Billy Selekane — Author, speaker, entrepreneur and a man with an incredibly clear vision for our country

Welcome to it, it is what's involved. And as we do each and every Monday night, we talk to some of the finest minds in our country and indeed throughout the world. This guest of mine though has been very, how do I describe, very coy in who he is. So we're just, we're gonna have to explore a little bit. Please welcome my special guest. How are you, Billy Salahkani? - Thank you very much, David. It's an honor and a privilege to be here. Thank you for having me. - Well, it's great to have you here. And I mean, and I wasn't joking when I said you were a difficult man to get stuff out of because I mean, professionally you've done, you know, normally I have a list that I write down and I ran out of place because of all of your accolades. - Yeah man, yes, yeah, absolutely. So much stuff is crazy. I sometimes feel very, very shy to even tell people if I get anything new because I'm like, you know. - If it's more than an A4 page, we can't talk about Billy. But at the moment, you are predominantly, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you're a speaker. - Yes, I am, yeah. - And you speak on various topics, all centered around entrepreneurship though, in one way or another. - And inspiration, yes, but there's also been a shift in the sense that through the years, I've been trying to answer the question from both corporates, entrepreneur and individuals why people are not motivated.

And it took me to one direction around culture because a lot of people work for organizations that have got toxic culture and toxic leaders. And therefore I have now taken time and acquired the expertise of being a organizational culture expert. And I've done quite a few big interventions around the world on the subject. And yes, and I've got three books coming up. One is gonna be personal, one is gonna be very corporate, which will be talking about the culture itself. And the other one's gonna be very simple motivational book. - Now you see, initially when we talked about this, it was one book, now there's three. And I mean, just from what I've heard about you and people have said, and I've looked up, I mentioned before we went on there that every time I have a guest, I do a bit of cyberstalking beforehand. But you're an incredibly busy man. - I need to clone myself very soon. - You do a lot, a lot of the time. So let's set the scene for those people that are listening. I mean, we're talking to Billy Salikani, international speaker, about to be an author. - No, I am a best-selling author, did I? - You've done so much, two already. - Yeah, let me see. Yeah, I've got two best-selling books.

One published in 2004, which was a personal one. And another one published in 2014 with a group of 18 American entrepreneurs. I was the only African in that book, it's called Breaking Through, became a number one on Amazon, and a best-selling in the US here. - Well, there you go, you see yet more things. So let's start right at the very beginning. You're a Josie boy. - I am a Tembisa boy. When I'm saying Josie, people who think I'm from Soweto know I'm from Tembisa, not too far from here. I'm a Tembisa boy through and through. - It's not confusing to me. - That's not confusing matters, because then people who might claim I'm from Soweto know I'm from Tembisa. - All right, and you know, born in Tembisa, do I go out in the limon and guess that we're of an age? - Yeah, absolutely. - I look very young.

But you were born in Tembisa, and it was, it was back in the bad old days. - Oh no, it was back in the dark old days. - And in the dark old days, Tembisa was not the safest place to be. - Oh yes, oh yes. - Nevermind, you know, with all of the kind of the racial stuff, you know, like a white boy doesn't go in there. - I never got that memo though, I was just weird like that. But, you know, you come from there already, and a lot of the millennials and people that didn't experience those times don't understand. - They don't have a clue what went through. - Do not get what the level of challenge was just to be able to get an education. - Absolutely. - Not even a very good one because of the quality. - I mean, I was telling people that the national government spent 247 rains on a white kid's education, and only about 45, 4,700 on a black kid's education. So you can do the numbers. It was quite the west of the west. Not only was the education very terrible, also the living standards. We lived in four-roomed houses, we used markets for abolition. So it was like, it was almost like a concentration camp, quite literally, I think it was. I think it was created to really dampen and destroy the spirit of humanity, you know.

People are dehumanized and there was abject poverty. And the sad thing about it is, then people normalized it, you know. You either accepted that this is your lot, and I was the rebel, I never accepted it. I just said, no, this is unacceptable. I just never believed that human beings should live this way. And it was quite strange because as a young kid, already having that kind of a mindset that says, this is not how life is lived, was quite challenging in a society that says, listen, this is how things are accepted, you know. So yes, and so you had a dichotomous environment. You had, you know, guys, the men about town, the thugs, then you've got political activists, then you've got very religious people. So you chose where you belonged. Either you were a thug, you became a political activist, or you became religious. - Now, from the little I know of you, you decided not one of those three. - I decided on the political part, but it still lasts for very long. It lasted for quite a bit until I got to a place where I started asking uncomfortable questions again. Because I'm the guy that always ask questions. You know, I don't like to accept things the way they are. And for me, the biggest question that I used to ask my fellow comrades was, what is our plan the day after?

And people never seem to be knowing what we're going to do the day after. Because I said to them, we've built a very powerful, collective and communal way of doing things, but ultimately we're going to become responsible adults and responsible individuals. What are we going to do individually to build ourselves up and become contributory members of society? And that was a difficult question that many people did not expect. And it started getting me very uncomfortable within that place. And then eventually I decided, listen, I'm just going to walk and I walked. - It is a tough place. It was a tough place to be, because I mean, it came from very much a struggle revolutionary environment. And that question is a very difficult question because if that's all you know, that's what you've done. That's been the goal. You reach the goal and then you go, okay, now what? - Exactly, for me that was the fundamental question. - So you did the school thing study? - Well, I did the school thing. And I usually say that I had the worst metric results by far. Probably I'm the record holder of the worst mathematical paper ever written in the trick. And I usually say it was not my fault. It was the guys who are correcting my papers were not very perceptive and very visionary.

So that's why they gave me low marks. (laughing) So yes, I had an S in metric. S means school living. It means you and education are separate. You can't mix anymore, you know. And yeah, it was very interesting times because again, yeah you are. Your friends are smiling all the way to university and you can't go, what do you do?

The beauty about it is I've always been an entrepreneur of some sort, you know, survival and whatever. Actually, it's funny, I almost saw myself as a DIY kid because I was never the one that would ask my parents to do stuff for me. I was always the guy that says, "How can I avail and get money?" There was always somebody with money who was lazy to do something. - So from that age already, how can I add value? Because this is critical in where we're going, I believe. So okay. - You know, so I've always said that somebody's got money who is either lazy or has a problem they can't solve. If I can find what that problem is, help them solve it, they'll give me the money. You know, and I think at the age of eight, nine or so, I started what you would call a VIP protection business, like a better way. Because townships were demarcated by languages. But once in a while, there'll be an intermarriage, ones who look at marriage to a sutu and they have to shift places, but the kid had to go to a sutu school and they had to navigate their way through different sections. And they would be beaten up, money would be taken from them, you know, books would be taken. And at that time, I was a martial artist and I was known, you know, so I then sold protection in my name.

I said, if you give me this amount of money, I'm gonna give you my name and nobody's gonna touch you, you know, and it was a good business, but it was cut short because at that time, I remember my, it was a big hearing, you know, at school, the principals and everybody and I was called a crook. How can I crook other people? And I said to them, I'm offering a service. - Yeah. - You know, without me, these kids won't make it to school. - Yeah. - You know. - They don't have to take it. (laughing) - You know, so it was kind of strange, yes, but I've always been the kind of guy that said, if you can add value, you can extract it in return. - Mm-hmm. - Yeah. - All right, so then moving on from the protection, what did you, I'm interested to know because you've got, you're gonna have to help me out here because I couldn't remember all of them. You're a past president of the Professional Speakers Association, okay, which in and of itself is a very high accolade, but you've got international recognition, you've got South African. I mean, the list I told you is over a page long. So how did this journey to where Billy Salicana is today start? - Well, I think once I ask that question about the day after, that's when everything began to change in my mind because I realized that ultimately, your greatest weapon is the power of your thought processes.

If you can learn how to think and use your brain, you become unstoppable. So just that sense of knowing, again, the question was then what? Now you've got this realization, but then what? And I remember I went to a library in Kempton Park and I was so, you know, hungry to learn something. And I said to this lady, you know, I want something to learn. And they gave me two books that literally changed my life. The first book was "The Power of Positive Thinking", Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. And the second book was "Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill". - Do you know how weird that is? I was actually, Bob Proctor released a movie, "Think and Grow Rich", the movie. So it was, and I was actually watching the movie today. - Wow, that's amazing. - What a book. - It is. Actually, I say to people, you don't stop reading it. - No, no. - I have it in my desk, in my home office. You don't stop reading that book. - But this is what they say, 'cause it's a little book. I mean, you look at, it took the man 25 years to write it. Really? But it is so deep on so many levels. - Exactly, it's a powerful book. - Okay, so that's on your desk. - I have visited over and over again. I mean, there are two books that I revisit and one of them, each while I go to it, it makes me feel so guilty.

The other one is "The Richest Man in Babylon". - Oh, lovely story. - Powerful, little book like this. - Yes, lovely story. - If you can just follow those seven principles, your life, there's no other way your life will stay the same. Just impossible. - I've got an audio dramatization of that book and it is absolutely brilliant. - It is amazing. - Love it. Okay, so that got you going. And then what, then business wise? I tell you what, let's come back and then we'll check more about your business. It is Mix FM 93.8, some legendary radio for you. On a Monday night, my special guest in studio is Billy Salicani. We're back with Billy. So, you were in trouble for your protection services. We talked about metric and then you were kind of, you'd said you'd gone to the library or live at NTA. What did you do from then though? Because, you know, we were joking off air and I often say we should actually take the outtakes of the show, the off air stuff. And I should publish that as well. 'Cause that's some of the most fun. I mean, you were saying that, you know, you've always been an entrepreneur. - I've always been, absolutely. - And you've always, so now you're at this sort of pivotal time of your life.

You've read these books, things are changing. - No, things are not changing yet. I've read the books, I know the content, I speak about it and everybody thinks I'm on drugs. Everybody thinks I must change my supplier. He's gonna get me killed because the stuff I'm talking about never happens in South Africa, you know. And then you push so hard and when there's a big current against you eventually sort of give in. So for some time, I just, you know, let me just be this normal guy. But before I became a, I can't say this normal thing, I tried it for five years and it didn't work. So me and my friends, we then decided we're gonna start a business, five of us. Four of them were employed, I was the one who was unemployed. So I became the MD of this company. It was called Extravagan, Entertainment Extravagan's something. We literally took the concept of the Ren Easter Show and made it smaller for the township. That's what we did. - That's one of those ideas that you think, why didn't I have that idea? Brilliant idea. - Yes, brilliant idea. We took a year. So the whole year we were pitching, getting, you know, signing up people to buy stalls, companies to come in, blah, blah, blah. And this one's gonna happen in December.

But I promise you, so all this time I was telling people in general the next day, I'm gonna be multi-millionaire guys. And people did not even know what a millionaire was. I said to them, I'm gonna make millions because we had a plan, we calculated, we knew that this thing was gonna be an explosion. But a day before we launched, 12 people were massacred in a taxi in Ogmore and Tambisa. Oh my God. It was like somebody took my insights and threw them out there and it was devastating. And the ANC came to us and everybody said, guys, you can't do this. It was the time of the IP and ANC. They said, you can't do, you've got to cancel the show. Because guys wanna come and shoot and whatever. Hey man, the stakes were too high. People had paid money where this amusement park set up and it was a big thing, man. And I just said to guys, guys, if you want to bail out, you can bail out. Everybody knows me, they don't know you. This show will live and die on me. We're going ahead with the show. Went ahead with the show, but of course, because of the fear that has been instilled by the matters of those people, the numbers just did not happen. And ultimately that became a monumental failure. And like I'm saying, I was the guy that everybody knew and my four partners, nobody knew.

I had to be the guy that went to fend all the fires on people who owed money, the south system guys. Oh my God, it was a disaster. And from then onwards, this wave, then people said, listen Charlie, man, get a job, man. What's wrong with you? - Now you sound like my dad. He always used to ask me, when am I gonna get a real job? - Yes, I mean, and you know, through the years, I'm trying this and I'm trying this and I'm trying that. But people said, man, I said, okay, fine, let me get a job. Then I went and looked for a job and I got a job, as I mentioned, Dysa, in a company which was called Gilby's, which is now called Brand House. - Yes, I used to do quite a bit of work with Brand House. - When I got there, I mean, I was there for five years. I became a mentioned Dysa. From being a mentioned Dysa, I became a sales rep. From being a sales rep, I became a trade market manager. From being a trade marketing manager, I became an acting area sales manager. And at that time, my hunger for being independent and my hunger for really pursuing what I knew was a gift that I was given to inspire people and transform them was so big and so overwhelming that I eventually resigned. I just resigned and people thought I was crazy.

And I just decided, you know what? I either spend all my life regretting what I could have been or I go out there and take a leap of faith and follow this dream that I wanted to pursue of being a top international speaker that can inspire people to become the best they have to become. And I resigned. It was crazy, man. When I resigned, it was a big hoo-ha. My parents came to my place and there was a meeting. My father says, "These guys, they gave me a company car. "You were living a nice life once. "What are you gonna do now?" - You were living what your parents, I mean, that was their dream. - I was the man in the township. I was in the liquor industry. I was the man about town, driving company car, crazy cars, entertainment, soccer games. Everything was working. And I just pulled the plug. And it was a big cultural shock. My father said, "What are you gonna do with your life? "Why are you gonna feed your kids?" I remember I tell my father I'm gonna become a motivational speaker. So my father says, "What is a motivational speaker?" I said, "No, I'll be speaking and inspiring people "from companies all over the world." Then my father says, "How are you going to do that?" So I says, "No, I'll be speaking." And he says, "And they're gonna pay you." And I said, "Yes." And I said, "I've been speaking all my life.

"Nobody pays me. "What gives you the illusion that somebody's gonna pay you?" But already the horses had bolted. I'd made this decision and I was never going back. So that was my entry into the speaking business. And I never looked back. I just, it was a crazy, crazy journey. Still is a crazy journey, 20 years ago. I mean, 20 years ago, it's gonna be 20 years. - What are you saying? I mean, and you've certainly racked up the accolades for it. And I mean, there's more than a couple of clips and video of you at some of these events. - Well, officially I'm the highest ranking professional speaker on the continent. So yes, I've done amazing things. I mean, I've done, sometimes when people remind me, I always laugh and say, "Oh yes, I've done that." I've been on that stage. I've been in that continent. I've done, I've been in over 34 countries. I've done my bit as a speaker. And contributing back to the community as well is very important. - Let's talk about that a little bit when we come back. My special guest in studio, top international speaker. It is Billy Selikani. Special guest in studio, Billy Selikani. So the story of yours continues and the things that you do and the passion that you have.

So now you're talking all over the world. - Yes, absolutely. - And you've gotten all of these accolades. I mean, congratulations on your overnight success. You know, in some people's lives. - I've got one year to go. I've got one year. It takes 20 years to become an overnight success. Next year, I'm gonna be 20 years and this is us. Then I'm gonna be an overnight success. - And then you're gonna be able to relax. - But you do so much and you're very passionate about it. I've had a couple of guys in studio over the last little while, 'cause we're talking Africa and you know, how I believe and I think you believe that Africa and indeed the entire African continent, it should be the powerhouse of the world. - Yes, we're 1.2, over 1.2 billion people. - You know, we should be right at the forefront of stuff like that. I mean, if you look at the competition, I mean, let's be honest, Americans, look who they voted in for press anyway. Let's not get on there. But what is your message to people? When you're on stage, what are you telling them? Because you mentioned culture very early on and I've had a couple of people speaking on culture on the show, Colin Brown, a guy from Happy Sandpit, you may be aware of Colin.

And it seems like to me intuitively as South Africans, as Africans, there is this underlying culture. This is where the whole Ubuntu thing came from. Why are we battling so much in corporates? - Well, I think, you know, we've got to be honest about things and just call them as they are. We've got corporates that are steeped in Eurocentric thinking operating in an African context. So it's kind of difficult. So in the European mind or the Eurocentric thinking is I have to make profits by all means necessary. - Yes. - It's cut throat and kill this competition, do these kinds of things. In Africa, you see the word economy, the simplest definition of the word economy is the management of scarce resources, which is kind of crazy. Who said resources are scarce? Africa will speak about an ecosystem. So if business can understand that there's enough money for everybody, that no one company can finish money, you can't finish money. You know, you cannot. So I'll give you an example. The late Hap Keller was a founder of Southwestern Airline, the most profitable airline on planet F says this and said this, that the business of business is people, yesterday, today and tomorrow. So every organization has to understand that key to their success is the essence of humanity's human beings.

Now, as South Africans, I think we need to go through a very powerful transformational process that will shift us from becoming glorified consumers to becoming focused producers. Because we consume a lot of things to produce very little, quite honestly. And that has to do with thinking patterns. People have been taught to find themselves in things. People have not been taught the power and the essence of the human spirit that you are a human being. You are this spirit that's having a fleshly experience or a physical experience, that things can't define you. You know? So sadly in this country, cars, houses, expensive watches, jeweller and all those things, people chase those things because there's an illusion that those things will elevate them. - And that's a very, very important word you just used, illusion, because it is an illusion. - It is an illusion. Once we can teach our children, and also we have to unlearn these kind of habits. You know, I say to people, you know, one of the things that I always say to guys, when you have not seen your friend for five years or seven years or 10 years, sadly, when they see, "Oh, David, how are you doing, man? So what car are you driving?" - Yeah, very much so.

- And I say, "No, I don't drive cars, I've got a jet." You know, I don't talk cars anymore. I'm talking private jets. So if a man who has not seen you for five years sees you, the question should be asked and he says, "Hey man, how are you? So how's your wealth? How's your impact project? What are you doing to impact the world differently?" - Have you made a change? - Exactly, and once we begin to think and have a conversation around that, then we'll plant the seeds of a different thought pattern. Because if you look at countries like Singapore, Singapore has got nothing but human beings. They spend so much money and so much time on personal development, because they know when it comes down to it, develop your people. Now let's look into Africa. Let's look at Rwanda. 25 years ago, there was a genocide. 25 years now, into this place that we're in, the economy of Rwanda is growing at 7.2% year-on-year. They are the cleanest counter in the continent. Crime is almost unheard of. Private schools are closing down because the public schools have got their act together. They are the first counter to launch a satellite to make internet accessible to people that live in the most remote of areas.

- Hold on. We're talking Rwanda. - Rwanda. Now, not now. There's the Wi-Fi in Rwanda is, we think we've got speed here, go to Rwanda. Then you'll understand what speed is on your Wi-Fi. Even a taxi, when you get into a cab, the taxi driver will give you a password for his Wi-Fi. In Rwanda now, it's happening now. It's not some dream and some illusion. - But everybody has always said South Africa. South Africa, I don't think so, hey? - No, I think the challenge that we have in South Africa is everything is politics. You know, and I always tell people this funny thing, and I say to them that as a country, not as political parties, because the constitution of this country does not say, we, EFF, we, SSA, we the people of South Africa. That's what it says. We have to decide what are the 15 or 10 fundamental challenges that we need to solve to create a counter that can compete with Singapore, a counter that can compete with Malaysia, a counter that can compete with Korea. Once we find what those 10 things are, we must then depoliticize the implementation of solving these problems. Once we can do that, we'll be able to, but everything is political, you know? And government, you know, I mean, ministers come five years or they get fired, and the new minister comes, but it's all new strategic plan.

We're strategic planned out. There's too many strategic planning things, too many turnaround strategies, but none of them are effective because we're thinking five years. We're not thinking 50 years or 100 years. - You know how true that is, though? Because, and we don't seem to realize it, because I've had it do, when I was living in Pimlanga, I had dealt quite a lot with local government there. And the guys who are employed, they are employees, are some of the most passionate, dedicated people you will ever meet. And even they go, listen, dude, every four years, something changes. We don't know if we're now gonna get swept out, and if there's new gonna be, and those are the people, and it is. It's a sad, and I'm not ashamed to say this, it's a sad set of affairs, but I believe politics in our country has failed us. - Exactly, and if you look at China, do you think China works around with five year plans? They don't. They don't, and every president who gets to become a president in China becomes a president on top of an agenda, of a national Chinese agenda. - I was hearing somebody was saying that these Chinese have got, they don't do like one year plan, five year plan, 10. It's like 25, 50, 100 year plan.

- Why can't we do it? Why is it difficult for us as a nation to say what kind of South Africa do we want to see in 50 years from now, and let's bring it forward and start. You know, the national development plan, even some of the middle stars don't know what it says, because it's like a secret document that is hidden somewhere, done by some clever people who, it's crazy, because it's not communicated as a South African thing. It's pushed by a particular thought in that particular organization. It's not a national thing. So I'm thinking that as a nation, but David, we have to begin in the beginning, and the beginning is we have to define what it means to be South African. We don't have a definition. We don't have values. We don't have a set of, we don't have these five values that if me and you get into an argument and say, David, what you've just said, it's an South African. We don't have it. - Yeah, we do not have South African pride. There's people that are very proud to be South Africans, but as a national pride, I mean, I knock the US all the time, but look at how patriotic those people are. And it's because, you know, they've got this country and they've got a unified, is their country perfect?

Hell no. - No, it's not. - I think we could do way better. - Exactly, but I mean, I read a sad story about a young guy who won idols and he died of depression because he was going around doing gigs and he was not getting paid and was kind of, and then waited on him and he passed away sadly. Now, how do we allow such things to happen in this country? Because in South Africa, we have allowed, excuse me, I'm just gonna say it. I hope they're not gonna take me to the broadcast commissioner. We have allowed stupid to become powerful in this country. We have allowed idiocy to become the order of the day. So idiots in this country are the ones that are getting air space everywhere on radio and television and newspapers, idiots. But people that are powerful, that are really contributing to this nation, they are relegated to small little story in the middle of their newspaper. They never get radio airtime, they never get television airtime. I think we've got to go back and say to ourselves as a country, we've got to begin to promote what is meritocratic and what is nation building. And forget this thing of, you know, we get excited by filling up a stadium like FNB4 to listen to an artist sing.

But if you go to the same township where they filled a stadium and you say, here's a seminar, I'm gonna teach you how to set goals, if 20 people show up, you'll be lucky. - Well, this is one of the sad things. I mean, you know, if I look at how people internationally and even in Africa, and I'm talking places like Zambia, Malawi, consume online learning and learning and self-improvement, and people will go without in order to get access to the knowledge, 'cause knowledge is power, it's not Africa, you know, is the government gonna give it to me? No, okay, well, no, I'm not interested. And it's not up to the government, it's up to us. - Because you know, ultimately, all of us, we're gonna leave a legacy behind. And the question that we've got to constantly ask ourselves every day, what kind of legacy are we going to leave behind? Are we going to leave a legacy of ashes? Are we going to leave a powerful foundation through which our great grandchildren can march on and build even better society? But the way things are going, I don't see us doing something profoundly powerful that can bring this nation together and say, guys, let's build, let's stop thinking, let's stop consuming and let's start producing.

- Just got a message in here, it says, your guest is brilliant, he's saying what I've been thinking. - Wow, thank you very much. - But I think this is the problem, and I've always maintained this in our country is, you know, with all of the trouble and the turmoil, you can't pretend it never happened, it did, it was disgusting, it was horrible. And unless you were on the receiving end of it, you can never totally understand. So you also can't just go, we'll get over it. Okay, but let's be honest, okay, things changed a good few years ago. So, you know, we need to be able to be free to say what we think. And I believe we have what I'd like to call the silent majority in this country. And it's those people I like to speak to and say, guys, we all think the same thing. We're not radicals, we're not-- - Let's not doing. - Let's start talking, let's start doing it. Because if enough of us put up our hands and say, hey, we're not okay with this, then we can affect change. - Absolutely. - But unless we start, so kudos to you. I like this man's, oh, there we go, another one. I like this man's way of thinking. So that's magnificent. - Thank you, thank you very much. I appreciate it, yeah. - But Billy's not the only one that thinks like this, and this is the thing I'm trying to get across here, is that we've got so many people like this, and this is the reason I love sharing these kind of stories.

Because it kind of makes you feel proud. - Absolutely. - And that's what we need. We need somebody else who's saying, "Billy for president." Have you got any more political aspirations, Billy? - Well, I always talk about it, it's a problem with the first president who doesn't belong to a political party, become the first independent, I never-- (laughing) Because I think we don't need a political president anymore, we need a developmental and transformational president. - Can you imagine having somebody like that, that is not a politician? - Yes. - I think that's a brilliant idea. - Yep. - I guess he's 100% correct about the, yes, okay. Public is stupid as well, yes, okay. (laughing) We've stirred up a ratchet. - Oh man, yeah. - But you know what, this is the thing, is why have we become a country where we're scared to say what we think? Why is it always divisive? Why does it always have to go back to political, we are human beings. - No, but we've given politicians too much power. - Yeah, I think we have. - We have, and I don't understand how, you know it's like you hire somebody to come and work for you in your company, but to give them so much power that they can decide how much they get paid, they can decide when they need to come to work, they can decide how long they must take a break.

It doesn't work that way. If you pay them, you tell them this what you need to do to end that money. We pay their salaries, crying out loud. - Yeah, sorry, I'm just looking at this now. Billy, you're causing a sensation out there. I love your guests, talking the truth on so many levels. We'd love to have a drink with him sometime. A man with vision. Thank you for the show, awesome content. I hope, oh, he's looking for the name of your guest. Shane, okay, so it's Billy Selikani. I don't know, are you on Twitter, Billy? - I'm everywhere, yes, yeah. - So look up, just look up Billy Selikani. Also, hey, you can always visit my website, What's Involved, which is W-A-T-T-S-I-N-V-O-L-V-E-D. What's Involved.ca.za. Ask me any questions, I can give you contact details. We've got all the audios there. I'm sure Billy would love to hear from you. And yeah, the comments just coming in. This is a brilliant talk, says somebody. So thanks, Billy. - Thank you very much. It's a pleasure, absolutely. - This is the reason I want people to come in here and listen, and this is what we do. And yes, sometimes we walk a little close to the line, but free thinking is what it's all about. - It's important, we've got a college where it is, the rights are never gonna change.

- We're running out of time again. So let me ask you this though. What is the way forward, what's next for Billy? I mean, you've already got a couple of votes here. You've got a couple of votes, so you know, that's not a bad thing. - What's next for me, and I think I've been thinking very hard about how I can truly impact this country, you know? And I'm in that space in my life where everywhere I go and I share my thoughts with people who says, you've got to go out there and make things happen. So I don't know what it is, I don't know how it's, in what shape and format it's gonna take. But I think I'm in the time in my life where I need to be at the forefront of a movement for change in this country. I need to be, to get other men and women who think like me, and I need to tell them, let's roll our sleeves. It's nothing political, it's about South Africa. - You know what? I think, yeah, absolutely, I'll be there. I, right now, Ani, in front of all of these people, I will offer you whatever help and support I can do. - Cool, thank you, thank you. - So let's do it, I mean, you've got an ex-VIP protection officer and a DJ, I mean, we couldn't be further from politicians, so let's do that.

- Let's do it, let's do it, yeah. - I think that's brilliant, and you know what I like about, when I do chat to you about this kind of stuff, is you go, I don't know what it looks like. I know that there is a thing. I don't know what form the thing is gonna take, but it needs to be done. And I think this is a message for a lot of people is, you don't always have to know where to start. It's something I find myself, tripping myself up with all the time. It's like, oh, I can't start this 'cause I don't know where to start. There is no way, start. - Just start, we just need to start. - Just do it and have faith. - Yeah, absolutely, and trust the process, you know? But if you're doing it from a good space, if you're doing it from authenticity and you're doing it from love, that the universe is gonna conspire and make sure that things work for you. And that's what I feel. I feel, I'm moving towards that. Like I'm saying, I'm moving towards this space where I truly will give of myself to this country and say, use me in any way positive to make sure that we lay a great foundation for our children. On the 27th, I'm spending time in Lyoko prison with prisoners telling them that you can change your life, you can transform.

You can go out here and never come back, you know? So yes, so this thing is starting. - We did something, it struck me now, I did something with a friend of mine and a mentor. A good few years ago with one of the insurance companies, the guy's name's David Patient, he's passed away now, one of the longest surviving people in the world with HIV. And one of the insurance companies had sponsored us to go and do talks at the various schools and the townships. It was nice 'cause it wasn't just township, go and help the poor kids and the, it was a crowd. Do you know what came up with when we were talking to these kids and finding out is the one thing they're going, you're sitting here talking to us about HIV. You're telling me about something that might kill me in 15 years when I could get killed crossing the road tomorrow. Why are you bothering with this? And we realized after we compiled all the research, none of these kids did not have a compelling vision of the future, so they didn't care. And I think this is something in our country, we do not have as a country a compelling vision of what our future of South Africa. - And I think we need to do that. - Oh, okay, somebody says, "Billy, you mentioned three books that you found value in.

Could you please repeat those? - Those are my books that I'm publishing, but the three books that I found available, it's Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill. - Yes. - The Power of Positive Thinking, Dr. Norman Vincent Peele, and The Richest Men in Babylon. - Yes, I recommend all of those. Okay, so yeah, so again, if you, if you need to know anything, david@whatsinvolved.co.z, I'll give you the names of those books if you missed it, just drop me a line. Also, please, why are we talking about this? If there's anybody specifically you'd like on the show, anything you'd like to know about? And there's so many things. Somebody said to me, "What's happening with all of these changes and everything?" And there's all sorts of things coming in and they're hearing that people in Silicon Valley are taking microdoses of psilocybin. Took me a while to figure out what it was, but I did. Yeah, I'm happy to talk about that. I'm happy to talk about all sorts of stuff if it impacts our lives. So let me know, drop me an email. You can let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you so that I can get you some great guests. Billy, it's that time. Before you go, though, if there was a piece of advice that you would give to somebody that is listening now, what advice would you give to somebody?

- I would say, search for your peoples. Find out your why. You know, why are you here? Why are you a male or a female, a black or a colored or an Indian? Why are you here, you know? Once you find out the why, the how is gonna become easy. Because too many people chase things, so too many people destroy and sell their dreams for an installment of an expensive car, trying to impress people that they don't even like. Just go to the bottom of it and find out why you're here. Once you know why you're here, the how is gonna become easier. Because ultimately, when we pass over to the other life, you're not gonna be measured by how many cars you've had and how big your house was. - So you're not gonna take any of that with you? - Absolutely, it's about how many peoples' lives did you touch and transform? And all of us do this differently. Others cook a meal, others sing a song, others will paint a painting, others will design a house. Find your why and contribute positively to the growth of this beautiful nation and the world. - Billy, thank you so much. It was a fantastic experience having you with us. I wanna bring you back again. And maybe the next time you come back, we're gonna be talking about this movement, which has been sparked from a simple radio interview.

- Absolutely. - Anything is possible. - Absolutely, we're given a world of possibilities here. - Very well, thank you, Billy Selikone. You can get hold of him at billyselikone.com. - Yeah. - Okay, so it's B-I-L-L-Y-S-E-L-E-K-A-N-E, billyselikone.com. Again, I will give you whatever assistance I can. And again, thank you, Billy. It's been an absolute pleasure and a privilege. - Thanks for having me here, I really appreciate it. Thanks for your listeners. - And there is some bad news. I don't have a second guest for tonight. And yeah, we gotta play some prerecorded stuff. But next week, we'll be back with some more fascinating guests.