Just one opportunity is all it takes to make the world of a difference. One opportunity when seized is what will differentiate a successful man from a failure. That is one timeless lesson and many more which I picked from a classic lecture titled “OPEN OPPORTUNITIES” delivered in Abeokuta by Mr. Goodie M. Ibru, founder of Ikeja Hotel Plc and past President Nigerian Stock Exchange (1997-2000) to the 39th Rotary District 9110 Conference. A monumental speech that received a standing ovation as it touched on the essence of seeing an opportunity, seizing it and creating an opportunity where none exists.
Citing personal life examples, Mr. Ibru said: “There is something called ‘opportunity by chance’—sometimes, this is inexplicable, but it happens. One of the greatest opportunities that came my way happened by chance or sheer luck. This is the epic story of how I sat next to an IFC official in the plane on board to Lagos…the story of how Sheraton Lagos was funded and birthed.”
A former President of the Rotary Club of Lagos, Mr. Goodie Ibru told the Rotarians that “being a Rotarian has been a defining and fulfilling experience in our evolution in our diverse areas of calling. We are all grateful for the opportunity to learn a fundamental lesson of life, which is that service to God and humanity is the very essence of life; and that the best measure of success is the number of lives each one of us will touch in our lifetime.”
From there, the lecture flew off on the wings of opportunity to look at the concept of opportunity from its multidimensional perspectives. It had everything and every authority including William Shakespeare who said: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.” Then there is this dire warning on global warming and the opportunity to save the world from extinction.
“No meaningful progress can be made without the benefit of at least one opportunity,” Mr. Ibru told his rapt Rotarian audience. “Success, therefore, is a product of opportunities—at the personal, group, community, corporate (enterprise) or national level. Yet, a particular opportunity could be for the globe as a whole or for the entire humanity. A good example in this regard is the issue of climate change: Scientists warn that global warming will likely rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels between 2030 and 2052. If warming continues to rise at the current rate, planet earth will become uninhabitable for humanity in the next 30 years. As such, the challenge we have as a globe is how to cut down emissions, pollutions and greenhouse gases by 2052. If we are able to seize this opportunity and limit global warming to below 2 degrees Centigrade by 2052, carbon dioxide emissions should decline by 25 per cent and by 100 per cent by 2075. This will require hard choices and hard work, but the inevitable option we have if we miss that opportunity, according to scientists, is human extinction! The good news however is that there is a host of opportunities attached for taking the path of reducing global warming.”
“Talking about opportunities could be broad,” he continued. “I have therefore decided to make it targeted by highlighting specific lessons I have learned in the course of my sojourn here on earth and particularly in the almost six decades of my experience in business, most of that as a Rotarian. One lesson in this regard is that opportunities are time-bound. Opportunities do have expiry date by which they must be seized, after which that opportunity is considered ‘lost.’ Does that mean that there are no second chances? After all, there is a saying that ‘what will be yours will be yours.’ The Yorubas actually have an adage that ‘omi ti eniyan maa mu ko ni san koja e.’ literally translated to mean that ‘the water that you will drink in a brook will not pass you by.’ That could be true, but the realist in me will rather be pragmatic and hold on to any opportunity as if ‘there is no second chance.’ My advice, if I could give one is: seize any opportunity that comes your way with both hands: hold on to it as if your life depends on it—but if a second chance comes, see it as a bonus! The culprits responsible for unexploited opportunities range from laziness, the failure of imagination, the fear of failure, to perfectionism and a host of others, including indecision, which has been described as ‘the thief of opportunity’.
“Another lesson I have learnt is that there is no reference book where a list of opportunities is written. Such a manual does not exist. In many instances, you will have to use your discerning mind or power of ‘intuition’ to identify a particular opportunity at a point in time. A corollary to this is that sometimes, opportunities do disguise themselves as challenges. So your chance in seizing that opportunity lies in your ability to take on the ‘supposed challenge’.
“The Chinese symbol for opportunity is the same as the one for danger; meaning that one side of the coin depicts opportunity, while the flip side shows danger or challenge. Again, a discerning mind is needed to identify the opportunity hidden in the ‘danger.’ In confronting dangers, one attribute needed is courage—this is actually essential in every phase of the journey of life. A combination of discernment and courage is a useful tool for effectively identifying and taking advantage of opportunities.
“Opportunities could present themselves in diverse ways and circumstances. In whatever way it happens, be prepared for it, for as the saying goes, success is when opportunity meets preparation. We all need opportunities in whatever we do, but that opportunity can be meaningless or remain merely a ‘wish’, if we do not prepare adequately for it. The message here, just like the motto of the Boys Scout is ‘BE PREPARED’. The story of a fully-fledged hotel in the heart of Ikoyi in Lagos comes to mind.
“Opportunity sometimes comes from personal intuition. A personal story will surface here in my interactions and business transactions with the late Dr. Hamzad Sayyad, then Head of the Technical Committee on Privatization and Commercialization (TCPC), in negotiating the acquisition of the Federal Palace Hotel, and how the question of the appropriate currency for the transaction was handled.
“The activation of new industries brings about opportunities. Most times, when a new industry is created, or when an existing industry is enlarged, that comes with a floodgate of opportunities. Take a look at the coming of the mobile telephone industry in Nigeria in 2001. Before then, the total number of telephone lines in Nigeria was under four hundred thousand. Today, that number has increased astronomically to almost 170 million, making Nigeria the fastest growing mobile market in the world, accompanied with an ever expanding range of business opportunity(ies) in Internet, Fintech, online music, video and event streaming, among others. That’s the amazing power of opportunities, unlocked by a single government policy of licensing mobile telephone operations. Government policies drive opportunities.
“I like creating my own opportunities. Of all sources of opportunities, the best is the one you create yourself—simply because you are in charge, you created it, you designed it, and you own it. Opportunities created in this regard, tend to be long lasting.” (This is an abridged version of the keynote address).