the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself.” as per the Oxford English dictionary. The word has since been appropriated by marketing teams. It has been neatly packaged and given life. People can now make a living as “influencers”. Peddlers of the aforementioned capacity apparently. However, less and less seldom is someone influential actually viewed as an influencer, or vice versa, an influencer actually someone who is influential. It’s a weird digital era dynamic that much more learned folks than me must opine on.
The other day I saw real influence at work. A crazy patriot by the name of Bokang Kheekhe made a ridiculous bet that suggested his 12th placed team would beat the 4th placed Manchester United. Chelsea is his side, and those no hopes were summarily dispatched 4 goals to 1 by the mighty Man United. The bet said patriot had made was that if United beat Chelsea he would walk from Maseru to Roma. As a keen observer of social media and even keener observer of Manchester United I noted the wager. Unbeknownst to me so had countless others. As soon as the final whistle blew, I and many others reminded Kheekhe of his debt to us all as a social media community. We are in a whatsapp group together and suffice it to say he was the joke of that day!
Fast forward a couple of days and having accepted his debt Kheekhe manged to turn the whole thing in to a massive charity drive and opportunity for community development. Suddenly companies large and small were making pledges linked to this crazy patriot completing the walk. Even our small radio station wound up offering air time for a small business as well cash for a charity of his choosing. The Ouh La La parliament were all in and indeed even the minister of tourism honourable Shellie threw his hat in and participated in the walk.
Saturday morning at 7 am in the freezing cold we set off from the Ouh La La/Lancers parking lot (a public road closed of for private toll collection-a conversation for another day) everybody in good spirits while some complained about having imbibed a little too much hope and barley as they carbo loaded the previous night. At face value it looked like we had about 100 people at the start of our journey. Imagine that. 100 people supporting a guy who had lost a bet! A guy who’s used his platform to showcase Lesotho and the wonders of the tourism here as best he could. A true patriot with genuine regard for his country and community. He’s got his outlandish views but who doesn’t? The only difference I suppose is he shares his on the public platform while we share ours behind closed doors. Either way, he’s one of the most down to earth, humble guys to come out of the country.
In a conversation with his cousin the much shorter but still brilliant Tlotlisang, I shared my view that Kheekhe is a brand. You can quantify his effect and influence. In just over a week he had raised more than M30 000 for charity and also encouraged over 50 of us to drop whatever we had on our plates to walk from Maseru to Roma. That spoke to the question of influence I began this rumination with. The question remains, how does one monetize such a brand in an age of undue influence and fleeting supporting especially for “one of our own”? The man himself is not phased by all that, instead focusing on the next big tourism project. As I said, a crazy patriot. I want to tip my cap to Bokang Kheekhe for the service to his country for all these years. I want to congratulate him for completing the 34km walk that he hadn’t trained for and I also want to commend him for his indulgence of the Protea wine range. Solomon at Ouh La La ought to also thank him! He really turned the walk of shame in to a walk of fame, and for that we are extremely proud even if a little amused.
