BNI 2nd International Networking Week™
4th - 8th February 2008
It was a week of serious networking for BNI Members around the world, as their celebrated International Networking Week™ from 4th-8th February 2008 with many networking events, while creating numerous opportunities for their companies.
It was quite a busy week for members in Barbados as the week started off with a church service, followed by a breakfast meeting on Tuesday, 5th with members of all four chapters coming together. Members and visitors, were treated to an audio/video presentation by Dr. Ivan Misner (BNI Founder & Chairman) on the theme for this year “Changing the way the world does business”.
Guest Speaker, Mr. Dick Stoute – President of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce, delivered a very effective message on the challenges many small businesses encounter and noted that BNI is an excellent organisation for business people to link with, because of the many opportunities to do better business through developing strong business relationships, which is the key to any successful business.
Another highlight of this event was the BNI Young Entrepreneur Award. For the 2nd consecutive year, BNI Barbados has recognised and awarded one young entrepreneur with prizes for their initiative, drive, ambition and determination to succeed in their business.
The week of events continued with two workshop presentations by Members on the topics – Investing & Financial Planning and Health & Wellness. Members, the general public and business students from four secondary schools attended and were extremely impressed with the wealth of information they received from the presenters. Members’ Showcase Day was the final event of the week held at Jubilee Gardens, Bridgetown, where members showcased their products and services to the general public, which was also a very impressive event.
BNI Young Entrepreneur Award Winner 2008!
Young Entrepreneur - Shanika Burnett (R) with Sponsors (L-R)
Oral Dowell, Beverley Nicholls, Brian Toppin & Charles Carter
Shanika was nominated for this award by the organisation - BYBT (Barbados Youth Business Trust) and was selected by the BNI Directors and Sponsors. Her prizes included:
- One year free BNI membership
- An award plaque – donated by M Pact Incorporated
- $1,000.00 in Accounting Services from Dowell’s Advisory Services Inc.
- $1,000.00 in Legal Services from Beverley Nicholls- Attorney-at-Law
- $1,300.00 in Leadership Coaching from BJT Communications
- $500.00 in Printing Services from Premium Designs
The Executive Director of BYBT – Mrs Marcia Brandon, was present at the breakfast meeting to witness the presentation.
Shanika is ecstatic with her award as this is the first time she has won anything. Her prizes will now enable her to develop better management skills that are necessary for her company to reach its short, medium and long-term goals. No doubt her BNI membership in the Flying Fish Chapter will now positioned her to penetrate the global market with her unique product so she can continue on her winning streak.
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