 For his reward, Isaac gets a brand new car and lucrative corporate job with befitting perks and annual salary of $200,000. Isaac went into the finals with Eunice Omole, a Nigerian born American.
Isaac’s performance on the show was remarkable. He was very calculated, articulate and a great team player. Isaac led his team as Project Manager on four occasions and won three.
The Ghanaian-born, father of one, was perceived as a quiet but very intelligent young man. He was often described as being reserved even though his ideas were acknowledged as the best the show has ever witnessed.
Many who watched episode 17, the last before the finals, noticed that both Paul Olaleye and Mimi Fatudo were unanimous in their advice to the CEO that, Isaac was the right candidate to be the apprentice.
Paul said the last man standing was a total package.
“For Isaac, I’ve seen him come through from the back; he was responsible for most of the wins in Zulu Corporation in the early days. He is the wholesome apprentice, he’s won three tasks,” he said.
Mimi also said, “In Isaac I see a quiet achiever with guts and passion to win, he’s a very strong project manager – he’s won three tasks”. About Eunice, she said, “she has not been consistent in terms of wins – even as a team player, she hasn’t given her best in some task”.
Mr. Biodun Shobanjo however made it clear that the final decision was his to make.
On the final show, Isaac realizing that the only weakness mentioned about him during the interview stage of the competition was that he was laidback seized the first opportunity to do damage control by debunking that perception.
He mentioned how he had always stepped forward to take up leadership positions, an indication that he was not laidback. As he puts it, “I am rather tactfully aggressive”.
His damage control paid off as both Paul and Mr. Biodun Shobanjo accepted his assertion that his perceived laidback nature was rather strength.
The CEO in his final remarks mentioned that, Ghanaians in general had a calmer way of approaching issues and that he would not use the Nigerian aggressive approach as a yardstick in choosing his apprentice.
Just as the two advisors who seemed to prefer Isaac, most of the contestants rooted for the Ghanaian.
They admired his leadership skills, creativity and passion. They believed he was a good team player.
Most viewers of the show across Africa also preferred Isaac to Eunice as a question posed on the show’s website as to who would emerge the winner showed an overwhelming majority supporting the Ghanaian.
The other finalist, Eunice Omole, who is a Nigerian born American, was touted throughout the show as an aggressive young lady, who had her eyes on winning and willing to go to any length to get that. She was also known to be strong willed and had great presentation skills. However, she set her eyes on the ultimate goal, forgetting those goals could only be achieved with other people.
Isaac who addressed the media and other dignitaries after winning at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra on Monday during a reception held on his behalf by Bank PHB, the organizers of the show, in candidness stated that the show was really a tough one which needed God’s intervention and strategy to sail through.
He called on African leader to instill a motivational spirit in the youth to help ensure continental development. “African youth can achieve a lot if they are given the right motivation buy their leaders at all levels”, he stressed.
He said the experience in working together with people from different backgrounds to execute a task in just 24 hours under cling constraint takes a lot of humility and self-denial to be able to succeed.
According to him there are a lot of inefficiencies in Africa just because people are not being motivated in a manner that will encourage them to sacrifice their lives for their motherland. Isaac stressed on the importance for Africans to maintain proper people management, a hallmark that would promote better relationship and understanding and between employers and employees achieve to setup goals.
Dilating on the role of the African youth, he said they are the future of the continent and therefore needed to be very innovative, creative and must respect success since these are core to development. Isaac Dankyi-Koranteng is a product of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology where he obtained a BA in Publishing Studies in 2001.
He was the Unity Hall President and later became the Coordinating Secretary of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS). He holds an MBA from Wuhan University of Technologies in China in 2005.
Until now, Isaac was a Customer Account Manager for Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, a Chinese Multi-National Telecom Vendor. Isaac is married with a son.
Congratulations for making Ghana proud and we wish you all the best in your challenging job.
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