Please let us know your journey with Gazelles. How long have each one of you been with the chapter? What do you think has changed from then and what has evolved now?
Lalit: I have been a member since March 2017. Chapter has gone through a lot – a metamorphosis, if you will. It has constantly grown. First to GOLD and then to PLATINUM. My journey with Gazelles has been an amazing journey – not only in Business terms but I have been able to build fantastic relationships that I would cherish for life. It was a struggling Chapter and now to become the Best Chapter of the Region.
Neelima: I have been a member since June 2018. When I joined, including me there were only 5 women in the chapter and now we have 15. And women in the chapter are not only contributing as members but are also taking up roles and outperforming them, therefore raising the bars even further.
Mohit: I have been a member since July 2018. When I joined, we were about 35 members and not only do we have 55 members now, but a team of well-balanced, contributing and aggressive members.
Your team has been the first chapter ever to reach 100 points in the history of BNI UAE. What’s the secret to your success?
Well, we can’t really quantify the secret to our success. It has been many factors which worked for us. Right members contributing in the right manner, working towards the goals established for the Chapter. Crucial was that the members understood the WHY behind their contribution. Also, more specifically to reach 100 points, we were very selective on the criteria of inviting only the right visitors, who seem as the right fit to the culture we have established in the Chapter and of course being all the more selective with the members inducted into the Chapter.
What are you proud of the most? Any moments you treasure and would like to share with us?
We all are most proud of the fact that we were able to bring our Chapter to 100 points.
Mohit: A moment to be treasured would definitely be the Visitors day conducted in September 2019 in which we had about 40 visitors and were able to induct 8 super aggressive members which brought us to the Platinum Chapter status.
Lalit: Moments I treasure the most is the recognition of Gazelles in each Leadership Team Forum as the Best performing Chapter of the Region.
Neelima: The moments I treasure the most are the special meetings and amazing socials that we have conducted like our social at the Gurudwara for Iftaar, Breast cancer awareness meeting, Women’s day celebration meeting, and many such instances where we as members have bonded on social causes and this has brought us together as a Family where we think beyond Business.
Tell us about the Game of Gazelles.
We were informed that the BNI Game usually doesn’t work and that was the trigger for us to make it work. A lot of planning and consistent effort was involved to make this a success in our chapter. As a result, we noticed that we almost doubled our referrals, 121s and most importantly closed Business.
What has been working for you in your chapter and what would you like to focus on as a leadership team?
We as the Leadership Team have constantly tried to be fair and transparent to our members. At times, we have taken harsh decisions in favor of the Chapter. Also, we focus on the BNI core value of Recognition of members, which has been one of the most motivating factors for the members to contribute to the Chapter.
Our prime focus is to protect our members and ensure that all of them benefit from their memberships in BNI.
