A special meeting to celebrate being rated as one of the best networking groups in the world proved a massive success for a Birmingham based networking group this week. With over 50 members, BNI Sunrise, a business networking group that meets every week at Aston Villa Football Club, has passed more than £3.46 million over the last 12 months between its members and as a result of its sustained membership it has now gained ‘Platinum’ status and entered the ‘BNI Hall of Fame.’
BNI, which stands for Business Network International, is the world’s largest business networking organisation with over 180,000 members worldwide. Represented in more than 60 countries, BNI has passed more than $8.6 billion of business in the last 12 months. Operating on a business philosophy of ‘Givers Gain’ – by giving business to others, you will get business in return – BNI is the world’s most successful business networking organisation. Through structured meetings and ongoing training, members of BNI are actively encouraged to build relationships and find each other business. By entering the BNI Hall of Fame, BNI Sunrise is now in the elite top 1% of networking groups worldwide.
To commemorate such a significant landmark, BNI Sunrise made the celebratory meeting a black tie event, so it was an opportunity for the ladies and gentlemen of the networking group to dress in style and recognise their success.
As part of the celebrations, awards were handed out to various members who had made significant contributions in growing the group and passing the most business. There was also a more light hearted award for a member who had caused the most embarrassing moment in the last 12 months.
The whole event was recorded live by one of the members, Steve Feeney, who runs a SEO company based in Bromsgrove, and streamed on YouTube.
Lisa Gregory, the Chapter Director of BNI Sunrise said, ‘The meeting was a resounding success. To see everybody dressed for success at 6am in the morning for a breakfast meeting was quite a sight but this networking group is always worth getting up early for. I’m delighted that we’ve entered the BNI Hall of Fame and it’s testament to how we all work together so well. Birmingham is a great place to do business and with the profile of the city on the up and up, it’s great to see that a Birmingham-based networking group is making such an impact on the world stage and generating so much for a number of local businesses.’
Peter Higgs, Executive Director of BNI Birmingham and Coventry added, ‘This is a fantastic achievement for BNI Sunrise. The group should be proud of their success and the fact that they are regarded as one of the top networking groups in the world. The secret to their success is how they’ve managed to build strong relationships with each other, from both a business and social perspective. This group enjoys each others’ company and the effort they make to support each other and find business opportunities is why they’ve achieved such recognition.’
BNI Sunrise meets every week for a 90 minute breakfast meeting at Villa Park where business professionals come together to talk about their business, educate other members about the type of business they are looking for, and to pass business referrals. All the members work together with the aim of supporting each other and finding business.