Registration is open for a National Visitors Meeting to be held at the Palace Hotel in Sliema on February 8, during International Networking Week (INW). The event is marked annually in various countries in February to bring professionals together and share their experiences.
George Bonello, who will conduct the meeting, said the INW initiative is the brainchild of Business Networking International (BNI), an organisation that holds quarterly events to provide entrepreneurs, especially start-ups and small businesses a chance to develop professional relations with other participants to network and drive sales.
“Every professional’s goal is to fully utilise and develop an ability to harness the power of networking, and BNI aims to facilitate that,” said Bonello, who is managing director of Sidroc Services, a medical supplies company.
Michele Vella Distefano, owner of Photomaker Photobooths, a company focusing on image marketing using photo booths, said the goal of the event is to support the building of a professional support system with hundreds of others from different spheres of society including sales, marketing, finance, and a wide range of small and corporate businesses.
“It also encourages the maintenance of those vital contacts in order to build trust that leads to longstanding, profitable business connections,” she noted.
Every professional’s goal is to fully utilise and develop an ability to harness the power of networking
Registrations can be made online at tinyurl.com/4aw8zybd/. The event starts at 6.45am with a warming-up networking session. It is recommended that each attendee brings at least 100 business cards to exchange with people they meet. This will be followed by presentations and real-life businesses experiences of how BNI Malta helped Maltese professionals and entrepreneurs particularly in recent years.
Further direct networking opportunities will be offered during the meeting which is expected to be end by around 9.30am. This will be followed by direct one-to-one meetings between participants during the breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant. The meeting fee, including breakfast can be settled – in cash (only) – upon arrival at the meeting.
“Participating in this event includes numerous benefits: it connects attendees with those who share their interests, can help them hone their skills and build confidence, and help them gain additional knowledge, perspective and referrals by networking outside their usual circle,” Vella Distefano said.
Carmel Bonello, co-owner of Do Essential Oils Malta, added: “BNI has been operational in Malta for more than 11 years and has tangibly helped a significant amount of businesses, not only to establish a good reputation but also to grow profitably.
“In the last 10 years, BNI has helped us not only to develop a community of clients in Malta, but served us in selling in other countries as well via the BNI Connect network.”
BNI is a community of over 280,000 persons in 10,800 chapters across 70 countries. It is estimated that in 2020 alone, its members generated over $15.5 billion in revenue for member businesses. More information can be obtained by calling on 9942 7457.