So, the BNI Big Breakfast has come and gone. Over 400 BNI members and guests gathered at Lord’s Cricket Ground this morning for almost five hours of networking and presentations.
Most of the Clerkenwell Chapter was there in force and we’re all looking forward to the imminent launch of BNI Connect which will transform the way we network online.
Our graphic designers and printers Calverts, today found out that they are in the first cohort of companies to get the SEE (Social, Ethical and Environmental Transparency) accreditation.
These days, corporate, government and third sector clients alike want to know whether they are dealing with a socially responsible supplier. Calverts already has a number of environmental certifications, but the SEE scheme also requires members to report on community impacts, corporate governance, donations and payments, human rights, marketplace ethics and workforce standards. If you’re interested to know how the SEE scheme works (it’s ideal for SMEs), or what Calverts does about paying its taxes fairly or supporting employees with caring responsibilities – not to mention why it’s in the top flight of London design and print agencies – there’s a link to the SEE website here.
Just a few days now until the BNI Big Breakfast at Lord’s Cricket Ground. As this is such an important event, the Chapter will not be holding it’s usual meeting this Thursday but preparing itself for the main event the next day.
Well over 400 people from Chapters all over London will be attending with the possibility of 100s of referrals leading to potentially 1000s of pounds of business being transacted.
If you want to attend, but are not yet a member of BNI don’t worry as you’ll still be able to attend as a visitor. Just click here for more details.
Olà! Last Thursday evening, thanks to fellow Clerkenwell-member Jean Liggett I was lucky enough to attend a Brazilian property event hosted by Jean’s company Sunsplash Homes in partnership with Kapital International Investments and represent my company Currency Solutions. Although the rain was giving the Westminster streets outside a pretty good battering, the atmosphere inside the City Inn Hotel was vibrant, no doubt aided by the traditional Brazilian dancing …and the freshly prepared Caipirinha cocktails which I in particular found very ‘warming’.
My drink (or two…) however did not distract me too much from the matter in hand. Down to business, Jean and her team as well as their expert partners provided an incredibly informative presentation on their fantastic opportunities available in Brazil; namely, the Praia Luxuosa Development in the North East state of Ceara. I was fascinated to discover that Brazil is the world’s largest emerging market, is forecast to be the fifth largest economy, and even better, that this area is due to grow at twice the rate of the rest of the country. I could literally sense the eyes of the potential investors around me lighting up as they saw the pound signs (or should that be Brazilian Reals? – more on my currency musings later…). There are also good exit strategies in place for when investors want to cash in on their return. For those also keen on a holiday home, as well as an investment, it became clear that Brazil offers a much quicker getaway than most realise. Fortaleza is only a six hour flight away and building plots start from the BRL equivalent of around £12,000, villas from around £70,000.
Post-presentation, Jean and I got on our networking heads and met bankers to lawyers to representatives form The Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. Currency Solutions is one of the very few foreign exchange firms that offer Brazilian Reals (BRL) so there was a lot for me to talk about. Dealing with the Bank of Brazil can be a long process, as can achieving good exchange rates into BRL, which is where Currency Solutions can certainly help. Brazil is definitely one area where Jean and I will be able to work together, but no doubt with time we can conquer the world!
By Emma Wilson, Currency Solutions
Greetings from Sal Island in Cape Verde, a former Portugese colony (written on 10/02/10 whilst in Cape Verde)
A photo will follow. I need to sort out how to reduce the MB on my photos. Help from the Group please!
I took a Thompson Airways flight from Gatwick, which was just over 5 hours. The crew was very friendly and provided an excellent service, and the food was good.
Cape Verde is off the west coast of Africa, and is 1000 kms south of the Canaries. It was a Portugese colony from the 1400s to 1975.
It consists of 10 islands including Sal, Boa Vista, Santiago (the capital), and Sao Vincente
I arrived in Sal Island only to discover that my luggage was still back in London, and would arrive the following day.
So I turned a very frustrating situation into an adventure, and went out on a shopping excursion with Emma from the Resort Group plc who is my guide here.
I bought a ‘Girl from Ipuana’ style Brazilian swimming costume as those are the only types sold out here plus a wrap around skirt, which looks a bit like one that David Beckham wore.
I am staying at the beach facing Hotel Morabeza (www.hotelmorabeza.com), which is owned by a Belgium family. It is a 4 star hotel with every facility one would want from dance, scuba diving, kite surfing, wind surfing, karaoke, beach club, tennis, football, table tennis, snooker, spa, massages, Creole lessons, fishing and excursions.
I am impressed with the hotel staff who are who are warm, friendly and very welcoming without being affected. I think the year round sunny weather is good for their disposition.
Indeed, I have been welcomed at every local shop.
Whilst Cape Verde has been a popular destination for the Portuguese and the Italians, it has only been in the past 2/3 years that it has started to gain popularity with the British, French, Germans, Scandinavians, and Irish.
Thompson Airways has two flights every day from various Europeans destinations.
The U.S. carrier, Delta, is going to start to fly from Atlanta by the end of March this year.
Soon Ryan Air will be flying to Cape Verde.
Emma asked me whether I wanted to eat in town or at the hotel and I chose in town at a real local favourite call the ‘Cultural Café.’
I had ordered one of the island favourites, a Caipiranha, which is a lime based and very refreshing cocktail. The alcohol in this drink is grogue, a local spirits, rather than Cachaça.
I went for one of the native Creole dishes called called Cachupa Rica, which is a mixture of two different beans, carrots, fish, sausage and sweet potato. Simply delicious and the portion I was given was enough for two! I thought I was in back in America with such a large portion.
In the background were the lovely and harmonic drums. They are practicing for Carnival, which is next week.
In the morning Emma took me out to see Tortuga Beach, which faces the ocean. It is on the south of the island, and is very near Santa Maria. It consists of villas and apartments and will have 400 units. The quality is excellent with Smeg kitchen and Roca bathrooms.
This will be a 5 star spa resort, which will be managed by the Hotel Sol Melia Group, which is the largest resort hotel group in the world.
Dunas Beach, which has just commenced construction, is also being built by the Resort plc. This will complete in 2011.
This will include a hotel, apartments, villas, a luxury spa, conference and medical centre, swimming pools, restaurants, kite and wind surfing, scuba diving, a beach club, and more.
There are very strict planning and zoning restrictions in Cape Verde. No building can exceed 4 stories, frontline buildings on the beach can be a maximum of 2 stories.
Additionally, the Cape Verdians have learnt from the Spaniards and you can only build on 25% of the land.
I met two buyers and they were excited about their investment. One is using his pension to buy as these properties can be bought with a SIPP. Peter Callomon knows all about this.
The company is employing native workers and also has accommodations for them on site. It will be employing mainly staff from the various Cape Verde islands, which in my opinion, is a key ingredient for sustainability.
Apartments are from €99,000 for a one bedroom apartment to €560,000 for a 3 bedroom villa. The developer gives buyers an exchange rate of €1.25/£1.00 on the 35% deposit, and pays the finance on the loan during the build.
Hotel Sol Melia will be running the resort so there is nothing for owners to do, a completely hands off, hassle free property.
As a barometer of the potential and confidence in Cape Verde as a popular tourist destination, Hilton Hotel is erecting a 366 room hotel near Tortuga Beach and Dunas Beach on the south coast of the island. Cape Verde will continue to go upmarket.
I had a look at Cotton Bay, also known as Porto Antigo, which is three star resort. Flats are renting from €500 to 1200 per week.
Getting back to fun, an Irish woman Katie and her Aussie husband, have a fantastic bar called the Grijinha Beach Bar on the southeast side of the island. It is a favourite destination for wind and kite surfers.
The web address is www.grijinhabeachbar.com. The facebook page is grijinhabeach Beach Bar
You can make as much noise as you want as there are no surrounding buildings. It is a breath taking spot and I look forward to showing you my photos.
The Worldwide Windsurfing Competition is held in Cape Verde as it has perhaps the most favourable winds suited for windsurfing in the world.
A few pieces of interesting facts about Cape Verde:
• The airport runway is the longest in Africa and was built by Mussolini.
• It is a default landing for NASA if it can’t land in Cape Canaveral.
• South Africa used to land here during apartheid to refuel as no other African nation would let them use their airports.
• Cape Verde was a place for the slave trade.
Emma took me to the Café Criol for dinner on Wednesday and I had grilled lobster – delicious.
Another hotel to stay at which I recommend is Riu Hotel, which is Moorish in design.
The Italians and Portugese stay at the three star hotel, Crioula Club Hotel (www.crioula-clubhotel.com), which is also on the south side of the island. It has undergone major renovations to stay competitive.
Today (Wednesday 10 February) I went up to the north of the island and saw the old salt mines. This was a precious commodity in the 19th century, which was exported all over the world.
The old mining facilities looked like something out of the wild West.
Now there is only a modest production facility.
Espergos is the capital of Sal Island and combines new and old.
One of the most thrilling experiences was watching the kite surfers on the west side of the island. It is known as kite surfers beach. Sal is gaining popularity as one of the best kite surfing places in the world.
During lunch I had a wonder around the old town of Santa Maria. It reminds me a bit of Havana, Cuba with its weather worn buildings and lack of modernisation, a bit frozen in time.
The weather has been fantastic today again with not a blue cloud in the sky. The aqua blue water rivals that of the Caribbean.
I have met several holiday makers who came over on the Thompson flight with me. For all of them, this is their first time in Cape Verde, and all are really enjoying themselves.They also like that it is just over 5 hours away, and no jet lag.
The food is a mixture of Portugese, Italian and native Creole.
I have made some good contacts out here which I hope can help our chapter. I will share that with you when I am back.
I am on a 2am flight on TAP to Lisbon and then from Lisbon to London. I can recommend TAP, its one of the best air carriers I have ever taken.
It was quite nice to arrive at BNI this morning to find put chapter festooned with heart-shaped chocolates and post-it notes. Valentine’s Day has come early!
Heart-themed 60 second presentations abounded, led off by the inimitable Mr. Wonderful (himself: John Magee), and Anuschka wore her heart on her sleeve today:
Cheers!
Charles
—– an on the road post.
While at the chapter this morning, I used my Iphone to post this short blog. I took some photos from the Valentine’s Day theme, too, which I will upload shortly! It was a great and fun meeting today, with three visitors who all said that it was the most enjoyable 8am networking they had experienced. Woohee!
–edit: this post was made by Anuschka, poorly masquerading as Charles (Charles never says “Woohee”).
This morning, florist Alison Trickey of Pollen Nation - Clerkenwell BNI’s newest member – met Sion Whellens of Calverts (an old lag, at nearly 10 years) and was taken on the grand tour of the East End’s most famous graphic design and printing co-op. What would a florist have in common with a graphic designer/printer? Plenty. We identified possible referrals in a number of sectors, including universities, events and exhibition organisers and charities. Alison has referred Sion to a friend who works at Global Witness (Calverts already produces stationery for this campaigning group, and would like to be producing their reports as well). Sion referred Alison to eventer Joelle McNichol, who is working for the Philip Lawrence Awards and is a former lynchpin of the sustainable eventing outfitSeventeen Events.
Calverts provided chocolate brioches and Equal Exchange Fairtrade medium ground coffee for Alison and Sion’s one-to-one, which was appreciated as Alison had been up - as usual – since sparrowfart, procuring her clients’ flowers at the New Covent Garden market in Vauxhall.
Sion will be visiting the Shoreditch studio of Pollen Nation as soon as possible, to find out more about the world of contemporary floral design. He recommends you do the same.
Like one or two others, I am now in my thirteenth year at BNI Clerkenwell.
Over that time, I have witnessed dramatic changes both in the make up of the Chapter and the way business is conducted.
I still remember very clearly that meeting at the Finsbury Business Centre in 1997 when we met for the first time with absolutely no idea what we were letting ourselves in for.
Now, all these years later, a fair bit of business has passed between us all and it is absolutely clear that we wouldn’t continue getting up at such a ridiculous hour if it wasn’t for the value that we receive.
What is particularly interesting for me is the new business types and business practices that we come across. When we first started, many of the businesses were very traditional – printers, accountants, lawyers, financial advisers. Now the variety is both fascinating and mind boggling. Cosmeticians, social media consultants, concierge services and a range of titles and descriptions that almost defy belief.
Furthermore, we are all now promoting our businesses using social media – Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, E-academy – the list is endless and so few of us have any printed material to hand out.
Yet despite all these changes, and all these new businesses, we all still seem to benefit from the networking principles of BNI – ‘givers gain’.
I still truly believe that people I give business to feel committed to reciprocating and finding me new introductions and generally BNI continues to work for me.
Howard Graham
If it stops, no doubt I’ll stop coming, but for the meantime, I am afraid BNI Clerkenwell I aint going anywhere.
The BNI Big Breakfast is now just over a month away on 26th February.
This event, held at Lord’s Cricket Ground, promises to be a networking fest with over 500 business people and entrepreneurs from all over London and the Home Counties attending.
So what have you got to lose? Arm yourself with business cards and a pad of paper, pull on some comfy shoes and get yourself down to the home of cricket. You never know, it might just be the event which could transform your year or your business!
