How BNI UAE’s structured, referral-based networking model builds success stories

Networking doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Many find it difficult to open up unless they have made a genuine connection and have built trust over time. Even when there’s trust, some people are reluctant to ask for a business referral for fear of rejection or worry that they might be imposing themselves on others.

Taking this uncertainty, awkwardness and hesitation out of the networking equation has been BNI UAE, the local franchise of the world's largest business networking organisation, BNI.

For 20 years, BNI UAE has been operating a structured, relationship-driven networking model, where trust, commitment and accountability reign supreme.

“You need a structure where you know that when you're turning up somewhere, everybody else is there for the same reason,” says Bijay Rajnikantt Shah, National Director of BNI UAE, explaining the model where nothing is left to chance.

With a commitment to meet every single week on a fixed day at a fixed venue and time, BNI members build trust in their relationships with each other. “When you turn up to that meeting, there's a structured agenda,” he elaborates, “which is designed around getting to know everyone else in the room, educating everybody as to what it is that you do, and then being very specific in the kind of introductions or referrals you're looking for.

“You don't feel any shame in asking for help, asking who you want to be referred to, and everybody's committed to helping each other.”

As all the members come together with the same objective of generating referrals for their businesses, this kind of structured model works superbly, Shah says.

It shows.

1,500 members across 40 chapters and counting

Over the past 20 years, BNI UAE has grown to be a force to be reckoned with, boasting 1,500 members across 40 chapters. With each chapter offering membership to only one person in a business profession, it’s a win-win situation for all the members when it comes to garnering referrals within their fields. Being a hard-contact network, chances of recall for referrals are also very high.

But what truly sets BNI UAE apart is the fact that members can measure the return on their investment.

“The whole process is results-driven,” explains Shah. “We have a lot of tools and a scoring system so that you can actually calculate the return on your time and money.”

Every member is expected to record their referrals for fellow members on the BNI UAE app, and if a referral is converted into business, they are encouraged to report the revenue generated.

Shah recounts the story of a dentist who had referred his patient, a foreign investor, to a property developer in his chapter, which resulted in business worth tens of millions of dirhams.

Over the course of two decades, BNI UAE members have generated more than Dh3.7 billion in closed business through tens of thousands of referrals.

What drives this referral-based model is the BNI philosophy of Givers Gain – the belief that when you help others succeed, you are in fact opening doors for yourself.

“If you're part of my network and I'm regularly referring business to you – I'm not asking for anything in return because we discourage commissions, cuts or anything like that – and I'm doing it purely out of good faith and goodwill, then you are kind of indebted or obliged to see how you can help me,” explains Shah. “You would go out of your way to help me in return. That's how all BNI members work. They're referring business to each other without expecting any commissions, and yet, the referrals flow around the room and the ecosystem all the time.”

As BNI UAE has grown over the past two decades, so has its offerings. From establishing hybrid chapters to leveraging technology to enhance results, the organisation has kept pace with change, pivoting at the right moments.

BNI UAE Expo 2025 – bigger and better than ever

In recent years, BNI UAE has organised large-scale networking events to expand its reach and impact in the local business community. This year, as it celebrates 20 years of success, it plans to go big – BNI UAE Expo 2025 is expected to bring together more than 100 exhibitors from the local and international BNI chapters as well as 1,000 SMEs and startups from across the UAE and beyond at the JAFZA One Convention Centre from May 9-10.

In addition to the strategic and industry-specific networking that people have come to expect from BNI UAE, such as speed networking and contact sphere networking, the expo features keynotes and panel discussions that will enhance the knowledge base of participants.

“If you think about ChatGPT or AI in general, everybody's talking about it, but then how does a small business really use this or incorporate it in their business so they can also benefit from these technologies?” asks Anuradhha B. Shah, Co-national Director of BNI UAE. To help small and medium-sized businesses take advantage of the latest trends, the expo has lined up expert speakers on the subjects.

“Business coaching is another topic that will be discussed at the expo,” she says. “How do you apply the principles of design thinking to your business? How do you think out of the box? These sort of topics will be covered in panel discussions, fireside chats, and keynotes. We want to give this knowledge base to members, the SMEs that don't necessarily have access to all these trending topics.”

In its 20^th year, BNI UAE has decided on Beyond as the theme for the expo to push boundaries. “We want to stretch our members,” explains Anuradhha. “We want people to think, what more can you do? If you're setting goals, how do you stretch yourself? If you are networking, what would you do differently? How can all of us individually do that one thing differently that would take us beyond our comfort zone, stretch ourselves and make it happen for ourselves? So that was the whole idea of Beyond as a theme – beyond business, beyond expectations, and beyond limits.”

Open to BNI members as well as the business community of the UAE, BNI UAE Expo 2025 is also an opportunity to meet and network with people across borders. “We expect BNI international members, not just from the GCC but beyond, from Asia to exhibit with us so that they can reach UAE members as well as visitors, the general business community in the country, and vice versa.”

Growth to continue

While BNI UAE Expo 2025 is expected to make waves, Shah has high hopes for his organisation’s too. “With the UAE witnessing a constant influx of people, we anticipate the growth to continue and BNI UAE membership to touch the 2,000 mark by the end of this year,” he says.  

BNI UAE has also expanded into other emirates with a chapter in Ras Al Khaimah and talks are under way to relaunch in Abu Dhabi. In the next two years, he expects to see the total number of chapters to grow to 60, with Ras Al Khaimah and Abu Dhabi accounting for at least 10 and Dubai contributing another 10.

Amid all this growth, Shah wants to make sure that all BNI UAE members get appropriate return on their investment.

“It's very easy sometimes when you have a lot of success stories and so many members for some to get left behind, but our focus is to make sure that every single member benefits and everybody can proudly say, ‘yes, I got my share’. So, the question is how do we make the pie bigger? It's not about cutting it into multiple slices but how do we make sure that the overall pie is big for everybody to get a generous share of it.”

And the Shahs are on it.  

To learn more, visit BNI EXPO (bniuaeexpo.com) and buy tickets for the expo at Platinumlist.net