Business group celebrates £700,000 year

A group of Lancaster and Morecambe businesses is celebrating after generating over £700,000 for one another in the last year.

BNI Morecambe is part of the world’s biggest referral organisation, Business Network International, and meets for breakfast every week at Lancaster & Morecambe College.

Established over 30 years ago, BNI now has over 185,000 members in over 70 countries worldwide. It works by organising weekly networking meetings for groups of businesses who work to find business opportunities for one another. Each group, or chapter, follows proven networking processes to ensure the maximum amount of business is generated for members.

Chapter president, Victoria Green of Lancaster-based V Move Estate Agents, said: “BNI Morecambe is one of three groups currently operating in the Lancaster and Morecambe area. Each one is at different stages of growth, but we’re all aiming to become two million pound chapters, which is quite common for a group with 40 members or more.

“We’re really proud to have achieved £700,000 in referrals in the last year. We currently have 27 members and, with more people applying to join the group every week, we’re hopefully on target for an even bigger cake next year!

“I think the secret to success with BNI is getting the right people in the group. We’re very lucky to have a fantastic set of people already, and we always welcome visitors to come along to see if it’s something that could work for them too. The more good people there are in a group, the better it works for everyone, so our doors are always open.”

The group celebrated its successful year, with a specially-made cake emblazoned with the £700,000 figure, representing the amount of business the group generated in the last year. To enquire about available spaces for local businesses in one of the three BNI chapters in Lancaster and Morecambe email [email protected].