Business Network International Uganda Gears up for 10 Year Anniversary Celebrations 

Business owners in Uganda have hailed the power of professional Networks and Referrals in aiding companies to thrive amidst growing challenges. 

This was during the launch of the Business Network International (BNI) 10 year anniversary celebrations.

BNI says over the past ten years it’s members have passed a remarkable UGX 200.9Bn in business value among each other, demonstrating the power of structured networking to drive real economic impact.

The 10 year celebration activities will include a digital campaign documenting and sharing BNI stories and the BNI East African Convention on the 8th August.

BNI is a global business referral organization founded in 1985 by Dr. Ivan Misner to help members grow their businesses through structured networking.

Diana Kibuuka the National Director says BNI Uganda has 570 members with 14 chapters and aims to grow to 1000 members by the end of the year.

Kibuuka highlights how the network has helped businesses navigate the economic landscape in order to grow and succeed.

“If you’re doing business you’re doing business with other people, you’re getting suppliers on boarding them and managing them, many of the big brands we work with in BNI like Seroma Schools and Victoria Schools the value they find is with the suppliers because these are credible these are tested.” She asserted.

Mark Karamira the director of SPE taxi elaborated on how businesses were able to leverage on BNI networks to survive the disruption brought on by the COVID pandemic.

“Many of the businesses that struggled were those that didn’t have a community of like-minded professionals with whom they could hold hands….. So people found themselves even more isolated while in BNI that sense of community even grew stronger,” he stated.

Dr. Steven Mugabe the proprietor of Code Clinic provided an inspirational testimony on how BNI was able to save his business from the brink of collapse.

“BNI saved my business because if it had come a year later Code Clinic would be no more he revealed.”

Mugabe says he was able to achieve a lot of advice on financing and marketing as well as the opportunity to gain referrals that have kept his business flourishing.

Karamira who is a two time President of the Sunrise chapter says that even though the initial start of the BNI network was slow it has now picked up and is being propelled by its own momentum.

He shared an experience of how he was able to collaborate with another member Uganda Travel Bureau and execute a business project to provide transport in a deal worth over 30,000 dollars.

“In 2017 a client asked me to handle a conference for them, I do airport transportation but they wanted a lot more than what we do and so I did a collaboration with one of our members at the time UTB which was a travel agency  and we were able to execute seamlessly and did great  business of 30,000 dollars.” Karamira revealed.

BNI Uganda Members include providers of financial literacy training, business coaching, architecture and engineering services, car sales, legal services, baking schools, cleaning services and much more.