How I Made My First Million: And How You Can Also Do It

By Musa Mseleku

No stranger to the South African public and the man who brought you the record breaking DSTV Reality Television Show – Uthando neSthembu, Musa Mseleku shares practical and invaluable business advice and concepts which have proven to be a winning formula which he has applied to his own businesses.

As a successful business man in his own right, he dipped his toe into the pool on the back of repeated request from his fans and the public, asking him to share ‘how he did it’!

Stemming from a disadvantaged background with the odds severely stacked against him in the business arena, failure has never been an option or formed part of his vocabulary. In this book Mseleku shares many of the business challenges he has faced and overcome, as well as what drove him on a personal level, to succeed.

Often dubbed as a ‘global thinker’, he has guided and mentored many young men in particularly to recognise the opportunities which lay before them and to have the foresight and courage to simply take the first step.

Musa Mseleku’s belief is that anything is possible if you simply apply strategy, start small, apply drive and
determination, a concept to which he himself is living testament to - the odds are that at some stage you are going to succeed!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Musa Mseleku
• Release date: Oct 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005221805

Book preview

About the Author

Musa Mseleku has enjoyed a colourful and varied career path. After graduating from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 1997, he embarked on his journey into the unknown world which waits for no man.

Mseleku has always encouraged business entrepreneurs to start at the bottom, taking baby steps towards their goals and dreams and to start somewhere. The concept is that no matter how small or insignificant you, as an individual, think that your contribution is, as the old saying goes, Out of little acorns grow big old oak trees.

This book has been written on the back of the passion that he has for business and the dire need for budding black business entrepreneurs to understand the value of educating themselves and realising how important it is for them to strive towards achieving and maintaining a sustainable business, as well as creditworthiness.

Black business comes amidst a minefield of rules and dynamics which, in the normal scope of business operations, may not apply or be applicable to persons from other cultures or socio-economic backgrounds. ‘Black Tax’ is a concept that those from the Western world may battle to grasp, yet it is a stark reality for most African entrepreneurs out there striving to better themselves and create business opportunities.

Mseleku has had his fair share of challenges in growing his business empire into what it is today and he is not ashamed to admit that there were times along the road to success that he felt like throwing in the towel. It was his persistence and determination and the concept of financial and independent freedom which kept the embers of his fire from extinguishing.

The concept of sharing business knowledge is nothing new to Mseleku and is one that which he implores all successful businessmen from all spheres or walks of life to do, as he believes it is their core responsibility to pass on knowledge in the spirit of Ubuntu and leave a legacy!

‘Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish, and he will feed himself for a lifetime!’

– Quote from author Anne Ritchie in the novel, Mrs Dymond, published in 1885

Enjoy!

More In-depth Author Profile

CURRENT TELEVISION REALITY SHOW –

UTHANDO NESTHEMBU

The Mseleku Family

The DSTV Mzansi Magic show Uthando neSthembu, first screened on Channel 161 on 18 May 2017 has been an absolute sensation and has set the tone for the rise to fame for the amazing Mseleku family who form the cast of the show. The reality TV show documents the everyday life events of the family members, as they happen in real life, in real time. When the start of Season 3 aired on 11 April 2019, fans of the show took to social media with gusto, expressing how much they had missed the show and as the stars navigate their daily lives on the programme, fans sat glued to their television screens.

Mseleku, who expressed his wish to live a polygamous life early on in his romantic encounters with the women he married, realised a number of social ills in society connected to the abuse that some men rendered on their girlfriends/spouses which would often ultimately affect the lives of their families, including partners, vulnerable children and spouses. After conducting in-depth research into the root causes of the violence and in severe cases, the ultimate death of women, Mseuleku found that there were a vast number of traditional thinking African men wanting to lead polygamous lives. However, many were not equipped to apply the patience, implementation and understanding that often accompanies this complex way of life. This is particularly true in cases where they have not come from or have been exposed to the dynamics of leading a well-balanced and traditional polygamous life.

The resultant violent measures often taken by some men in order to achieve the desired result disturbed Mseleku and this prompted him to write his book, Impilo neSithembu (Life and Polygamy). Mseleku has authored a number of books on various topics and true to the subject matter, his book on the subject of polygamous marriage was a huge hit and was met favourably by the public in general. The book hit the shelves on a national scale shortly after the launch of Season 2 of Uthando neSthembu and is available in chain stores such as CNA, Bargain Books and all major Airports in South Africa etc. Further to this, Impilo neSthembu has been earmarked by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Social Development to roll out across the province and will be available in libraries, tertiary institutions and might possibly be introduced at a high schools level due to the educational value of the contents of the pages.

Due to the reaction by the public and resultant publicity when the book was first launched, Mseleku travelled throughout KwaZulu-Natal as a guest speaker at numerous events and held various seminars, affording public engagement and participation on the subject from a man who openly practices polygamy and has successfully applied the merger of tradition whilst still managing to embrace the applied changes applicable to modern life. The seminars and public speaking engagements proved to be a huge success which ultimately planted the seed that education of all in society, regardless of their own core structures in life or belief systems on the complexities of polygamous living, was paramount to protecting those who could perhaps fall foul of incorrectly applied and implemented polygamy. The book was the foundation and prologue to the resultant record-breaking TV show, which is available in isiZulu as well as English.

Overview of Musa Mseleku’s Personal Background

Coming from a disadvantaged background, the story of Mseleku’s life is fascinating and strikes a chord with a vast number of South Africans of all ages, creeds, cultures and backgrounds.

This self-made man of exceptional character was determined from a young age to change the course of his destiny by buckling down, educating himself and applying an ethos of hard work and determination to achieve his goals. What makes him stand out in the crowd is his eloquence and finesse along with his ability to empathise with those dealing with a plethora of issues and social ills affecting their everyday lives. These are all things that he can relate to as a man who stemmed from a semi-rural KwaZulu-Natal village and applying his talents to attempt to make a difference in the lives of ordinary South Africans that he comes into contact with every day.

The story is unique as Mseleku credits much of his success and outlook on life to the influential women who have helped to shape him, namely his much loved mother, Nomathemba Joyce Mseleku, grandmother, Phiwe ‘Flo’ Dingile Mseleku and sister, Nompumelelo Sibusisiwe Mseleku as well as his four wives that we see in his television show.

Educated in his formative years in a fairly small rural school, Mseleku always understood and had been taught by his mother, who herself was an unqualified school teacher, that the key to success lies in the power of education. As such, he was encouraged and groomed from an early age by both his mother and grandmother and they everything they possibly could, leaving no stone unturned to assist him in his formal education, despite the extreme hardships they both faced as breadwinners and working and raising Mseleku and his sister, and Nompumelelo on their own.

Mseleku has always credited these strong and determined women as having played a vital and influential role in his life. With the family having been abandoned by his father in the first months of his life, he experienced and witnessed first-hand the hardships and impact of growing up without a father figure in his life.

Episode 5 of Season 1 of Uthando neSthembu pays tribute to the life of MaMseleku as Mseleku affectionately refers to his mother, where he explains to his own sons how he had to abandon his newly found employment at SABC Radio after graduating from the University of KwaZulu-Natal to return home to care for his ailing mother who had met with an unfortunate accident which rendered her bedridden. By then Gogo Flo had passed away and Nompumelelo living away from home to further her own studies. Mseleku was faced with the dilemma of choosing to continue with

Reviews for How I Made My First Million

[matome kgatle · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The content of this book is revolutionary and inspiring for the developing world context. The only minus is that the book has a lot of grammatical errors.