Are business cards still important in this digital age? I didn’t think so but my friend recently told me a story that made me almost change my mind.
Here’s what went down.
Something interesting happened to a friend of mine recently. He met a girl from South Africa, a pal of a pal. An Auditor, down here for work with a multinational. He and his pal showed her around, made sure she had a ball while she was in the country.
The mama told them the typical “If you are ever in South Africa, Holla”
So my boy one day gets posted for a work trip in, you guessed it, SA. So he hollas. Says she lives in Johannesburg and he’s working in Cape Town. He’s only going to be there for a week, so the mama says she can’t come over. Hawes make.
The very next day mama is posted to guess where, CAPE TOWN! So she hollas on E-Mail.
Just so happens, on the day the guy lands, he has no mpango. The first day was free to allow a dude to acclimatise. He’s part of a team of Kenyans down there for training. When the mama suggests drinks, he tells guys the storo. Kenyans being Kenyans, they decide to join in. She takes them to what he described as the “Mercury of huko”
The guys get to the bar, she chapas intro to her pals, she throws a pitcher of beer, they we get a table and do the Kenyan thing, Kunywa like a nonsense. The guys are dancing and some mama decides my boy is the one! She’s all up in his business,but it’s Wednesday so she’s like she can’t come back to the Hoteli.
So he gives her his card.
He didn’t have card for jobo so he gave her the one for his side-hustle, the one that says he’s the “Chief Executive Officer”.
Now, the chick who’s all over my boy knows the mama who they met in Kenya works for an Audit firm. Mama adds two and two together and decides my pal is “Young Money”, tells the pals.
S H I T G O E S V I R A L
All of a sudden they are surrounded by hot mamas, drinks are flowing like a nonsense and then, when they finally decide to leave, THEY GET A 50% DISCOUNT ON THE BILL because according to the owner of the bar “You are bringing money and jobs into the country and I want to do all I can to help”
So there you go, business cards do still matter :-).