I love acting but impacting people is my purpose — Shaffy Bello

Shaffy Bello is one of Nollywood’s most loved screen goddesses. Not one to rest on her prowress in the movie industry, she has built another platform, ‘What I know’, to impact the younger generation by using her wealth of experience to help others who want to navigate the entertainment industry. She spoke to journalists during her annual ‘What I know’ event held recently about why she is passionate about creating impact. ROTIMI IGE brings excerpts.

How long have you been nurturing the idea of the ‘What I Know’ masterclass?

after my 50th birthday, God dropped it in my heart to do this. I had been nurturing it because I was scared of coming out to do this, I was scared because I wondered if I was truly ready, if there was time and if people would show up. I actually planned to do it for free, but then everyone around me insisted that value must cost something, so we decided to put a price on it. I just really wanted to impact people and ignite something within them. I thank God that it happened this way and people were impacted.

We all know Shaffy the actor and singer. But why did it take you this long to show this side of you?

I think it is God’s time. I think this was the right time, and I think that I was being prepped to do this. After I became an actor, I realised that I have an audience now and I have done acting for so long now that it is time to do something else. I knew within me that acting is not my purpose, it is simply what I do, and I love doing it. I love what I do, but impacting people is my purpose. Obviously, I am going to be juggling both now because that is where my passion lies.

Big names like yours in the industry will likely opt for entertainment related events to inspire people, why did you decide to go the line of mentoring?

It is simply because that is me, that is who I am. That is what my ‘source’ (God) has brought me up to do. That is what has been instilled in me; that is what I was called to do. For example, Bovi is a comedian. His purpose is to make people laugh, and he impacts people with laughter; I impact people with this, and this is my own calling and I have to work in line with it.

What do you hope the attendees would take home from the lecture?

Fulfilment and a hunger to do something different. If you have been doing the same thing and it is not working for you or you need some change, I think with the things that we talked about in class, if you practise it everyday; which takes a lot, I honestly think that everybody can achieve what they want.

What is your hope for this initiative?

To take this all over. I want this to become a national tour. That is what I would like and I think that is where we are going. We are going to make this a national tour, and we will go to different states and inspire people. It is not about money for me, I have gotten to that place that all I am looking for is sponsors so they can lighten this weight on me and I won’t have to keep spending my money to do this. If I get people to back me up, I can go very far and reach more people.

Impact and entertainment don’t necessarily go hand in hand, they are sort of like two parallel lines. Where is the new balance for Shaffy Bello?

The beauty of it is that we can set dates for the classes, and everything I need to speak about is in me, I carry that with me everywhere. So in reality, one does not affect the other. I am shooting films and I take the time out to go and do what I love to do and create impact. After that I come right back to what I do best.

You said during the class that when you are done telling people what you know, many people will not like you. Are you worried about the reception of what you have to say?

Do you really think I care what other people think? The people that I care about are the people who are going to give me money to give back to the people; the people that will make this easier for me, the people that will sponsor me to take my message on a tour so that thousands of people can access it instead of hundreds of people. There is a lot going on in the social media space, and we want our children to veer back to where they want to be. This is one of those channels.

What lessons have you learned from this initiative that you plan to apply going forward in future editions?

I am not going to rely on people to help me make it bigger. I have to have to have the funds and sponsors to be able to do so. You cannot keep relying on people, you have to rely on yourself. I had to rely heavily on myself financially to do this and I cannot keep doing that.

Any plans to write a book?

Anything is possible. When that time comes, I’ll let you know.

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