BNI Int'l: helping businesses reach high goals

Sara Pathirana

BNI International, the largest referral marketing and business networking organization holds a meeting every Thursday at 8.30 am, at the Royal College Skills Centre.

These meetings or 'chapters' are conducted by professionals and business people who get an opportunity to interact, achieve tools to network more effectively and gain exposure in their respective fields.

BNI International founded by Dr. Ivan Misner, is a US based organization, aimed at creating a business hub. Today, it is widely practiced in 55 countries worldwide. National Director Marjan A. Manzil, initiated the first chapter in Sri Lanka two years ago.

He emphasized the importance for members to attend meetings on time and the significance of being present for a meeting of this nature. He said there were professionals who have benefited from it by building contacts and getting opportunities to expand their businesses further. "There is this strategy, where only one person from one respective field is eligible to join a chapter and that in turn is to prevent rivalry. If two representatives attend from the same profession, one would have to join another chapter or initiate one. To this day, Dr. Misner's agenda is still being practised," Manzil explained.

This is a word-of-mouth marketing concept and BNI's primary focus was to support and encourage members in improving their businesses, educate them on how to network and achieve the ultimate goal. "At the moment, we are going through a business referral worth US$ three million.

There was also a potential marketing plan for a 250 chapter expansion," he further added.