Execution: Sets in the West
Chapter 4
April 2015: My first day in the HQ office, Kay the diesel manager saw me and told me; “why did you leave the field to take up a lame man’s job here”. The reason he said that was because working on the field itself was a side business. For example, a site that is supposed to get 1100L of diesel gets slashed to 1000L by the diesel manager, but the site ends up being supplied with 700L by the team-lead (and this is done across multiple sites). The customer rep and the regional admin then ask for about 90L each. The team support accompanied by the driver secretly goes behind and takes his own 120L. The driver goes behind the team support to take his 60L. The security guard on site sees all these and decides to take his own 60L. At the end, the site ends up getting just around 350L. It was a cartel! Kay was surprised why I would leave all that behind to take on a role that will take me off that ‘business’. But it was easy for me because I did not try to participate at all in the first place.
My new role involved me reporting directly to Mr Tony and then supporting the technical manager; Ibk. I was able to hit the ground running because I had experience working both on the field and in the office. I quickly introduced the black oil strategy and supported in breaking the cartel in Lagos. I further sharpened my managerial experience working closely with Tony, he was like my hero! Initially I was clashing with Ibk but we later got along when I learnt how to better manage the relationship. She would later give an introduction for my next job and also introduce me to how to go about my PMP certification — the two events that forever changed my life.
The Winding down
Just before getting to Lagos, we had heard that IHS Towers was going to take over site management from the numerous service contractors (including Petrolseal) and give it to just five companies; they called them “The Big 5”! Everyone’s dream was to work for the big 5, it was my dream too. Especially when my company started owing us up to 3 months salary. By then I was already in a relationship with Ati; a lady I met in my OAU days. When I told this lady how much my salary was and the fact that it was not regular and that I could even lose the job any moment, I was expecting her to just slightly withdraw (like some 2 other ladies did), but she said something; “the fact that you’re earning less than 60k today does not mean you can’t start earning x3 in just 2 months” At a point, they eventually paid 2 months salary at once and my GF supported the idea that I should use everything to go for the project management training. I did. The Tony boys concluded that I was mad; “do you know when the next salary will come?”. In September 2015, they paid another two months salary and my ‘crazy’ girlfriend encouraged me to use everything again to register for the PMP exam. It did not make sense to me, but I did.
We started hearing rumors that Petrolseal would be out of business by November 2015. Well, I finally landed an interview for a field engineer role at one of the big 5 companies and I did so well that the HR head recommended me for a Regional Supervisor (RS) role. The final stage was with the Regional Manager (Mr BJ) and I got all the questions he asked except one; about the Automatic Transfer Switch. Mr BJ concluded that I wasn’t fit for the RS role, but would however take me for a field engineer role in the North. I told him I would get back to him on that. Eventually, I declined the offer. How would this article have been? “The Son sets in the North”? No!
I had no salary but I kept showing integrity with my work and actions. In fact, when Ibk was going on leave and asked if I could step in for her, I agreed. The day she took me to IHS Towers to introduce me to the team she reports to there was the day I met Mr Alao. Mr Alao happened to be recruiting for project coordinators that would work with him to manage the biggest project the company took on at that time, in fact, the biggest in Africa! A multi-million dollar project to deploy green energy solutions to about 10,000 sites (Solar panels, Hybrid Battery Systems, DC generators etc). Ibk did the introduction and Mr Alao and I had a chat — he asked for what I knew about solar, and luckily for me, that was what my OAU final year project was on. I wasn’t sure I was going to be eventually selected, knowing I had just 2 years experience and I wasn’t looking the part. On my way home that day, I remember walking round the office buildings; speaking in tongues and declaring that “I possess this land in Jesus name”. Of course, I did not make it obvious to anyone!
The finals
Around mid-November, It was time for the final interview with the asst. HR director and Riad, the Project Director. I had previously done an interview with Mr Alao and an HR manager. we were about 15 candidates in the room, and I was super intimidated. I saw guys with 5 page cvs, people were well dressed in suits, walked confidently, looked well experienced, some seemed to even know a lot of IHS staff…..I was on a blue jeans and an over-worn stripe shirt and fake converse shoes. I scanned through the entire room and I could tell that I was the youngest and most inexperienced. Eventually it was my turn, I was the second to the last candidate to interview. I walked into the room and was sort of shaking at first but stabilized later. I was asked different questions which I answered in the best way I could. Then Riad asked for how many sites I had managed at once. I said “250 sites”. Then he brought out his calculator and did “14,000 divided by 250” and told me that would be the extra capacity I would need to be effective in the role. I told him about my Aba experience; how it wasn’t just sites I was handling but also the warehouse, fleet, maintenance, finance etc. He smiled while I was saying all this.
I was done with the interview and on my way out I turned back and mentioned that I was also going to be PMP certified in 2 weeks’ time. He looked interested and asked me why I was doing PMP. And I went on and on with how I wanted to understand project management tools and processes better, and be a global project leader that would be an authority in the field. He seemed impressed and I finally left and did not turn back to mention anything else this time. LOL. I had several sleepless nights and nightmares of walking round the street of Lagos looking for a job. Few days later, IHS HR manager called me to come for my offer letter. It was exactly around x3 of my previous salary like my GF once mentioned. It was another confirmation for me that I had to marry her. I later learnt that I was selected because I showed grit and hunger. Everything was beginning to make sense, I was moving closer to my dream.
I dropped my resignation letter at Petrolseal with 1 week of notice. Mr Tony was very proud of me and he wished me well. Ibk had dropped her letter few days before me, she had gotten a managerial role at IHS. And just when the one week notice elapsed, I heard Petrolseal was out of the telecoms business and the employees lost their jobs. I was sad for some of the ‘Tony boys’ that had not yet gotten another job. However, I was super grateful the IHS job came right on time for me. I was excited about the prospect of working on a multi million dollar large scale project. My resumption date was going to be 7th December 2015. I was ready to take on IHS; I did it in Petrolseal, I would do it in IHS too. I was ready for the new dispensation.
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