When I moved back to Malta in 2018 and established my business here, I needed to build professional contacts quickly, and BNI really helped me to achieve that. A couple of years later, I pivoted into Forex and Crypto trading, moved to Cyprus, and started to build a trading team. Once again, BNI came to my rescue. Thanks to the possibility of joining international BNI business networking groups, I now have clients from 24 countries – mainly gained through BNI referrals. I’m so grateful to be part of BNI.

This is the testimony of Clive Cusens, a member of and educator within the Innovators Club. who like many business people in the world had to drastically adapt his business as his world was faced by upheaval following the onset of the pandemic.

In the last two years, the world’s largest business referral organisation, Business Network International (BNI) has changed out of all recognition.  With the advent of Covid, BNI stopped all in-person meetings and, using zoom technology, transitioned all its 10,600 plus chapters across the world to BNI Online. In this way, members continued to meet, brief colleagues on their capabilities, products and services, and pass business referrals not only locally but also internationally, which during 2021 alone generated over €18 billion in revenue for its 286,000 members.

“Resources available to members, such as BNI Connect, BNI Business Builder and BNI University have continued to expand during the pandemic to help Members with both business and personal development,” explained Malta BNI national director David Bullock.  

“BNI Online empowers members to network and do business with other members across 75 countries.  Here in Malta, we started monthly BNI Business Briefings for non-members and joint international meetings with countries such as Cyprus, Italy, Romania, USA and South Africa, affording business persons in Malta to meet fellow entrepreneurs from the local five chapters and thousands of overseas chapters and, moreover, getting both local and international business they could not have got any other way.  No wonder we are seeing a renewed interest in networking,” he said.

Real business life experiences of the last two years and the showcasing of BNI Connect, BNI University – considered the world’s leading education platform for business networking – and BNI Business Builder will be shared during an Open Day being held on Thursday 24^th February 2022 at 5.00pm for 5.15pm via zoom. To reserve a free place, register now at https://tinyurl.com/2jbrn356c With the theme ‘Better Together’, companies seeking more business are welcome to visit this Malta BNI Open Day.

“Attending meetings of other chapters outside Malta as well as attending joint international meetingshas been beneficial for our Integritas Group,” said Dr Stefan Patrick Gauci, the Group’s head of business advisory. “BNI is giving Integritas Group a wider spectrum of connections for its business through various online virtual meetings.”

For Greta Rapinett, Customer Experience Trainer and Consultant, BNI is a support system for people who are still building their businesses and growing their network.  “It is great to have conversations with different people in both Maltese and overseas chapters.  Also to learn about other industries through BNI Connect – it gives us valuable knowledge and confidence.”

Peter J. Sullivan, director and franchise owner of Remax Crown, a real estate sales and letting agency based in Sliema, said: “Through BNI, I immediately found responsible architects, solicitors, consultancies, and financial companies whom I could trust and refer my clients. Meantime, I am referred with serious business leads by other BNI members.  On top, BNI also helped me with public speaking.”

During the past two years, with practically no business events or social occasions, professional photographer John Grech had to re-build his business almost from scratch. “Joining BNI helped me not only to build new networking groups, but most importantly, it helped me share experiences and learn to think out of the box, find new opportunities and adopt new strategies. The journey was long and at times very difficult, but joining BNI helped me to continue living my dream. It was definitely one of the best decisions I made in recent years.”

In the last two years, Malta BNI turned disruption brought about by the pandemic into a massive opportunity for its members to increase their business in Malta and also to find different prospects overseas without the need of actually travelling by maximizing the flexibility and facilities that technology places at their disposal.