The Sponsor

Fred

The first thing the newly minted CEO did was dip his hand into the company reserve and take out every last coin meant to pay bonuses and buffer cash-flows to buy two Ferraris. When his mom asked why he bought two? He said, just in-case one broke down. The roads were riddled with potholes, he added. 

The next thing he did was revise his salary. Kitana had reduced his interim CEO salary from three million to two hundred and fifty thousand. "Why I'm I being paid like a peasant?" Fred had asked the CFO. "Kitana had seen it prudent to..." He did not allow him to finish. "Jesus how long till I'm the laughing stock of the industry. I want this revised to ten million with bonuses."

The third thing he did was fuel the Gulfstream 650 and fly to the white-sand Resort. There he purchased a yacht for no less than twenty million, another five million went into paying the crew and buy lavish gifts for the girls on board. He spent two weeks on the cruise. When he came back and his mom raised alarm. "The boss has a lot on his plate, he needs to relax," he had said. 

It was not long before Mama Wairimu joined him in the madness, taking the monthly fifty million meant to pay salaries to put a down payment on an ice cream parlour business that was dead in the water and another down payment on a boutique that had gone belly up.

She had also gotten herself a freeloader. A young man of twenty-six who she installed in a lavish apartment in UpperHill. She styled him Managing Director, they were often seen driving around in a spanking new Rolls Royce.

It was not long before Commercial Bank of Africa withdrew their contract. It wasn't long before cash-flow problems hit fever-pitch and the turnover shot to the roof. When the board asked for answers, the newly minted CEO shrugged and asked how that was his problem?