[EPE Principle] Enter, Perform, Exit: Understanding The Opportunity Cycle

By Azeez Amida

Only a tree grows on one spot. You are not a tree. You are human. You were designed to move. From one stage to the other. One phase to another. From time, humans have gone through various stages. Making exploits and reaching new heights. All driven by an opportunity. Opportunity to fill a need.

Amida delves into the lifecycle of opportunit

• Language: English
• Publisher: Audax Publishing
• Release date: Sep 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781778244711

Azeez Amida

Azeez Amida is a Nigerian business executive working globally to support career professionals, entrepreneurs and corporate brands with cutting-edge growth strategies. As an under-40 CEO, Amida has over 19 years of professional experience cutting across four countries and 12 industries, including Telecommunications, FMCG, Healthcare, Investment Banking, Private Equity, and Financial Advisory.He is currently the CEO of Pan-African Towers Limited, Nigeria's third-largest Tower Infrastructure Provider. Before that, he was the CEO of IHS Rwanda, one of Rwanda's largest companies. He led the company to become the fastest-growing operations in 13 markets and structured deals to guarantee a 3-year worth of double-digit growth. Before being promoted to CEO, Amida oversaw the FP&A function of IHS Nigeria for six years. He led the team that raised over $3 billion in the financing, including the largest Sub-Saharan Africa Bond issuance in history. His team also won the forecast accuracy award for excellence across IHS Group for a 6-year streak in budget forecast accuracy.He also consulted as the Chief Growth and Operations Officer for Merit Telecoms in Nigeria, where he helped structure a $ 20 million transaction currently being concluded.Azeez Amida is a graduate of Economics, an alumnus of the IE Business School, Spain, and a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

Book preview

PRAISE FOR EPE PRINCIPLE

In EPE Principle: understanding the opportunity cycle, Azeez Amida delves into the lifecycle of any opportunity. As I read through the book, I couldn’t help but think back on how much of the principles stated here I have personally applied throughout my career and opportunities. This is a book that everyone must have, and I will preach these principles to both my team in South Sudan Basketball National Team and all of my partners and employees. EPE Principle is a real-time masterclass in business, career, and life. The book is an inspiring page-turner that captures the reality of grit, grace and resilience that is much needed for consistent success in today’s world. Whether you’re just starting out or already accomplished, this book is a practical and relatable tool that will equip and inspire you to navigate your life and career from a fresh perspective.

Luol Deng 2-time NBA All Star

Editing this book has transformed how I think about opportunities. The book is deliberately practical and honest. It takes you through a journey and gives you opportunities to apply the principles and examples to your own experiences. I have not only enjoyed the journey of editing this book, but I have been thoroughly educated and influenced to make some powerful choices in my own life. Thank you Azeez for writing this very important book.

Kolade Arogundade UCT, South Africa

Dedication

To my daughter, Alana, for the joy you bring to my heart every time you smile.

To my wife, Ojini, for always being there. You make me feel like I own the world.

To my late father, Monsuru (aka No Danger), and my mother, Jarinyatu, for raising a fighter.

To all the Amidas for holding that torch high across the globe.

Acknowledgements

It has taken me 20 years to get here. To write something people can read. I did it. The more I read the words the more it feels like I am on the moon. I am indeed grateful to everyone who did not give up on me. Most importantly my family; my amazing wife, Ojini and my daughter, Alana, the two queens of my heart and life. The ones I live for. I cannot thank you both enough for allowing me to be myself, for enduring my imperfections and for being there no matter what.

To my late father, I cannot say how much I wish you were here to see me be an author. We spoke about this many times and you always assured me I would do it someday. I remember being such a difficult son, but you never gave up on me. I was so rebellious, but your arms were always open for me to slide back into. Thank you so much and rest on lion…Monsuru Ademola (alias No Danger).

To my mother, Jarinyatu Olufunmilayo Amida. The one and only. I will never be able to thank you enough. You mean the world to me and thank you for always making my problems yours in spite of your problems. I wish I could pay you back enough for all you do. You can be rest assured however, I will have your back forever. Thank you so much, mum.

To my brothers and sisters, Wole, Nasiru, Aminat, Kunle, Monsurat and Taiye (Teerex), thank you for everything. You are my rock and my buddies. The bond we share will continue to grow to no limits. To Hon. Justice Onyeabo, I thank you for your resilience and for being a fighter. Thank you for all you do, be rest assured they are never taken for granted. To the Ferreiras, I love you all to the moon and back. Thank you for being there through thick and thin. I appreciate you all.

The dream to write dates far back to 1998 when I met the first family, I ever knew to have normal conversation in English, the Opes. Before then, I had been paying the fines for speaking vernacular in High School. Sometimes, I paid the fines with my lunch money. Some days, we swept the assembly ground or cleaned the science laboratory instead of the fines. The day I met the Opes was the last day I paid the fine. Thank you for saving me all those fines. You introduced me to the world I now feed from and the passion I now explore. For that, I will never forget and will remain grateful.

To Mohamad Darwish, there are not many with a heart as large as yours. You allowed me to learn and you gave me the opportunity to be the best of myself. Thank you for all your continuous mentorship.

To my editorial team – Kolade and Emma Arogundade and Dámilọlá Ògúnmúkò. I cannot say how much I appreciate you all for your input. Much more the patience and time you took to go through every letter of this book. I cannot in words communicate how much your input means to me.

A big thanks to John Obaro for being an amazing role model and mentor. Gbolahan Abe, the merchant that visited the new-born in the manger. I will never forget your long-suffering and sleepless nights. To my A-Zone family… I will always have your back and thank you for having mine.

Foreword

When I first heard of the EPE principle, something about it stuck. I could not help wondering how a principle borne out of three fundamental words - E nter, P erform, E xit - would align with a town as symbolic as Epe in Lagos State. After reading the book, the reason why it stuck became clear. They are the principles of the many journeys we all must continually go through to get to where we are going, just as Epe is a town at the juncture of multiple journey routes in Southern Nigeria.

There are only a few books in this age and across the globe that encourage a new way of thinking. The EPE principle does. It introduces a new way of thinking about opportunities. The principle brings to life the basic steps that all must take when aspiring to lead organisations in today’s world. Many people have either given up on their aspirations or allowed themselves settle for less. This book will wake you up. It lays emphasis on the fundamental principles that every successful person has gone through at one time or the other. This EPE principle will open your eyes to a side of success that you had probably assumed to be borne out of luck.

What makes the EPE principle even more unique is the fact that it is a way of thinking that applies to any kind of opportunity. Be it jobs, projects, or businesses. It takes you through the opportunity cycle and identifies key Highstones that you must adopt to see your opportunities through. This is a book that should have been written many years ago. It is not just motivational. It is factual and based on research into how people and opportunities work. Much more, it is written by someone who has been in the trenches.

If you have ever met, worked, or talked with Amida, you will not expect anything short of excellence from him. He has brought his boardroom knowledge across multiple countries and cultures to the pages of this book and has been able to explain his thoughts in a manner that anyone would be able to relate and understand. His knowledge of how corporate systems work is one that everyone reading this book should aspire to grasp. It shows you how you are a product of your commitments and that all things in life must end once the purpose is fulfilled. This book will make you rethink how you approach opportunities.

EPE principle takes you from a journey through the self, to the battleground of dealing with people and building legacies, to a final point of exit. It sheds light on the true factors that separates the exceptional from everything else. If you are one that is looking to just read and store up in your library, you may need to rethink your approach. This book is full of practical advice that you can easily apply to your day-to-day life. The best way to benefit from it is to apply the methods learnt from here and see how much impact the knowledge and the inevitable change that comes with it will have on you.

If you are looking to understand how opportunities work; how entry and re-entry is an opportunity loop that you must enter if you are to maximise your opportunities, you should read this book. It will show you angles that you might have been missing for many years and help you realign yourself and actions to the stage of your opportunities. Much more, it will leave you with a thought process that empowers you to grasp the growth of your opportunity and run with it to your desired heights.

John Obaro, Entrepreneur and GCEO, SystemSpecs.

I discovered that a fresh start is a process. A fresh start is a journey - a journey that requires a plan.

Vivian Jokotade

Ten years ago, my salary was less than thirty dollars. By using the principles in this book, I made it to being the CEO of multimillion-dollar companies.

Introduction

As of the time of writing this book, I have started three businesses based on amazing and ground-breaking ideas. I failed at all of them. At first, it was a thing of shame to fail at this because of people’s perception of me. I have always been described as smart. Hence, it was devastating to come to the realisation of failing at starting up three businesses. I reflected on why I failed. I learnt from them. I exited the opportunities and focused on finding the next one. It was in that process that I found my niche. My life never remained the same. I found a new line of business. I am the person to help individuals build their dreams. My product is growth.

Ten years ago, my monthly salary was less than thirty dollars in current value. I was an analyst in a small firm in Mushin, Lagos with a dream and an understanding that I had a long journey ahead of me. By using the principles discussed in this book and identifying, understanding, and aligning myself to my Highstones, I made it to being the CEO of a multimillion-dollar company.

I grew up in Egbeda, a densely populated low-income suburb in Alimosho Local government of Lagos. Our idea of prosperity while growing up was only as far as having a television set, three meals a day and a roof to lay our heads. Our view of success was very well capped to what we saw in the little Indian films we could watch at the house of the only neighbour who owned a cable TV. However, our parents prioritised our education. Whatever the cost to them, they ensured we were educated. I remember walking to school barefoot or with torn school shorts before my tailor mother could patch it up. I owned only one school uniform which I wore five days a week. We got an education despite our circumstances. We did our homework by the light of kerosene lanterns or by the illumination of cooking flames fuelled by wood or sawdust.

There were many young adults around us who had jobs, but only a few were making it out of Alimosho back then. Most continued to live with their parents or got tiny apartments somewhere in the same neighbourhood. The ones who had any extra money spent it frivolously trying to impress the rest of us. Even then we looked up to them and admired and aspired to be like them.

The first time I ventured out of Alimosho, it felt like being in Star Wars the movie, even though I did not know what Star Wars was at that time. What I saw was beyond the images and stories older kids told us when they went out and returned, boasting of their experiences. I saw high-rise buildings that were beyond my comprehension. The first thought on my mind and the resulting question to my friends was ‘could all these buildings and cars belong to mere mortals like us?’. Prior to that day, leaving Alimosho was either in the back of my father’s pickup truck alongside the rams on our way to Ijebu (my father’s hometown in Ogun State, Nigeria) for the Eid (Muslim) festival, or while sick and being transported to Alagomeji hospital in Yaba, Lagos.

Other experiences come to mind about the ways in which the world outside Alimosho is vastly different from what I was used to. The first is when I had to go outside of Alimosho (in fact Lagos) on my own. I was to go to Ogun State to try to get a place at the university. Most kids my age would have jumped on such an exciting opportunity. I was terrified. It was like I was being sent into an abyss. First was the long journey. The stench of the bus conductor that infused the interior of the 1982 Mitsubishi bus, his bent knees and mine almost touching. It was a two-hour drive to Ago Iwoye where the university was located. The space I would spend the next five to six years as a student.

Another time I was out of Alimosho was when I had to travel out of Nigeria to Ghana, my first step out of my home country. Again, I was on a bus, with a ticket paid for by my brother from his first-in-the-family white-collar job at KPMG. We had gotten to the ‘Young Shall Grow’ bus station as early as 5am but we would not get into the bus until 7am. We were on a long journey to write the Chartered Financial Analyst exams, again paid for by my brother. I was only meant to read and show up. I showed up.

Those two days were the first times I really understood the plight of those men who thought the world was flat. It was not that they did not want to believe in the roundness of the earth. It was that they could not comprehend anything beyond what they saw or knew. I was amazed by how much existed outside Alimosho. I was impressed and challenged. I kept asking what it took for people to be able to do this. If you had asked me then, I would have told you that ‘the terminators built them’. Or tell you ‘they all stole government money’. Or ‘they got lucky’. Or even ‘they were sons of people who were blessed from heaven to be rich’. There were all sorts of responses except for the right one. All excuses. Excuses men and women who lived in those parts of the world gave themselves for ages.

I returned to Egbeda with a heavy and challenged heart. I was this kid that had been shown a new life. The kid that wanted that new life. No one could tell me how to get it. Everyone I met was either also searching or had told themselves it was impossible to get. There was not much to go with. There was no precedence, at least not in my own circle. My late father would talk about his friends, but none was accessible. He never stopped saying it was possible to get out. Afterall, he had made it from the village of Isiwo in Ijebu, Ogun State, with little or no education to being an insurance manager in Lagos. ‘Work hard,’ he would say, ‘and the rest will fix itself.’

I wanted answers.

I searched. I read books. Motivational books. I was motivated but did nothing. Spiritual books too. But the hunger in my spirit was not satisfied.

I stumbled on a photocopied version of Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography as I continued searching for answers. It took a long time to come to terms with the fact that a man had written such a phenomenal book. However, it had answers to a lot of questions I was burdened with. It was real and packed with what I never thought was possible. I recall burying myself in that spiral bound book for two straight days. It was then I understood that it was possible to do something much bigger than I had ever thought was possible.

It was on that day that I made myself a promise to be exceptional and work my way up the ladder of success. I was committed to doing it right and for many years I would stick my head in books. Learning new skills. Testing new theories and waiting for my big break. It was along my journey, questioning everything, striving to do everything better, that I found the Highstones. I found the opportunity cycle. I found the key to growth. I have applied this across multiple areas of my life. They have worked. I have taken people through the same path. It has worked for them. I would like to show you the same. They will work for you too – if you apply them.

The representations in this book are the ones I have learnt both from my failures and my successes. From my disappointments and excitements. The principles here are the ones that led a boy from Egbeda to one of the most senior executive positions of the largest independent telecommunication infrastructure company in the world. To the CEO of a multimillion-dollar company.

I am not an entrepreneur. I am a growthpreneur. And to help understand this, I present to you the EPE Principle - understanding the opportunity cycle.

EPE Principle

Epe is a town and Local Government Area (LGA) in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is located on the north side of the Lekki Lagoon, about 90km from Ibadan and is known for its fish trade. When you drive into Epe town, the first attraction is a statue of two fishes, swimming yet static. The main feature of importance is that the town has become a central transit point to everywhere else in Southwest Nigeria. Like Epe town, the EPE (Enter, Perform, Exit) principle is a three-act conduit through which every opportunity must pass. The principle aims to lay the foundation for a new chain of thoughts in career building or goal setting in general. It shows that no goal is fully set without the three-act conduit. It is not enough to fully identify a need or seek an opportunity. It is important to maximise and fulfil the purpose of that opportunity and when done, exit.

Figure 1: The EPE Cycle

As humans, we evolve. So do our opportunities. The EPE principle takes you on a journey through the process of constant re-entry into opportunities. In any opportunity you find yourself, if the exit is not clear, you are only wandering. The EPE principle is meant to help you understand the facts and phases of every opportunity. Much more, it helps you understand