Blackburn business group's £1m milestone

A Blackburn-based business networking group is celebrating after generating £1m in business for its members since its launch.

BNI Infinity is part of the world’s biggest referral organisation, Business Network International, and meets for breakfast every Friday at Wilpshire Golf Club.

Established over 30 years ago, BNI now has over 200,000 members in over 70 countries worldwide. It works by organising weekly meetings for groups of businesses, who use their combined network of contacts to find business opportunities and referrals for one another.

Each group, or chapter, follows proven processes to ensure the maximum amount of business is generated for members.

BNI Infinity chapter president Dean Williams of health and safety company, Unicorn Solutions, said: “We’re really proud to have generated £1 million of business from our weekly meetings here in Blackburn. One of the reasons BNI stands out from other types of networking groups is that we have proven procedures that ensure the early mornings are worth it, and that we really do generate a significant amount of business for each other.

“One of those procedures is the Thank You for the Business box, which is passed around each week, and is how we track the amount of business generated.

“We currently have just over 20 members in our chapter, but we are aiming to grow the group to 40 people with the aim of generating £2 million every year. The more good businesses we have in the group, the greater amount of business we can generate for each other, so visitors are always welcome to come along and see if it’s for them.” BNI Infinity is one of three chapters in the East Lancashire area, and a total of eleven in Lancashire as a whole.