he started work on the toilets and flooring. They then sat down to relax for awhile while the contractor got his men to start work.
The runaway King team eventually returned to their house to find a nonchalant Shi Hao lying on the dirty floor. He got up and just accepted their plans for the house without considering any ramifications. The King team started to paint the walls a silver colour. Unfortunately, they forgot to protect the flooring and drops of paint soon dotted the stone flooring. The King Corp worked late into the night and only managed to paint three walls out of the intended nine.
The next day, Kimberly went down to the house at Rochester Park to inspect the repair works. The contractor’s workers had by now started painting the walls and were making quick work of it. As she returned to the suite and the rest of her team, Syaza filled them in on her plan for the promotion. They would hold an auction at the house itself, inviting investors. The auction items would range from various pieces of art work which the team could create themselves. The last auction item, would be to rent out the house. Of course, the investors must be potential tenants. But imagine it, a chance to buy art works to decorate your house and a final auction to see who gets to rent it.
An auction would be easy and quick to do as the prospective tenants would already be there to inspect the house and such. Kimberly thought it was a risky idea but wanted to go along with it. She managed to get the backing from her team on the idea. The Conquest team then went out to get the necessary items for the art work and the auction.
In a confessional, Victoria expressed delight at the idea of an auction. She said, “The auction is a fabulous idea! I’m sure it will draw the crowds and work out. Conquest will have the advantage in this task.”
The men resumed the decoration of their house the next morning. They continued to do so till the late afternoon. Yen Hao then separated himself from the group to work on a strategy to bring in possible tenants. He suggested advertising in the classified section of the newspaper.
The day of the auction came, and the Conquest women got ready to receive the potential tenants. Once everyone had been seated, they had quite a large crowd in the room. Syaza then proceeded to ask everyone to find a seat and the auction began. She then announced in a surprise, last minute decision, that the proceeds from the art auction would go to the Community Chest charity. The audience broke into applause at this announcement.
The auction got underway and the final item, the rental of the house was up for bids. There was a lot of bidding for the rent which would be on a monthly basis. The last bid was secured at $3,500 per month. Everyone was then treated to some light refreshments. Farahain mingled around with the crowd, but was impressed with the women’s performance. She passed a comment, “Risky, but they took a shot at it. Not sure if they will be rewarded for this, but they did a good job.”
Over at the King Corp house, the men waited for hours with no potential tenant coming by in the course of the time they were there. Yen Hao was utterly disappointed at the turn out and blamed Shi Hao for not leading well.
The teams then met the TTC back in the boardroom to reveal who was the winner. Farahain and David revealed that it was a walkover as no one went to the King Corp open house. The women of Conquest couldn’t contain their joy and erupted in shouts and hugged each other. As part of their reward, they would go for a day on a yatch, traveling the sea around the island. As for King Corp, they would return to the boardroom once again where someone would be fired.
The Conquest women enjoyed the day on the yatch, eating Pringles chips and standing in the wind. They also enjoyed the time with the TTC and his wife, Mdm. Ng Hoi Hoon. The highlight of the day was a picnic on the yatch itself.
Carol summed up her experience with, “It was the experience of a lifetime. I had never been on a luxury yatch before – I could get used to this!”
Back in the suite, the members of King Corp stewed over who would be brought back into the boardroom with Shi Hao. Shi Hao planned to bring Yen Hao in for poor marketing strategy and Jin Hui as a random selection.
The King Corp entered the boardroom to meet with Mr. Tan. He told Shi Hao that his leadership skills were certainly very lacking. Farahain said that Shi Hao didn’t even know his team had left or even how to contact them. David added his bit, saying that Shi Hao didn’t delegate the tasks at all, nobody did any marketing strategy even. Shi Hao then said he was doing a check before consulting his team on what should be done but they simply didn’t wait for him. The TTC told Shi Hao to stop making excuses.
As a final blow, he said, “To be frank Shi Hao, you aren’t a good leader. This is an easy decision, you’re fired!”
Back in the suite, speculation began on who would be the first candidate out of the running in the fifteen week interview. Many hoped that Kum Hong would be the one out, but many felt that James was a likely target.
When James and Shi Hao walked into through the door, luggage in tow, there were cheers at the return of the two candidates. Happy as though they were, Conquest vowed to try beat the men again.
The candidates received a call at 6 a.m. from Mr. Tan’s secretary, telling them to meet him at Rochester Park at 8 a.m.
At 8 a.m., the candidates met Mr. Tan and his advisors at Rochester Park in Buona Vista. Mr. Tan explained that for this task, the teams would have to redecorate two old bungalow houses and thereafter attempt to rent them out with the highest rent. One house was located in Rochester Park and another in Portsdown further down the road from where they were. The teams would have to nominate their Project Managers again. By random drawing, Conquest had gotten the Rochester Park house and King the Portsdown one. Before leaving, Mr. Tan informed that Farahain and David would be observing again, as usual.
After the TTC had left, King Corp moved to inspect their house. It was in a quaint little area, near to a bus stop. The lush greenery around made it look like it was from a story book. They then turned to the business side and elected their Project Manager. Each of them wrote their names on a piece of paper and they then did a random drawing. Shi Hao was the name withdrawn, thus he became King’s Project Manager.
Meanwhile at Rochester Park, Kimberly was elected as Project Manager of Conquest. Following Syaza’s footsteps, she divided the team into two groups. Esther, Victoria, Sharmaine, Debbie and Yessita would work on re-decorating the house while Syaza, Carol and Shu Hui would be in charge of attracting potential tenants. She then took Syaza’s method a step further and put Esther and Syaza in charge of the two divisions to report to her on the progress.
Esther assembled her team and got them to evaluate the state of the house. Some repairs were due, such as the toilets and the flooring. She asked if a few of them, preferably two people, could contact a contractor to start the repairs. For the rest of the team, she asked them to think up ideas on how to re-decorate the house. Kimberly then offered a few suggestions.
Back at King’s house. Shi Hao was going around, making sure everything was in working order while the others lounged around. Nobody was doing anything and Shi Hao wasn’t delegating jobs. David walked in and around the house. He came out and told the camera, “They want to lose this one too, they’re just sitting on their bums!”.
After about half-an hour of waiting, the King Corp men got up and began to take things into their own hands. They talked of getting many gadgets into the house and making it every man’s dream home. Without telling Shi Hao, who was in another room, the guys left for the Ikea store to look for some nifty furnishings to put in the house.
Back in the suite, Shu Hui, Syaza and Carol brainstormed on different ways to get potential tenants to come take a look at the house. Carol suggested having a free shuttle from the nearby MRT station and advertising in the newspapers. Syaza then reconsidered, saying that the rent could be very high as houses in Singapore were a rarity, hence, their target market would be higher ended consumers. They had to rethink their plans.
At Ikea, the guys meandered through the store almost aimlessly, trying to find paint for the walls and fabric for the curtains. They often got side tracked by the different furniture displays. When the last emerged from the store, they had clocked in a total of three hours at Ikea, wasting valuable time.
Shi Hao had finally realized that his team was no longer in the house and he was immoblised. He had one of the two handphones that each team was given, but didn’t know the number of the other line which was with the rest of the team. Thus, he had no way of contacting his them.
As the contractor arrived at the Conquest home, Esther sent out her team to get the materials needed to redecorate the house. Kimberly, Yessita, Debbie and Sharmaine went down to the Ikea store for their redecoration needs. However, they were unaware of the King team being in the vicinity as well.
Esther and Victoria managed to get the contractor to help them paint the house’s interior and fix new curtain lines for a small extra cost before he started work on the toilets and flooring. They then sat down to relax for awhile while the contractor got his men to start work.
The runaway King team eventually returned to their house to find a nonchalant Shi Hao lying on the dirty floor. He got up and just accepted their plans for the house without considering any ramifications. The King team started to paint the walls a silver colour. Unfortunately, they forgot to protect the flooring and drops of paint soon dotted the stone flooring. The King Corp worked late into the night and only managed to paint three walls out of the intended nine.
The next day, Kimberly went down to the house at Rochester Park to inspect the repair works. The contractor’s workers had by now started painting the walls and were making quick work of it. As she returned to the suite and the rest of her team, Syaza filled them in on her plan for the promotion. They would hold an auction at the house itself, inviting investors. The auction items would range from various pieces of art work which the team could create themselves. The last auction item, would be to rent out the house. Of course, the investors must be potential tenants. But imagine it, a chance to buy art works to decorate your house and a final auction to see who gets to rent it.
An auction would be easy and quick to do as the prospective tenants would already be there to inspect the house and such. Kimberly thought it was a risky idea but wanted to go along with it. She managed to get the backing from her team on the idea. The Conquest team then went out to get the necessary items for the art work and the auction.
In a confessional, Victoria expressed delight at the idea of an auction. She said, “The auction is a fabulous idea! I’m sure it will draw the crowds and work out. Conquest will have the advantage in this task.”
The men resumed the decoration of their house the next morning. They continued to do so till the late afternoon. Yen Hao then separated himself from the group to work on a strategy to bring in possible tenants. He suggested advertising in the classified section of the newspaper.
The day of the auction came, and the Conquest women got ready to receive the potential tenants. Once everyone had been seated, they had quite a large crowd in the room. Syaza then proceeded to ask everyone to find a seat and the auction began. She then announced in a surprise, last minute decision, that the proceeds from the art auction would go to the Community Chest charity. The audience broke into applause at this announcement.
The auction got underway and the final item, the rental of the house was up for bids. There was a lot of bidding for the rent which would be on a monthly basis. The last bid was secured at $3,500 per month. Everyone was then treated to some light refreshments. Farahain mingled around with the crowd, but was impressed with the women’s performance. She passed a comment, “Risky, but they took a shot at it. Not sure if they will be rewarded for this, but they did a good job.”
Over at the King Corp house, the men waited for hours with no potential tenant coming by in the course of the time they were there. Yen Hao was utterly disappointed at the turn out and blamed Shi Hao for not leading well.
The teams then met the TTC back in the boardroom to reveal who was the winner. Farahain and David revealed that it was a walkover as no one went to the King Corp open house. The women of Conquest couldn’t contain their joy and erupted in shouts and hugged each other. As part of their reward, they would go for a day on a yatch, traveling the sea around the island. As for King Corp, they would return to the boardroom once again where someone would be fired.
The Conquest women enjoyed the day on the yatch, eating Pringles chips and standing in the wind. They also enjoyed the time with the TTC and his wife, Mdm. Ng Hoi Hoon. The highlight of the day was a picnic on the yatch itself.
Carol summed up her experience with, “It was the experience of a lifetime. I had never been on a luxury yatch before – I could get used to this!”
Back in the suite, the members of King Corp stewed over who would be brought back into the boardroom with Shi Hao. Shi Hao planned to bring Yen Hao in for poor marketing strategy and Jin Hui as a random selection.
The King Corp entered the boardroom to meet with Mr. Tan. He told Shi Hao that his leadership skills were certainly very lacking. Farahain said that Shi Hao didn’t even know his team had left or even how to contact them. David added his bit, saying that Shi Hao didn’t delegate the tasks at all, nobody did any marketing strategy even. Shi Hao then said he was doing a check before consulting his team on what should be done but they simply didn’t wait for him. The TTC told Shi Hao to stop making excuses.
As a final blow, he said, “To be frank Shi Hao, you aren’t a good leader. This is an easy decision, you’re fired!”
Episode 1
King Corp in the boardroom. Kum Hong Fired!
Eighteen apprentice wannabes arrived at the Tiong Chuan building ready to begin their 15 week interview in a bid to become The Apprentice. All were from the class 4/2 of Ghim Moh Secondary School. All the classmates were familiar with each other and they knew who would be good at different tasks. But how would they be grouped? Would they have to work with people that they didn’t like?
After letting the candidates stew outside the boardroom for about half-an hour, Mr. Tan Tiong Chuan, dubbed as TTC, told his receptionist, Ms. Dewi to let them in. The candidates proceeded gingerly into the boardroom to meet with the TTC.
Seated by him were two other familiar faces, Mrs. Farahain Aidil and Mr. David Sim. Both were strict when it came down to business. The TTC then addressed his candidates. He introduced to them his advisors, stating that they would be his eyes and ears on the streets.
After explaining to them the interview process, the TTC wished them good luck and sent them up to “The Suite”.
Located along Orchard Road, the suite was a gorgeous living area where the eighteen candidates would, hopefully, spend the next fifteen weeks. As they entered the suite, there were many gasps and smiles as they saw the elaborate furnishings. They wandered around the living area, taking in the breath taking views of the town area and marveling at how luxurious everything looked.
Upon entering the kitchen, they were greeted by the feast set on the table. Along with the food, were two envelopes. Kimberly immediately grabbed one and began to read it aloud. The letter inside told the candidates that they were to be split into groups by gender, nine men against nine women. Their first task was to sit together as a team and come up with a group name.
The women took out some large plates and piled on their food then took it to the sitting room where they all sat down and began to think of their team’s name. The guys ran up and down, getting food now and then. On the women’s team, Esther suggested that they come up with a few synonyms for the word ‘victory’. Out of these, they all agreed that Conquest Corporation sounded the best and thus, Conquest became their team’s name.
In the living room, the men wanted a name that reflected their machoism. Shi Hao suggested Daring corporation, but the others thought it too clichéd. It was Yen Hao’s brain wave that they used and decided on King Corp.
The next day, they met the TTC on top of the Tiong Chuan building. He arrived along with Farahain and David. He approved of both team names and laid out their first task. The candidates would be working in the dessert industry, with established companies. For this task, they would be working with Hagen-Daaz to market a new flavour of ice-cream. He also stated that Farahain and David would tag along to observe the teams, and each team would have a budget of $5,000. He then asked the teams to nominate Project Managers who would oversee the team’s task. King nominated James while Conquest chose Syaza. The TTC then left the teams and they scrambled to get to the headquarters of Hagen-Daaz.
On Conquest, Syaza decided to split the team into two different groups, one working on marketing and another on securing the logistics. Esther, Yessita, Kimberly and Victoria would be the marketing team while Carol, Shu Hui, Sharmaine and Debbie would work on the logistics. Syaza would oversee both teams.
In a confessional, Yessita expressed her confidence in her team winning, saying, “I am sure that Conquest will succeed in this task, Syaza is a great leader with foresight to divide the group into two teams.”
At the King group, James brought everyone down to the Hagen-Daaz headquarters to meet with the chef on the new flavours available for marketing. The group took time to look at the catalogue displaying the new flavours that the company was interested in marketing. However, the group was split on which flavour to market. Some wanted the new Mango Ma flavour while others wanted to go along with the Vodka Twist. The temperature soon got heated in the room as Shi Hao opposed the decision to sell the Mango Ma ice-cream flavour.
Everyone quickly got exasperated and Kum Hong then stood up, condemning Shi Hao for creating a fuss over a “small matter”. As tension escalated between the two group members, James stepped in and made a corporate decision and in a u-turn decision, decided to go along with the Vodka Twist flavour.
Stephen observed in a confessional, “By choosing Vodka Twist, we lost the market for children as the ice-cream contains alcohol.”
Back in the suite, Conquest’s logistics team sat around in the living room and around the computer. The women were trying to contact a vendor to rent an ice-cream push cart for a day. Some of the team members poured through a street directory trying to find a prime location for their sale.
At the Hagen-Daaz headquarters, the marketing team for Conquest quickly chose the Samba Surprise. They then settled down to come up with a marketing strategy for the flavour. Kimberly suggested going along with the Brazilian theme of “Samba” for their promotion. They could do a street show or even dress up as the Brazilian dancers themselves.
An excited Esther even went as far as suggesting offering a round trip to Brazil to watch the Samba parade. Syaza warmed to the ideas put forward by her team and was very impressed.
Meanwhile, back at King corp, the men struggled to come up with a marketing strategy even with Yen Hao’s experience in the Fundamentals Of Marketing. In short, he summed up the situation as , “We have no pricing strategy, no placing strategy, no product strategy and no promotion strategy.”
The next day, the teams got ready to get on the streets to market their products. Conquest had contacted a printing company to print flyers for their promotion next to the Orchard MRT station. They had managed to rent an ice-cream push cart for the day and gotten the Brazilian association to put up a small performance for a small fee. Syaza had gone ahead with the idea for the round trip for two the Brazil and had a relative in the media industry get a discount for her to display the winner in The Straits Times newspaper the following day.
King corporation on the other hand, still were running around trying to get their promotion together. They hadn’t got and idea how to market their product, unsure if they should sell their product to restaurants or to ice-cream parlours.
In the end, King Corp desperately tried to sell their ice-cream to several vendors and night clubs. Kum Hong kept getting in everyone’s way, asking what he should do while the others were busy trying to get the buyers to purchase their ice-cream.
The buzz created by the street performance along Orchard Road drew a big crowd and they were the enticed by the free give-away tickets to Brazil. Farahain observed from a distance, smiling to herself as the women got busy serving ice-cream to customers.
David came to the suite to check on the men and found them a mess. Thoroughly disgusted, he left saying, “They don’t know what they’re doing, Conquest will win.”
The next day, the teams entered the boardroom, anxious to see which team had succeeded in their first task. After the TTC had entered, he inquired of his advisors how each team had done. Farahain reported that Conquest had made a record $350.20 while David said that King had a meager $100.00. The winners were the women of Conquest. As their reward, the TTC announced that they would be dining with him at Les Amis, an exclusive restaurant. King Corp however, would meet him in the boardroom where someone would be fired.
As the impending boardroom session drew near, the members of King Corp became antsy. They wondered what would happen in the boardroom. How would they be fired?
As they entered the boardroom, the TTC commented on their work ethic, calling them “Lousy”. James tried to defend himself, saying that Kum Hong needed adult supervision as he was a nuisance. This Kum Hong denied, but failed to give any evidence. When TTC asked who James would fire, he said Kum Hong and Kum Hong said James. He then asked James to select two people to return to the boardroom. James chose Kum Hong and Shi Hao. Ben, Beng Loong, Antonius, Stephen, Jin Hui and Yen Hao were safe.
TTC, alone with his advisors, reviewed the candidate’s performance. Farahain said that Kum Hong obviously agitated everyone. David said that Kum Hong obviously couldn’t work with his team mates. Finally, the TTC called in the remaining three back into the boardroom.
James reiterated that he tried to lead the team, but the were just too disorganized. TTC called him a lousy leader. James suddenly agreed with him. He then asked why James brought Shi Hao into the boardroom and the story of the conflict then surfaced. But Shi Hao stated that it was James who made the decision in the end. James shot back that he was the one who suggested selling it to bars and night clubs as a novelty item.
TTC called James a lousy leader again. Turning to Shi Hao, he told him that he should make wise decisions. Finally, he turned to Kum Hong and told him that he caused friction and was a drag to the team. With that, he said to Kum Hong, “You’re fired!”
Eighteen apprentice wannabes arrived at the Tiong Chuan building ready to begin their 15 week interview in a bid to become The Apprentice. All were from the class 4/2 of Ghim Moh Secondary School. All the classmates were familiar with each other and they knew who would be good at different tasks. But how would they be grouped? Would they have to work with people that they didn’t like?
After letting the candidates stew outside the boardroom for about half-an hour, Mr. Tan Tiong Chuan, dubbed as TTC, told his receptionist, Ms. Dewi to let them in. The candidates proceeded gingerly into the boardroom to meet with the TTC.
Seated by him were two other familiar faces, Mrs. Farahain Aidil and Mr. David Sim. Both were strict when it came down to business. The TTC then addressed his candidates. He introduced to them his advisors, stating that they would be his eyes and ears on the streets.
After explaining to them the interview process, the TTC wished them good luck and sent them up to “The Suite”.
Located along Orchard Road, the suite was a gorgeous living area where the eighteen candidates would, hopefully, spend the next fifteen weeks. As they entered the suite, there were many gasps and smiles as they saw the elaborate furnishings. They wandered around the living area, taking in the breath taking views of the town area and marveling at how luxurious everything looked.
Upon entering the kitchen, they were greeted by the feast set on the table. Along with the food, were two envelopes. Kimberly immediately grabbed one and began to read it aloud. The letter inside told the candidates that they were to be split into groups by gender, nine men against nine women. Their first task was to sit together as a team and come up with a group name.
The women took out some large plates and piled on their food then took it to the sitting room where they all sat down and began to think of their team’s name. The guys ran up and down, getting food now and then. On the women’s team, Esther suggested that they come up with a few synonyms for the word ‘victory’. Out of these, they all agreed that Conquest Corporation sounded the best and thus, Conquest became their team’s name.
In the living room, the men wanted a name that reflected their machoism. Shi Hao suggested Daring corporation, but the others thought it too clichéd. It was Yen Hao’s brain wave that they used and decided on King Corp.
The next day, they met the TTC on top of the Tiong Chuan building. He arrived along with Farahain and David. He approved of both team names and laid out their first task. The candidates would be working in the dessert industry, with established companies. For this task, they would be working with Hagen-Daaz to market a new flavour of ice-cream. He also stated that Farahain and David would tag along to observe the teams, and each team would have a budget of $5,000. He then asked the teams to nominate Project Managers who would oversee the team’s task. King nominated James while Conquest chose Syaza. The TTC then left the teams and they scrambled to get to the headquarters of Hagen-Daaz.
On Conquest, Syaza decided to split the team into two different groups, one working on marketing and another on securing the logistics. Esther, Yessita, Kimberly and Victoria would be the marketing team while Carol, Shu Hui, Sharmaine and Debbie would work on the logistics. Syaza would oversee both teams.
In a confessional, Yessita expressed her confidence in her team winning, saying, “I am sure that Conquest will succeed in this task, Syaza is a great leader with foresight to divide the group into two teams.”
At the King group, James brought everyone down to the Hagen-Daaz headquarters to meet with the chef on the new flavours available for marketing. The group took time to look at the catalogue displaying the new flavours that the company was interested in marketing. However, the group was split on which flavour to market. Some wanted the new Mango Ma flavour while others wanted to go along with the Vodka Twist. The temperature soon got heated in the room as Shi Hao opposed the decision to sell the Mango Ma ice-cream flavour.
Everyone quickly got exasperated and Kum Hong then stood up, condemning Shi Hao for creating a fuss over a “small matter”. As tension escalated between the two group members, James stepped in and made a corporate decision and in a u-turn decision, decided to go along with the Vodka Twist flavour.
Stephen observed in a confessional, “By choosing Vodka Twist, we lost the market for children as the ice-cream contains alcohol.”
Back in the suite, Conquest’s logistics team sat around in the living room and around the computer. The women were trying to contact a vendor to rent an ice-cream push cart for a day. Some of the team members poured through a street directory trying to find a prime location for their sale.
At the Hagen-Daaz headquarters, the marketing team for Conquest quickly chose the Samba Surprise. They then settled down to come up with a marketing strategy for the flavour. Kimberly suggested going along with the Brazilian theme of “Samba” for their promotion. They could do a street show or even dress up as the Brazilian dancers themselves.
An excited Esther even went as far as suggesting offering a round trip to Brazil to watch the Samba parade. Syaza warmed to the ideas put forward by her team and was very impressed.
Meanwhile, back at King corp, the men struggled to come up with a marketing strategy even with Yen Hao’s experience in the Fundamentals Of Marketing. In short, he summed up the situation as , “We have no pricing strategy, no placing strategy, no product strategy and no promotion strategy.”
The next day, the teams got ready to get on the streets to market their products. Conquest had contacted a printing company to print flyers for their promotion next to the Orchard MRT station. They had managed to rent an ice-cream push cart for the day and gotten the Brazilian association to put up a small performance for a small fee. Syaza had gone ahead with the idea for the round trip for two the Brazil and had a relative in the media industry get a discount for her to display the winner in The Straits Times newspaper the following day.
King corporation on the other hand, still were running around trying to get their promotion together. They hadn’t got and idea how to market their product, unsure if they should sell their product to restaurants or to ice-cream parlours.
In the end, King Corp desperately tried to sell their ice-cream to several vendors and night clubs. Kum Hong kept getting in everyone’s way, asking what he should do while the others were busy trying to get the buyers to purchase their ice-cream.
The buzz created by the street performance along Orchard Road drew a big crowd and they were the enticed by the free give-away tickets to Brazil. Farahain observed from a distance, smiling to herself as the women got busy serving ice-cream to customers.
David came to the suite to check on the men and found them a mess. Thoroughly disgusted, he left saying, “They don’t know what they’re doing, Conquest will win.”
The next day, the teams entered the boardroom, anxious to see which team had succeeded in their first task. After the TTC had entered, he inquired of his advisors how each team had done. Farahain reported that Conquest had made a record $350.20 while David said that King had a meager $100.00. The winners were the women of Conquest. As their reward, the TTC announced that they would be dining with him at Les Amis, an exclusive restaurant. King Corp however, would meet him in the boardroom where someone would be fired.
As the impending boardroom session drew near, the members of King Corp became antsy. They wondered what would happen in the boardroom. How would they be fired?
As they entered the boardroom, the TTC commented on their work ethic, calling them “Lousy”. James tried to defend himself, saying that Kum Hong needed adult supervision as he was a nuisance. This Kum Hong denied, but failed to give any evidence. When TTC asked who James would fire, he said Kum Hong and Kum Hong said James. He then asked James to select two people to return to the boardroom. James chose Kum Hong and Shi Hao. Ben, Beng Loong, Antonius, Stephen, Jin Hui and Yen Hao were safe.
TTC, alone with his advisors, reviewed the candidate’s performance. Farahain said that Kum Hong obviously agitated everyone. David said that Kum Hong obviously couldn’t work with his team mates. Finally, the TTC called in the remaining three back into the boardroom.
James reiterated that he tried to lead the team, but the were just too disorganized. TTC called him a lousy leader. James suddenly agreed with him. He then asked why James brought Shi Hao into the boardroom and the story of the conflict then surfaced. But Shi Hao stated that it was James who made the decision in the end. James shot back that he was the one who suggested selling it to bars and night clubs as a novelty item.
TTC called James a lousy leader again. Turning to Shi Hao, he told him that he should make wise decisions. Finally, he turned to Kum Hong and told him that he caused friction and was a drag to the team. With that, he said to Kum Hong, “You’re fired!”
Apprentice Ghim Moh
Host: Mr. Tan Tiong Chuan
“Carolyn”: Mrs. Farahain Aidil
“George”: Mr. David Sim
Candidates:
King Corporation
- Antonius
- Ben
- Beng Loong
- James
- Jin Hui
- Kum Hong
- Shi Hao
- Stephen
- Yen Hao
Conquest Corporation
- Carol
- Debbie
- Esther
- Kimberly
- Sharmaine
- Shu Hui
- Syaza
- Yessita
- Victoria
Contestant Images
Carol (The far left) [Conquest]
Kimberly (Middle) [Conquest]
Sharmaine [Conquest]
Yessita [Conquest]
Stephen [King]
Debbie [Conquest]
Syaza [Conquest]
“Carolyn”: Mrs. Farahain Aidil
“George”: Mr. David Sim
Candidates:
King Corporation
- Antonius
- Ben
- Beng Loong
- James
- Jin Hui
- Kum Hong
- Shi Hao
- Stephen
- Yen Hao
Conquest Corporation
- Carol
- Debbie
- Esther
- Kimberly
- Sharmaine
- Shu Hui
- Syaza
- Yessita
- Victoria
Contestant Images
Carol (The far left) [Conquest]
Kimberly (Middle) [Conquest]
Sharmaine [Conquest]
Victoria [Conquest]
Yessita [Conquest]
Stephen [King]
Debbie [Conquest]
Syaza [Conquest]
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