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Europe BNI HAPPENINGS — The Netherlands
Second Launch Is Rousing Success
BNI HAPPENINGS — Germany BNI Launches New Chapter in Stuttgart
Currently named the "Nett-Worker" chapter ("Nett" in German translates to "nice, friendly or polite”), they meet at a local Italian restaurant in Stuttgart-Weilimdorf. In addition to Assistant Director, Rabea Schafer, Stuttgart's chapter boasts a distinctly female "power leadership team." Chapter Director (President) is Monika Gisi-Buttner of Gisi-Design, Membership Coordinator is Nicole Hamann of Hamann Consulting, while the Secretary-Treasurer is Christian Hintz of Life Portfolio Consulting. "Gunther and Rabea ran a very professional meeting," said European Training Director, Steve Lawson. "I think that all of the visitors were blown away by the event. Certainly when I trained the Leadership Team, they could not believe that so many people would be interested in coming." Gunther Verlager commented that one particular member, Thomas Sendelbach of SPS Project, is recognized now as the "Networking Champion." He brought 11 visitors to the launch, four visitors during the start phase and seven referrals during the start. Before the launch, the Stuttgart Nett-Worker chapter had already passed referrals for business worth 40,000 Euros (over $46,000 USD). Steve Lawson added, "We are expecting them to do good things in their region, and they plan on starting their next chapter in the near future." BNI HAPPENINGS — United Kingdom BNI-UK Holds ‘Magnificent’ Member’s Day
A questionnaire filled out by attendees at the end provided a lot of very positive feedback. BNI (Stickers) Keep It Together in Dakar Rally
And it might well have been had it not been for a few rolls of BNI stickers, which came to the rescue of Trowbridge chapter members Paul “Oz” Osborne and Greg McBride. The BNI stickers held together the wings of their dilapidated Hillman Hunter as it bounced its way across the Sahara Desert and 4,000 miles of the world’s most unforgiving terrain. The pair was competing in the not-so-famous Plymouth-Dakar Rally—a poor man’s version of the infamous Paris to Dakar Rally—in which all contestants had to take part in cars costing no more than £100, and on which no more than £15 had been spent on repairs and modifications. “Our BNI executive director Gavin Bain donated £50,” said Paul, boss of H2O Management Consultancy, “and this almost funded our purchase of the Hillman, which we rescued from someone’s back yard.” Meanwhile their travel costs were met by members of Bath, Bristol and Trowbridge chapters who raised over £500 for the trip. Despite numerous scrapes, a lost exhaust pipe, one wing falling off, a split in the fuel tank and discarded windscreen wipers, the duo arrived in Dakar just three weeks after leaving Plymouth. “It was amazing the car ever made it,” said Paul, “We’d put lots of BNI stickers along the worst cracks on the wings, and they held them together for most of the journey. One wing did eventually fall off but the stickers kept the other intact! We were amazed the car was still running when we reached the desert.” The money they raised was donated to the Royal United Hospital Appeal, including a £50 donation from BNI executive director Sarah Owen who followed their adventure on TV. Chapter Generates £6M in Business—Pre-Launch One of BNI’s newest groups, the Ilkley chapter in North Yorkshire, has just set an incredible record, generating more than £6 million worth of new business before it was even launched! The achievement, believed to be unique in BNI’s worldwide history, has been verified by BNI’s Executive Director in Yorkshire, Niri Patel, who said, “It sounds almost unbelievable, but Ilkley’s core group of 21 founder members have produced more business in just five weeks before they launched, than many chapters achieve over several years.” Both Niri and Assistant Director, John Middleton, who worked closely with the group during its short pre-launch phase, have attributed its instant accomplishment to two key factors: the dynamic business nature of the core group members and their willingness to learn from the experiences of other BNI chapters in the region. John, who is a founder member of the region’s largest and until now, best-performing chapter, Leeds North, said the new Ilkley chapter had been fortunate in attracting high-powered businessmen and women who between them had excellent contacts, not least in the region’s legal, financial and property development sectors. “While there was instant synergy between most members, what made this work so quickly was their enthusiasm to learn about and adopt the BNI business networking philosophy,” John said. “It was remarkable to see how rapidly they took to the Givers Gain ethos and how everyone was determined from the outset to get it right and become successful—to the point where the group even voted to exclude two would-be members whom they did not feel would do the chapter justice.”
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