Friday, December 13, members of BNI de Guingamp (for Business network international) met at the Roudourou stadium, in Guingamp, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the network. And what better place than the EAG den when we call ourselves “En avant business”! “There are 34 of us, and 36 in a week. So many different professions because the specificity of BNI is that there is only one representative per activity. They are local entrepreneurs, established within a 20 km radius around Guingamp,” explains Vanessa Holtyn, consulting director of BNI Guingamp, and real estate agent.
Thirty-six members in Guingamp therefore, and 1,500 in historic Brittany, 20,000 in France and 330,000 in the world. “We can work with all groups, as long as our activity is not already represented. In Côtes-d’Armor, in Brittany and even internationally. In our network, it is the job that counts, more than the person. The rule is: who gives, receives,” says Mathieu Gaborel, the restaurateur of the Guingamp group, manager of La Mandoline in Grâces. Within the Guingampais group, the real estate agent works alongside the accountant, the business lawyer, the architectural designer, the electrician, the optician and the painter.
“We do marketing on recommendation,” continues the director. Entrepreneurs recommend other entrepreneurs. The goal is to allow us to benefit from each other’s customers.” The network has been established in Guingamp for ten years. The objective, for the next decade which is beginning, is “to expand the group even further. We are expanding our network and therefore developing our business,” emphasizes Vanessa Holtyn.
I also saw the benefit of not being alone in my business. I know that I can be listened to and receive advice.
Breakfast every Thursday
These exchanges take place every week, every Thursday morning, during a breakfast organized from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Roudourou stadium, where members are invited to present their activity in turn. Member since the beginning, Franck Roy, director of Survelec, an installer of security systems, whose offices are in Lannion, approaches 450 breakfasts, with two or three exceptions. “I created a lot of clients that I would not have had without this business network,” he judges. The doors open more easily when you arrive by recommendation. This is called skilled connection.”
A member for eight years, Mathieu Gaborel recognizes that “people come to do business. That’s the goal. But it is done in good humor and conviviality. I also saw the benefit of not being alone in my business. I know that I can be listened to and receive advice. Even if we are in different sectors of activity, we are all experiencing the same thing.”
Practical
Senegal
