Azeez Amida: Working Globally to Support Career Professionals, Brands, Entrepreneurs

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 18 years of professional experience cutting across four countries and 12 industries including Telecommunications, FMCG, Healthcare, Investment Banking, Private equity, financial advisory among others. Until recently, he was the CEO of IHS Rwanda where he led the company to become the fastest-growing operations in 13 markets and structured deals to guarantee a three-year worth of double-digit growth. Although he currently consults for multiple companies including acting as a consulting Chief Growth and Operations Officer for Merit Telecoms in Nigeria, he is the author of the soon-to-released book, EPE Principle: understanding the opportunity cycle. In this interview with Mary Nnah, thealumnus of the IE Business School, Spain, and a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, shares his drive to impact 

You have had a lot of interesting high-profile roles and you’ve lived and worked in different parts of Africa and other parts of the world. How did you get here? What was the path that led you to where you are now?

The first thing is luck. I always like to emphasise this a lot. A few people took interest in my actions in my career and helped me move up the ladder. It would have been easy for me to just sit here and tell you I worked hard. But that would be an injustice to the thousands of men and women who were my co-workers and also putting in the hours. I got lucky. Sometimes not very lucky and that can be very disappointing.

The second thing is people. I have always been lucky to have a team of people that give 1000 per cent and understand and accept me and my shortcomings. These things seem subtle to say but they matter a lot to your succeeding in any role.

What does success mean to you? What’s your formula for being successful?

Success to me is a personal journey. The important factor is the peace you feel. I am not going to say having money does not necessarily mean success. I have never had super amounts of money so I cannot tell you if riches and wealth are the same. All I can tell you is I have gone from having literally zero naira to my name to having some and the important factor in both situations is the peace I feel. 

To some people having more money just make them happy. For me, making an impact and seeing how what I do impacts the lives of people around me is success and this is the primary driver of my daily stride.

On the formula to success, I always believe there is no formula cast in stone. There are however a few factors that I consider important for me to be successful.

First is understanding yourself and your limitations. I always try not to hire people that are like me. I hire someone that can do something I can’t do. One of my most successful hires were two ladies back in 2015. It was a role that required a lot of numeric strength but she had a lot of administration. 

Everyone would ask me why I hired her and I would say it is because she fills a gap I cannot – administration. These ladies would go into a heavy problem situation, and everyone would come out laughing. I learned so much from them in those many years. If you cannot hire to fill your weakness, you will always have a blindside.

The second is understanding your stakeholders including superiors and peers. I have seen the best ideas in this world get suppressed because egos were bruised. You have to always maintain a sense of humility balanced with the opinions of your superiors and peers. 

By doing this, people will be free to talk and listen to you. This goes a long way. I am not saying you should “suck up” to people. Respect doesn’t require you to do that. Just be respectful and when people have opinions that are better than yours, acknowledge them. You must understand that everyone has an ego. Not just you.

Can you share a turning point moment in your professional career that really made you the leader you are today?

I started working in this company back then almost the same time as the founding CEO, who had been on an MBA before then. At that point, I had no clue what the business is about. It was a new industry and I was just catching up on things. I recall being sent an information request by him and the CTO and I didn’t have it handy. I couldn’t answer the question appropriately and the next email I got from the CEO at midnight was a one-liner: “you are not on top of this job, Amida.”

I gave him a call immediately. He was shocked that I was still awake at midnight, much more, than I was calling him at that time. We spent the next five minutes talking and as scared as I was, I recall telling him: “I am good at my job. I got poached to come work for you so you will need to give me some time to catch up. I know how to deliver results but if you don’t allow me to learn, I will be running in futility.” There was a long silence. When he spoke he requested that I meet him in his office the next day.

I got to his office, and he walked me through his dreams for my unit and said to me, I need you to be up to speed in the next two weeks. The rest was history from there.

As a trailblazing growth expert who has helped set up structures and processes that propelled businesses, what have you observed about the startup scene in Africa, especially now?

As a startup, it is important to understand the resources available to you. Most problems that startups run into can be solved by approaching a few professionals for help. I have had to advise friends on strategies without charging a dime. It is because they spoke up. You have to speak up when you are not clear on the way forward. 

Go to forums, ask questions. Sometimes, call friends and ask them if they know anyone that can help, you will be surprised how much help is out there.

Secondly, don’t get carried away with the success. Starting with an idea doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be that idea. Companies change. Many companies have changed. So would yours. You have to understand this and evolve with the world. There is no point holding on to an idea the world has moved away from. And with the way technology is these days, things can change rather quickly. Startups need to understand this.

Finally, it is important to understand the addressable market. Many times, an idea that is meant to fill a need may only have an addressable market of 5million people. If you are still setting a 10x growth when you are at 4million users, you are in for frustration.

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The corporate world has changed a lot in the past few years. CEOs are responding to broader stakeholder demands and speaking up on social and political issues. What does good leadership look like in this multi-stakeholder world?

I always believe beyond all the need to speak out, the important factor is to be sincere and fair. It is easy for anyone to criticize but as a leader, I have seen many times when people judge what they don’t understand. This is not right. It is important for leaders to act as agents of setting records straight by helping others see perspectives they would normally not see.

 There are challenges that someone who hasn’t walked that lonely road of leadership may not be able to see. This is where leaders come in. They need to speak up in a manner that gives direction. Criticism has to come with direction otherwise it’s just another opinion.

The end of the 1^st quarter of 2022 is here, how would you say the year is looking like for you? Any new projects you’re working on that you can share?

I am currently working on a book called EPE Principle: understanding the opportunity cycle. EPE stands for Enter Perform and Exit. It is a book borne out of a decade of research. It showcases the principles I used in moving from Egbeda to being the CEO of a multi-million-dollar company. It is on issues like corporate politics, how to identify opportunities, the role people play in your career and how to make the best of it, and finally, how to know when it’s time to walk away and how to prepare for it. It is scheduled to be launched early second quarter.

I am also putting finishing touches to setting up my foundation focused on helping underprivileged Nigerians with Education, Clean Water, and Health. I am a strong believer in the fact that you don’t have to have it all before you start giving back to society. I grew up in Egbeda and schooled in Ipaja. I have seen many of my friends that were extremely brilliant but didn’t get as lucky as I succumbed to poverty. Some dropped out after secondary school because their parents couldn’t continue to afford their education. 

There are stories out there that go beyond “I used to sleep in my car ten years ago.” Some families don’t even have access to enough space for two people to lay down. That is one of my main missions going forward.

Finally, I am also consulting for several small to medium-sized organisations around structures, growth, and financing. The aim is to start helping start-ups and medium-sized companies understand what it takes to build high-performance organisations.

Quote
“It is easy for anyone to criticize but as a leader, I have seen many times when people judge what they don’t understand. This is not right. It is important for leaders to act as agents of setting records straight by helping others see perspectives they would normally not see”