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Being one of the founder members of the BNI High Flyer Chapter in Dubai, and a member of the Leadership Team, I had been an active participant in the group for 6 months. During this time, the amount of business I had generated for myself amounted to ZERO. I had given around 300,000AED (US$81,745) of referral business to other members and having received no business in 6 months I was starting to wonder whether this was really all worth while….

However, the Givers Gain philosophy certainly came into action, and when Gonzalo Gaspar a fellow BNI High Flyers member said he had some Spanish clients coming over who “may” be interested in buying. I thought that this could be yet just another dead end as there are plenty of people who like to think they can buy in Dubai….but not so many who have the facility to do it……

From meeting with the group, week in week out, I believe this instilled confidence in the other members, enough for Gonzalo to arrange an appointment with me for two highly respected investors to investigate purchasing in Dubai. They trusted Gonzalo and Gonzalo trusted me – and this certainly paid off - to the tune of a sales volume of 18M AED (US$ 4.9 Million) making the clients one of The First Groups top investors.

The wait certainly paid off – although a 6 months wait, the initial investment of 3750AED turning into 18M AED of business gave a return on investment of 480,000%!!! (I think that is correct, someone may want to double check my maths!)

Unfortunately the 18M AED didn’t go into my pocket directly, but it was fantastic to show my bosses the power of BNI. We are now looking to place other staff members into other chapters in Dubai.

Some industries covered within our group get business week in week out such as our resident Dentist, IFA and Guitar Teacher…..however the higher end, big ticket products do not – BUT…..it IS worth the wait and would recommend anyone who may think that they may never generate any business to hang on in there.

So a big thanks to Gonzalo and big thanks to BNI as without this networking facility, this monster deal would never have been made!

I can be reached at davidlewis@thefirstgroup.com for anyone who seeks advice on Real Estate in Dubai.

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