 On Friday, August 27, 2010, BNI Nigeria launched their first chapter, BNI Premier, with over 107 business professionals in attendance. BNI Nigeria National Director Chimaobi James Agwu and his team gave a fantastic presentation which took event attendees through the history of BNI, the benefits of joining BNI, the principles of BNI, BNI’s networking strategy, and a demo (an official meeting of the BNI Premier chapter).
The BNI Nigeria team also showed video clips of BNI meetings in other countries, presented testimonials of how BNI members have benefitted from joining BNI, and played Dr. Ivan Misner’s 2010 International Networking Week® video.
The BNI Premier chapter is made up of members from an array of professions—from a fish monger to a fund manager to an education consultant to a sand dredger, this group is certainly diverse and it’s apparent that they’re off to a fantastic start. Since the launch of BNI Nigeria three months ago, the members of the BNI Premier chapter have generated over N73 million in business (486,666.00 USD) for each other!
Word of BNI and its impact in Nigeria is spreading throughout the region and many new people are requesting to join; people from far-reaching places, like Abuja and Warri, are inquiring about how to set up chapters in their locations.
National Director Chimaobi James Agwu predicts that things for BNI Nigeria are only going to continue getting better and he and his team are looking forward to the day when they play host to their own National BNI Conference and have Dr. Ivan Misner, BNI’s Founder, attend the event. Says Agwu, “BNI Nigeria has come to stay. Our next challenge is membership growth, chapter growth and business growth. We have mapped Lagos into 15 zones and have commenced efforts to establish chapters in each zone and thus make membership and meeting attendance easier for our people.”
From Dr. Ivan and Elisabeth Misner, BNI Headquarters, and BNI Directors and members around the world:
Congratulations to National Director Chimaobi James Agwu and all of BNI Nigeria on your great success! |