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Business Network International (abbreviated: BNI) is an American franchise company founded by Dr. Ivan Meissner in 1985, with the aim of establishing self-employed groups and small businesses for the purpose of mutual assistance in recruiting clients and business networks.

Today the company has franchisees in about 74 countries, and it operates a network of about 10,000 groups and 284 thousand members. The groups meet on a weekly basis with the aim of the members helping each other in providing business referrals and making business collaborations. The company claims that it is the largest in the world engaged in generating business referrals.

History
The idea to establish BNI was born in November 1984, after one of Meissner's biggest clients, who was then a marketing consultant, left him and he wanted to look for ideas on how to recruit new clients. Together with a group of businessmen, he founded a group, 'The Network', which met for the first time in January 1985. In March of that year another group was opened and by the end of the year 20 groups were opened. In 1991, Meissner began thinking about making the network international and changed its name to BNI. In January 1993, the first group outside the United States opened in Thunder Bay, Ontario. In December 1995, the first branch was opened in Europe - in Great Britain. In 1996 the Australian franchise was opened, and in 1998 the franchise in South Africa. In November 2014, Graham Weihmiller was appointed CEO of the global company. In May 2016, the number of members in the organization exceeded 200,000.

Groups
Each BNI group includes freelancers, self-employed and small business qowners people from a wide variety of professions and fields, with the rule that no two members of the group will have the same profession, in order to prevent group members from competing with each other. The groups meet on a weekly basis, and have a fixed agenda that include a short training in the field of business networking, personal presentations lasting about 30 seconds by each member of the group about their businesses - in which the members indicate for the most part which business references they are looking for. and a central presentation of 8-10 minutes in which one of the group members presents his business in details. The main presenter at each meeting is chosen by lottery.

Between meetings the members of the groups are expected to conduct personal business meetings with each other and refer clients to each other, with each meeting the group reports how many such meetings took place, and how many referrals were made. People who received referrals that turned into deals, during the meeting, publicly thank their colleagues for giving them the referral, stating the amount of money the deal made as a result. The groups keep a constant record of both the number of meetings and referrals between the members, and the amounts of money the members earned as a result of them.

The groups allow their members to invite guests to meetings, with the aim of expanding their ranks and the business connections of their members. A guest may, after two visits, submit to the group a request to join. This request is considered by the committee of members of the group, which performs an in-depth examination of the candidate, including conversations with recommenders, examination of documents and approvals of the business, and even examination of its products and works. The decision is given to the candidate within two weeks of submitting the application. New entrants receive from the organization workshops for developing networking skills, self-marketing and customer referral.

The members are required to participate in the group meetings, with more than three absences in six months being grounds for their removal from the group and the opening of their 'field' or profession to submit new applications. However, a group member who knows that he will be absent from the meeting, may send a 'place changer' in his place to tell about the business - a client, colleague or employee. In such a case, his absence will not be registered as a professional absence, in order to prevent the members of the group from regretting it. The groups meet on a weekly basis in the morning hours, and have a fixed structure. They include a short training in the field of business networking, personal presentations lasting about 30 seconds by all the members of their group - the companies mostly note. and a central presentation of 8-10 minutes in which one of the group members presents his business in detail. The main presenter at each meeting is chosen by lottery in advance.

Between meetings the members of the groups are expected to conduct personal business meetings with each other and refer clients to each other, each meeting reports on how many such meetings have taken place, how many meetings have been created. People received referrals that may lead to deals, thanking their colleagues for the referral in a public meeting, noting the deal that followed. The groups keep a constant record of both the number of meetings and referrals between the members, and the amounts of money the members earn from them.

The groups allow their members to invite guests to meetings, with the aim of expanding their ranks and the business connections of their members. A guest may, after two visits, submit to the group a request to join. This request is considered by the committee of members of the group, which performs an in-depth examination of the candidate, including conversations with Mamli, examines documents and business approvals, and even examines his products and works. The decision is given to the candidate within two weeks of submitting the application. New joiners receive from the organization workshops for developing networking skills, self-marketing and customer referral.

The members participated in the group's meetings, with more than three absences in six months being grounds for their removal from the group and the opening of their field or profession to submit new nominations. However, a group member who knows that he will be absent from the meeting, can send a 'substitute' a book about the business in his place - a client, colleague or employee. In such a case, Hydro will not be registered as an absence.