The Habit Architect
Hosted by Michael Cupps, The Habit Architect is designed to help you intentionally build the habits that lead to success and break free from those that hold you back.
Each episode, Michael guides you through practical strategies for designing focused, productive days that align with your goals and vision. Whether you’re striving for personal growth or professional success, this show will help you create the daily routines and mindset shifts needed to unlock your full potential.
Tune in for expert insights, actionable steps, and real-life examples to transform your habits and build the life you desire—one intentional habit at a time.
The Habit Architect
S02 EP01 Becoming the Dream: From Nigeria to Tech Leader
In the Season 2 premiere of The Habit Architect, host Michael Cupps sits down with Andrew Olowu, CTO of Axxess, to explore the habits, mindset, and personal journey behind his remarkable career.
Born and raised in Nigeria, Andrew shares how an early curiosity about computers led him to the U.S., where he steadily built a path from student to global tech leader. This episode goes beyond career milestones to unpack the quiet discipline and intentional routines that helped him overcome imposter syndrome, navigate cultural change, and lead with purpose.
From growing companies across continents to raising children with intention, Andrew offers grounded wisdom for anyone pursuing meaningful growth, both personally and professionally.
This Show is sponsored by TimeBandit.io
Check out our Live Show Events here: The Habit Architect Live Show
Subscribe to our Newsletter: The Habit Architect Newsletter
Michael Cupps: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Habit Architect. This is Michael Cups and we're now in season two. So, you'll see a few new graphics, a new look and feel but hopefully the same or better content this season as well. You can find us on Spotify, apple Podcast everywhere, YouTube as well, and we go live on LinkedIn and YouTube.
Michael Cupps: So, you can watch the videos there or you can get the sound on other areas which if you could do us a favor and just like us or subscribe or whatever their mechanism is to follow. We would surely appreciate that. And yet, I'd also like to ask you if you are interested in being on the podcast and if you have an interesting story, we'd love to hear from you, just drop it in a DM or let us know a comment or two about what topics you would like us to discuss in the future. So, as we get on with today again, it is sponsored by time Bandit, so go to timebandit.io and check it out. I'm really excited about our guest today because what I really like about the Habit Architect in season one and moving forward in season two is that we have different people from different backgrounds and different outcomes and what we can explore is the journey in which they did that and the lessons they learned through the process.
Michael Cupps: [00:01:00] This guest is one of those I've really enjoyed getting to know he is based here in the Dallas area with me. Andrew is gonna talk a little bit about his journey and his companies and everything else that he's done. Andrew, welcome to the show. How are you?
Andrew Olowu: I'm doing well. Thanks for asking.
Michael Cupps: It's a lovely summer day here in Texas, a little hot, but that's to be expected. I did notice that we haven't even hit a hundred yet this year, so that's incredible.
Andrew Olowu: Just wait.
Michael Cupps: Andrew, why don't we start by just giving an introduction of yourself and who you are and what you do.
Andrew Olowu: Yes. Thank you, Michael. I like to think that I'm an engineer. As you said, my name is Andrew Olowu, the name is from Nigeria. I grew up in Nigeria for most of my life and studied computer engineering.
Andrew Olowu: And it's a funny start. I get to how I got to computer engineering, but I like to think of myself as an engineer turned entrepreneur. From my accent, you can tell I'm from Nigeria. If you didn't know it's in West Africa. [00:02:00] And Nigeria really growing up in the eighties I was privileged really to have Axxess to a computer.
Andrew Olowu: My mom bought a computer for us, and I spent countless hours playing video games on it. This was in the mid to late eighties. And my mom, was really. Forward thinking and it really spurred something in me. It was really seminal for me because I started thinking one day how was this computer created?
Andrew Olowu: Who had the ingenuity to create a computer that keeps me entertained for hours as a kid. And I played this game called Prince of Persian. I'll never forget, and I, hopped around the 2D screen all day. And it just really sparked my interest in computers, and my mind was made, I must have been eight years old when this happened.
Andrew Olowu: And I said, my mind is made. I'm gonna be a computer scientist and computer engineer. You fast forward a few short years after that in the mid-nineties, 95, I had an opportunity to migrate to America. And I focused all my attention and [00:03:00] all my abilities to acquire engineering and computer engineering knowledge.
Andrew Olowu: I took summer programs at Bentley College. I joined the Massachusetts for engineering program, and we built, structural bridges made out of toothpicks, and we did a lot of challenges. I also studied computer science and computer engineering at Northeastern University. So, I did everything to get me to that point. And today I'm the CTO of Axxess. It's a health tech company based in Dallas. We have global offices, over 1200 employees. I also have two companies that I run on the side. It's a tech enablement company in Nigeria as well as a renewable energy company also based in Nigeria.
Andrew Olowu: Among that, I make a lot of investment, so I keep myself busy. Running those companies. But at the moment really just excited to be here with you and talk about some of the topics that I know are very, that you're very passionate about.
Michael Cupps: Thank you so much and what a great story.
Michael Cupps: And especially with the backdrop in the US today with the questions about integration and I saw that they're [00:04:00] talking again about H one in Visas restrictions and things like that. But this is what, when I listen to your story it's the American dream, because not only did you come here and take a huge chance and leave your homeland behind.
Michael Cupps: But now you're employing people, right? You're putting people to work, you're creating more jobs, you're creating that, and it's just the story that I think people need to remember that, when you get rid of the negative news there's actual. Positive stories that help us and help you and help you, what you're doing back with your new investments and so forth.
Michael Cupps: So, it's really exciting. Thank you so much for telling, tell, talking about that. Can you tell us a little bit about, why don't we talk about that coming to America, as a young kid and deciding I know you figured out you wanted to be in computer science, but you took that leap, you got on that plane.
Michael Cupps: Landed, in Boston, which is probably very culturally different, but more importantly, climate difference. So, tell us a little bit about that journey.
Andrew Olowu: Yes. That was an interesting journey. I describe it first as a culture shock, Michael. Getting down from the plane. [00:05:00] I've been on many planes before, but I'd never seen snow before.
Andrew Olowu: And so, coming from Nigeria, very tropical weather and coming out of Boston, Logan Airport, and the first thing I noticed was the dirty snow on the side of the road on the curb. And I was like, whoa, this wasn't what I saw in the movies, like Home Alone. All the movies I watched grew up; it was Powder White Snow.
Andrew Olowu: The first one was really culture shock. Going to learn how America works, going to school here, understanding how the transit system works and just how life works and even just assimilating to the culture, the music all the time. This, we're talking 30 years ago now,
Andrew Olowu: Learning, it was like learning all over again and having that open-mindedness to make new friends and to learn new things and to adjust. And essentially the word we used back then, if I were to recall the word is Americanized. I had to Americanize very quickly. So, at the first layer, it's a culture shock that you have to adjust to.
Andrew Olowu: [00:06:00] And I think the next thing that kicks in is really seeing America for what it is and seeing all the opportunities ahead of you. So, once you adjust, you have to now start to take advantage of so many opportunities. I signed up for everything. I think in high school. I was the captain of the soccer team.
Andrew Olowu: I was the president of French Club. I was the president of National Honor Society. I was part of the debate of mock trial team. I did everything. I just wanted to learn. I saw America for what it was, and that was a land of opportunity. And that immigrant story, like you said, it, the America is really an American dream.
Andrew Olowu: For a lot of people. And so, when you overcome the culture shock and you Americanize simulate a little bit, assimilate a little bit then you can take advantage of what you know America has to offer. Lots of stories there. I, funny, I recall fondly taking a bus for the first time and not knowing how a bus card works, and having to have the driver explain it to me, you could either drop a quarter in or [00:07:00] you could get a bus pass that you swipe. So, I didn't know how to do even no one. But there are so many stories like that, but there, they're precious memory now. But I've since moved from Boston. I live in Dallas, as you said, and I can share more stories of back in, my early days in America.
Michael Cupps: Yeah. That's fantastic. I, and that we could have a whole session just on that, just acclimating and you and I over lunch one time you were telling me about how, as somebody new to the country, other kids had had their plan, they already knew all that stuff that you didn't know like how to use the bus and which bus to catch and things like that.
Michael Cupps: I'm guessing that built somewhat of a discipline in you to get there. But what really fascinated me about talking with you is you, I think you're a fan of the book Turning Pro. Yes. Which is a book that I think Rassman wrote. And I've since read again since you, you took me off to it, but I wanna talk about that.
Michael Cupps: So, from going to Northeastern summer college programs in Bentley, all of those things, how did you get to be a successful CTO and it is turning pro part of that.
Andrew Olowu: Yeah, absolutely. I think the way I see [00:08:00] is the book that really articulated the experience that I had. I didn't read the book early in my career, but I read it maybe mid-career, and it just explained it was an aha.
Andrew Olowu: That was why. A lot of things happen. So, it puts words on what happened to, what experience I went through to get to this point. For those that don't know, Turning Pros by Steven Pressfield, great book. He sees the world as being either an amateur or as. Seeing the world as a professional.
Andrew Olowu: So, the things that happen to us can either be, we can look at it from a moral standpoint, right? Good or bad. We can see it from a therapeutic standpoint or sick, or you can see it. I either as a professional or as an amateur. So, I, from day one, like I said, I got over the culture shock and assimilated.
Andrew Olowu: I really saw the opportunities and I had to professionalize very quickly. So, what do I mean by that? So, in college, I was able to work and go to school at the same time. So, I [00:09:00] took on jobs and I needed to do that, to earn money to be able to afford. Food and different things, but it was really about being professional and saying there's time for me to study and go to school, and there's time for me to also work.
Andrew Olowu: And so, it taught me very earlier on, really, I taught myself that if I really wanted to achieve the success I want to achieve, I'm gonna have to be really professional about how I approach the world. So, I'm not gonna say I always knew I was gonna, be a CTO or owner, several companies or do several investments.
Andrew Olowu: But I just always knew that there was an opportunity in this country to be successful if you applied yourself. And the examples around me, my mom, growing up I was the second boy of four children, two boys, two girls, and my dad died when I was young. So, my mom really instilled in me earlier on that need to really grow up and be independent.
Andrew Olowu: He's practiced independence to me where I was able to travel across the Atlantic Ocean at 15 by myself. And [00:10:00] live with my uncle. And he's another person that had a huge impact on me because when I landed in America and I started to go to school, I would after school.
Andrew Olowu: go to his office in South Boston. He had a business he ran. So, my exposure to my mom owning a business in Nigeria. My uncle, who I live with, owns a business and I having to spend a couple of days a week. Working with him and learning how to run a business really already set me on a path where I needed to be serious about my life at an early age.
Andrew Olowu: I needed to grasp all the opportunities and set an action plan for me to give there. So, I just had good examples. I was trained, I was, brought up to be independent and my uncle already had a business, so I had a lot of inspiration. And so coming to America and getting to the point where I'm CTO of Axxess and owning other businesses was, in hindsight it looked easy, but it wasn't easy, the opportunity to connect with a [00:11:00] childhood friend who was already doing business and we were able to start Axxess technology 17 years ago. That was also a very important moment in my life where I had acquired the right skills, working for really famous brands like Hewlett Packard.
Andrew Olowu: T-Mobile, CMW. So, I gained a lot of experience after college. I worked for them, and I signed up for everything. I remember when I moved. To Texas. I'll tell you this story and I'll bring it all home. Yeah, I we, I worked for B-M-W-S-A, and we used to be offered, half day Fridays as a perk.
Andrew Olowu: This was 2006 to maybe 2000 I never took that opportunity because I wanted to learn. I wanted to be on call. I wanted to make systems. Our website was up and running, and I took that same sort of intensity and that professionalism into what due today with Axxess and with the other businesses where you want to integrate your life such that you can work [00:12:00] and you can play and you can always.
Andrew Olowu: You can always be in a position to offer value and to be available to do great things. I connected with my friend John he's the founder and CEO of Axxess, and I joined to build the technology and, I had enough confidence in myself from the experience I'd gained from the professional approach I took, and I just always knew we would be successful.
Andrew Olowu: I'm grateful that we can say that today, lots of business. Make it this far. We're 17 years in lots of employees, lots of success, and we continue to dominate the market, the home house.
Michael Cupps: I You say your name, people go, oh yeah, I know them. So, then I'm curious if you're thinking about your younger self or maybe just kids that are coming up.
Michael Cupps: Was there a defining moment that you said, hey, this is. I'm gonna take this opportunity because this is gonna turn into something or was it just a gradual build?
Andrew Olowu: It was gradual. There were seminal moments in my life, like I told you at eight, learning about the computer and getting into DOS programming.
Andrew Olowu: That was another thing I didn't tell you. I started to do a little bit of MS dos back then and then coming to America, in the mid-nineties and learning how to build websites at Bentley College. It was gradual. I recall pivotal moments were. This set me on the course. I remember getting my first email account, email address in the late nineties, a Yahoo account, and a Hotmail account that I still have to today, lots of spam, but I still check them time to time getting, my first, cell phone.
Andrew Olowu: I remember interviewing for jobs right after college. This was right after the.com bust. And having a little bit of imposter syndrome and saying even though I know I can do this, there's not a lot of job opportunities.
Andrew Olowu: I'm competing with a lot of people and, am I enough? But as soon as I overcame that, really, I saw that I could really do it. I could program very well. I could, get any job that I really put my mind to, or eventually, joining up with John, my partner and co-founding Axxess Technology.
Andrew Olowu: So, I knew I could do it. So, I had overcome imposter syndrome, and it was a gradual build to get to this point, there were lots of seminal moments, lots of turning points along the way, things that kind of pushed you. And there was catalyst for even more success. But ultimately, I think it's a journey.
Andrew Olowu: I like to think of it as a journey. It's not overnight you just stack up a lot of good habits. I know you like to hear that word of opt a bit. Habits. That eventually leads to the snowball effect where you're so confident of the decisions you make on the direct you want to go on the people you want to take on that journey.
Andrew Olowu: But it takes a long time to get to that point.
Michael Cupps: That's a good segue into what I wanted to ask you about is you went from programming yourself. To being a team leader, to being a manager, and now you need a technology team, not only Axxess, but also with your other investments.
Michael Cupps: So how do you instill that in them? Because I think. Maybe this is an over exaggeration, but a lot of kids today are looking for that magical boom and they're just a star, and they're [00:15:00] on Wall Street or whatever, and sometimes those happen, but for the most part they don't. Right?
Michael Cupps: For the most part, we have to grind away at it. So how do you coach? How do you tell people to kindly live by themselves in a way that's gonna get them where they want to be?
Andrew Olowu: I've benefited from mentoring. I could name lots of mentors, not people that you read about on the internet. Not Bill Gates but actual people that mentored me in my career.
Andrew Olowu: When I was at hp I had a lady that got me really into hp. Her name is Kathy Life. She's out in California. Fred Love was my first manager, mentoring me very well. I recall. Some of the lessons I learned from them. So, mentorship is very important to me, and even as older I tend to mentor as many people as I can within and without my company.
Andrew Olowu: I also love reverse mentoring. I love to learn new things and keep up the younger people, as you say, are learning and I like that. And so, it's a matter of passing, the tried and true. Knowledge down [00:16:00] and making sure you also stay relevant by learning.
Andrew Olowu: But I've learned so much on my journey. I've taken forth through I've had to understand that I need to have a growth mindset because at Axles, my partner always says, you are either growing or dying. It's very binary. And so, when you approach life with a fixed mindset, you don't grow.
Andrew Olowu: You can't say I know it all because I got my MBA, I got my computer science degree 20 years ago. No, you have to keep accumulating knowledge after speed and you have to interact with people. So, I think that's where it comes from. Over the years I've taken courses, like I shared one with you Stagen Leadership course.
Andrew Olowu: Yeah. Yes. Rte runs a very great program. Shout out to him because it really helped me. I talk about seminal moments in my career. Taking that intentional leadership course really cemented my purpose, my mission, and it brought a lot of clarity into me being a leader and how I should present myself.
Andrew Olowu: I learned so many concepts until today. I [00:17:00] apply those concepts and I share them with lots of my direct reports and. People I mentor in life. Ultimately, it's not an overnight success, like you said. People may achieve that, that doesn't happen. Lightning does strike.
Andrew Olowu: But most of us will, we have to see it as a journey, and the famous African, saying that as you eat an elephant it's one bite at a time. So, you can't think we are gonna know everything at once. Leave room for a little gray area where the knowledge that I'm pretty sure works, that I've accumulated over the years, the nuggets of based, the math may have evolved more.
Andrew Olowu: I'll give you an example. I studied Moore's Law in college. Great. Yes. Technology doubles every two years, and the price of hardware goes down. So, you start Moores Law from being in school and how the transistor gets smaller and smaller, but in it can get any smaller today and AI and some of this new technology.
Andrew Olowu: Has made most law very [00:18:00] obsolete. So, I've had conversations with professors and directors of innovation centers, and we have really good discussions about how the world is evolving at a much quicker pace than we've seen. And so also leave room to challenge the knowledge that I have so that I can continue to grow.
Andrew Olowu: And the advice I'll give a young person is not to be so sure of. Everything. And, hey, I want to be a vice president today, and I know everything. You're just 25 years old. You have to give yourself time. You have to give yourself time to learn and to develop and leave a little room for the gray area.
Andrew Olowu: The things where it allows you to be more flexible than your peers because you're open to learning and adjusting as you develop. So, I'll say hopefully that addresses your question a little.
Michael Cupps: It, it does. And what you talked about a lot, you talked about your career, but you came back and said how these people influenced you or just being willing to continue to learn.
Michael Cupps: Gets you even further because it is a steady build. [00:19:00] And even those people that hit success, they still need to keep learning because there's always another hill to climb somewhere. And it's not always professional. It may be something personal that you wanna see, et cetera. So that's what I want to turn and ask you about.
Michael Cupps: I know you're a father, you're very proud of your kids. I enjoyed talking to you about your kids. And grooming them for professional career is one thing, but how do you apply those same principles in just life?
Andrew Olowu: Yeah, part of, thanks for bringing that up.
Andrew Olowu: I'm really proud of my kids and I have three wonderful kids. And I give a lot of credit to my wife for helping and raising wonderful kids. And they're still young, were, you can still. Impress things upon them, and you can still mold them. They're not out of the house yet.
Andrew Olowu: They're, still in the early the sort of the pubescent years. But I've, one thing I've really started to do, especially with my middle son, is taught to think and try to use the right words. For his development, he's interested in being a professional [00:20:00] basketball player.
Andrew Olowu: Now the chances of him making it are very small. But I'm encouraging him. I take him to practice, but I teach him that the difference between making it as a LeBron James and a Michael Jordan or Steph Curry. People that don't make it to the NBA have a lot of things, but it starts with being owl.
Andrew Olowu: My son told me one time he didn't wanna go to basketball practice. I said LeBron James would miss basketball practice. So, you start to introduce words to let him know that. Whether you feel like it or not, you have to show up. I think the struggle that I face today is going to the gym consistently.
Andrew Olowu: So, for me, I'm trying to be as professional as I am in my work. As with my health, because I won't have the longevity to spend with the children that I love so much. And yes, you have to take a professional approach where you show up and you win essentially. Showing up is half the battle, like they say, once you show up even if you don't have the mental capacity [00:21:00] to able to function being present and you give it 2% or you give it. I told people in the early days when we started our company Axxess, there were days where we would work three days in a row.
Andrew Olowu: I wouldn't even leave by office. We would be in the same place for three days. We're building software. We knew it was gonna be successful, but there were days were. I just woke up tired. I didn't want to go to the office. I needed two more how sleep I took this approach that I'm just gonna show up anyways.
Andrew Olowu: And if my productivity level is maybe 40%, it's still better than 0%. So, my mindset is about being professional, showing up. And even if you don't give a hundred, give something. And my son I tell him that my oldest son too he is really gifted academically, and he has it naturally. He's seen a lot of how Abdi Professional started businesses.
Andrew Olowu: And his mom is very professional and they're taking a lot from us. [00:22:00] They're catching a lot of things by observing us. But you also, what would've benefited me at a young age was putting at them. Words to explain the experience of the difference between those that make it or don't make it is some people still show up.
Andrew Olowu: They show up, they don't wanna and they push themselves, and those people eventually enjoy the benefits and the success later on in life. But yes, it's about making the sacrifices early on. And one of my friends, in fact, my wife, mentioned this the other day as we talked about different things, she said that.
Andrew Olowu: Everything is hard at first, so why not do it? Even when you're a kid, taking your first steps was hard. Everything we do in life, we forget how hard everything is. Eventually we overcome that and it's easy. So why not say yes to new experiences and tough things? Absolutely. It's gonna be hard at first, but you'll get through.
Andrew Olowu: So, if you apply that mindset to everything, and I encourage my kids to experiment [00:23:00] and not be afraid and be creative. Even at a young age, it allows them to get a full and rich experience rather than one where it's sheltered and they're afraid of taking chances.
Andrew Olowu: they don't realize their full potential. I always push, but I use the right words to tell them, you really want this dream. Are you willing to pay that price of admission?
Michael Cupps: Yeah. You said you the showing up is a big thing.
Michael Cupps: My favorite word these days, and that may change over time, but is YET just yet. And if you think about that when you start anything, your son probably couldn't make three corners when he first started. Yes. And if you just about if it I, when I hear people say, I can't do that, I say, yeah, it's or, if they could just change those words in their head over time, whatever it is, walk, run a marathon, run a mile, whatever, walk around the block, whatever that goal is.
Michael Cupps: It may not happen on day one, but if you just keep that mentality that you set, show up and do it, good things happen. And that's what I love about habits and things like that. And just get 1% [00:24:00] better. I'm doing that this week myself. I've upped my steps, for so long I've been on 10,000.
Michael Cupps: I was thinking, why didn't I pick 10,000 because the app told me to, right? I decided I'm going 30% more this week and love that. What's really interesting about it is. It's taken me outta my routine. I knew how to get 10,000 steps, before because I knew walking my dog did this and we did this, but now we have been adding 3000 more steps.
Michael Cupps: I have to think about it and change my routine, which is a healthy thing to do because not only the steps, but just the mind the mind space that you are opening up to do something different. it's a great lesson that you said. We're gonna wrap up I would like to ask you a couple of kind of one hitter.
Michael Cupps: What is one habit or routine that you would never give up?
Andrew Olowu: I think it's habit. I'll say it's finding time to meditate and to reflect. I usually try to find time daily for myself. I probably won't get that out.
Michael Cupps: You shouldn't. That's a great one. And I know you've had a very successful journey, but I'm sure there's something you would tell your younger self.
Michael Cupps: What would that be?
Andrew Olowu: I'll tell my younger self not to be an imposter. You are enough and you could do it. You had it in your long law.
Michael Cupps: That's fantastic. That's great read in. But why don't we start by telling everybody how to find you if they're interested and tell 'em about your companies as well.
Andrew Olowu: Thank you so much. The name of my company is Axxess. We're on LinkedIn, of course. I'm Andrew Olowu. I'm also on LinkedIn. My other companies are Devseal, and White Falls Energy. So those are my other companies, so I'm all available on social media, especially on LinkedIn.
Andrew Olowu: So, look me up and thank you.
Michael Cupps: Yes, and then you, if you're in the healthcare field, we look up Axxess and if you need an app built or stuff the dev seal can be that as well. Great to see you. Great to see you again, Andrew. Thanks so much for your insights and your and just who you are and that fact of sharing it, mentorship, and so forth.
Michael Cupps: [00:26:00] Thank you so much for joining us.
Andrew Olowu: Absolutely. Thanks, you, Michael.
Michael Cupps: Excellent. Everybody watching, thank you so much. We'll be back next week with another episode, so be sure to tune in and do subscribe to your favorite podcast channels. Thank you so much. See you next week.
