Louise Eccles appointed executive director for BNI Lancashire

Louise Eccles has been appointed as executive director for BNI Lancashire, Greater Manchester East, Kirklees and Calderdale, following regional predecessor Mike Holman’s move to the role of national director for BNI UK earlier this year.

Louise previously worked alongside Holman as managing area director for Greater Manchester East, Kirklees and Calderdale since 2015, and was named Area Director of The Year by BNI UK in 2019.

She has also been recognised globally by the organisation for her work on mental health, for which she was presented with the organisation’s Givers Gain® award the same year.

The world’s leading business referral organisation, with over 300,000 members in 77 countries, BNI provides weekly networking meetings for groups of businesses, who follow a structured meeting agenda that enables them to use their combined network of contacts to find business opportunities and referrals for one another.

Last year, its members in towns and cities across the UK & Ireland shared over half a billion pounds (£538m) of business between one-another.

All three regions now managed by Louise have featured prominently in BNI’s list of top performing regions over the last ten years, with Greater Manchester East being named region of the year in 2020 and East Lancashire the same in 2018.

On commencing her new role, she said: “A study undertaken in Lancashire in 2017 showed BNI to have a significant positive impact on the economies of the areas in which it operates, bringing together the SMEs that form the backbone of UK Plc, and helping them grow together.

“Our members’ success comes from their commitment to helping one another, and our systems are entirely built on encouraging and facilitating an altruistic approach to business – if you help me, I’ll want to help you. It’s a case of tapping into and supporting a natural urge that humans have to help one another, and the success of BNI members across the world shows it works.

“As a member of BNI for over 13 years, I’ve seen so many people build the businesses of their dreams by committing to that ethos, while thriving personally in the community of likeminded people that BNI provides.

“BNI itself has undergone many changes in recent years, having adapted to things like the coronavirus and, I believe, coming out stronger. We’ve updated our systems and introduced new technologies that mean BNI members are now better connected with peers across the globe than ever before.

“We have such a fantastic community now, my message is, if you’ve never tried BNI, come along and see what we’re about. If you haven’t tried it for a while, come along and see what’s changed. Our doors are always open to people who want to prosper and grow through a teamwork approach to building their business.”

For more information about BNI, go to www.bnionline.co.uk.