Across the Globe - Europe
Portugal
BNI in Lisbon Takes Off—Again!

BNI Portugal launched its 6th chapter on Thursday, December, 7, 2006, in Lisbon. Over 60 people were present, including Hélder Falcão and Terry Hamill, both National Directors for BNI in Portugal and Brazil.

A fantastic networking atmosphere was created, which allowed for a 30-second presentation by every invitee. Visitors commented, "BNI is the new way of making business in Portugal. It's the tool we've been waiting for!"

The chapter, BNI Lider, currently has 12 members, and they have received dozens of applications, which are expected to raise their ranks to the country target of 40 members per chapter.

BNI in Portugal has officially launched six chapters, and there are 13 core groups in progress.


Portugal
BNI Portugal Trains 7 New Regional Directors

Since February 2006, a total of 24 Regional Directors have been trained by both Hélder Falcão and Terry Hamill, National Directors for BNI in Portugal and Brazil.

Last month, seven new directors were invited to the gorgeous Quinta da Marinha, near Lisbon in Cascais for training. In attendance were a father and son at the same training to become regional experts in networking and develop four chapters each. They both belong to BNI chapters in Lisbon and represent "Dorma," a large multinational corporation that specializes in access controls and biometrics.

These seven directors have diverse backgrounds, including: professional model and photographer, high tech agriculture company, real estate in the Algarve, Portuguese Traditional Products, TAX Auditing and Consulting, and the Access Control business.

A good "VIVA" to these fantastic directors, whom are all expected to attend the next International Conference!

Submitted by Hélder Falcão, National Director - BNI Portugal and Brazil


Poland
BNI Poland Growing Fast

BNI in Poland has developed very quickly. On February 22, 2006, we held our first information meeting in Warsaw. We now have four chapters in our capital city and four pre-core groups in the four major Polish cities: Bydgoszcz, Krakow, Katowice, and Lodz.

Another success was the publication of the Polish version of Givers Gain, which help us to implement corporate culture across Poland. Three other of Ivan Misner's books have now been translated and will be published in early 2007.

Our third success was bringing the next level of training to our Polish/Warsaw BNI Chapters members on November 27, 2006. It was the first time I ran a networking workshop. And it was quite successful!

Submitted by Greg Turniak, National Director - BNI Poland


Romania
BNI Launches 36th Country

On September 15, 2006, just a few days after the first information session about BNI, Romania had its first pre-core chapter meeting. Exactly three months later, the first chapter, CREMA BNI, had its kick-off on December 15, 2006, which is a record time for opening BNI in a new country!

The 15 core group members worked hard, and there were more than 70 people at the event who had the privilege of launching the first chapter in Romania. Surprise guest Norm Dominguez, BNI's CEO, joined us live via videoconferencing. He surprised the chapter by having the Romanian flag and "Welcome to BNI" written in Romanian on a big screen; this received a burst of applause from the audience.

CREMA BNI members were welcomed to the BNI family Executive Director Ana Prodan and National Director Sam Schwartz, who gave each woman a rose, as is customary in Romania. With the opening of this chapter Romania became the 36th country to launch BNI.

When the time came for each member to give their 60-second introduction, a big screen featured information and photos of each member (some of even displayed their childhood photos, which gave the audience a big laugh). This presentation was organized by Lonut Toader (the first member of the chapter) from Relevance Company.

In addition, all visitors and members received a small box in the shape of a star, designed by Lucica Gheorghe from Display Company, and filled with chocolate, donated by Heidi's Chocolate.

Four of the guests submitted applications on the spot, and others will bring applications with them to the next meeting. There is already a second pre-core group in the making as a result of the launch.

In the evening, the members celebrated the Launch together with their partners and had a surprise birthday party for me.

My visit was a great success because we achieved our goal to launch on the day we scheduled. I also had the opportunity to provide some training and workshops for the members. In addition, I was pleasantly surprised to see the personal change and development in all the members since they joined BNI and the way they took to the philosophy of Givers Gain.

I see a great future for BNI Romania, especially now that Romania has become part of the European Union. Romanian business people are embracing new ideas with ease.

I would like to give a special thanks to the pioneer members who had the vision to lead the way, and their Bucharest Executive Director Ana Prodan - without her aspiration this would not have happened.

Submitted by Sam Schwartz, Executive Director - BNI Northern Virginia, National Director - BNI-Israel, Hungary, and Romania
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