Get five life secrets to push you towards success

Hamid Andalib, founder and CEO of EE Incentives shares tips for significance in the business landscape.

Founder and CEO of EE Incentives Hamid Andalib visited the Gary W. Rollins College of Business to share insights about his journey from survival to significance. He offered a philosophy grounded in action, conviction and the discipline of turning the “impossible” into executable strategy.

A UTC graduate, Andalib reflected on his path from immigrant student to nationally recognized entrepreneur. At 17, he arrived in the United States with little more than determination and vision. By 24, he had earned two degrees and acquired The Loft, the largest restaurant in Tennessee at the time. Under his leadership, The Loft introduced a bold, unprecedented concept. It became the first restaurant in the world with its own co-branded MasterCard. What began as a creative marketing experiment evolved into a scalable financial model, positioning Andalib to help national companies launch and manage their own co-branded credit card programs.

His accomplishments have earned widespread recognition, including induction into the Rollins College of Business Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, as well as the Blue Chip Enterprise Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Nation’s Business Magazine. He was recognized as Small Business Person of the Year from both the Atlanta and Chattanooga Chambers of Commerce. He has also served on numerous advisory boards, including the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, BellSouth/AT&T Customer Advisory Board, T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital Foundation Board of Trustees, HCA/Parkridge Health Systems Board of Governors and Tennessee’s first Workforce Development Board, appointed by the governor.

Throughout the conversation, Andalib emphasized a recurring theme: making the impossible possible is rarely accidental. It is the product of clarity, planning and decisive action.

He shared what he calls his five “AHA” life principles that reflect his operating framework:

1. You can make things happen, watch things happen or die stupid and wonder what happened. It’s your choice.
   
   
2. B + C = A. Believe it in your heart. See it in your mind. Achieve it in your life.
   
   
3. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else.
   
   
4. Golden rule is golden. Platinum rule adds up. Diamond rule multiplies.
   
   
5. The greatest generosity is stewardship.
   

For the students in attendance, the message was: resilience is a deliberate choice, growth requires intentionality and success only becomes significant when it creates impact beyond personal gain. Making the impossible possible is not about luck it is about refusing to accept limits as final.

Connecting students with community partners is just one of the ways we prepare them for the business world. Visit our website to learn more about programs at the Rollins College of Business.