05.01.24 Part 8 of Gossip at JuaLink Media Agency

The ‘Downsizing’ Saga as JuaLink’s Business Takes a Plunge

Faced by severe financial doldrums, the board proposed to downsize the workforce so that JuaLink stays afloat, but agreed to keep the information confidential until the implementation plan had been approved. However, right in that meeting, Obed sent a WhatsApp message tipping Lulu about the looming ‘downsizing threat’; adding that there was no alarm since their relatives, Njia and Yubu, would have the two officers cum relatives, Obed and Lulu, covered, if the worst came to the worst.

That very afternoon, Lulu leaked the news at the lunch hour fellowship, as a hot prayer point. “Please, this is top secret...; so, keep it to yourselves”, she had cautioned. However, one of the people to be shocked was Sarah, who despite staying mum about the ‘hot news’, later discovered that the information had been spilt in every corridor, by the very Lulu and her fellow prayer partners. In no time, the visibly alarmed employees were purporting that JuaLink had been sold to foreigners who were about to jet in with their own staff. Surprisingly, as tension hiked and people’s morale plummeted, no one dared approach the management team for explanations. Rather, the best employees defected to Bidacom Africa Media while those who had nowhere to go developed ulcers, hypertension and other stress-related ailments, with several requesting for ‘excuse from duty’ as they were unwell!

The month that followed, the board approved the downsizing exercise; and Obed begrudgingly made sure that Neema was amongst the first employees to go.

However, despite the ‘downsizing strategy’, JuaLink’s business continued to take a nosedive. Eventually, the unhappy shareholders had no option but to dissolve the old board of directors and elect a new one; while forcing the managing director, Njia, to resign.