Recently, to recognise its ongoing success, the Cork City chapter received a special award from the founder of the BNI organisation, Dr. Ivan Misner. The so-called Founder’s Award is given to a tiny fraction of the thousands of chapters worldwide who demonstrate consistent success in generating new business for its members.

The Cork City chapter director, the person responsible for chairing the weekly meetings, Niall Hawthorne was both thrilled and surprised when Charlie Lawson, head of BNI UK & Ireland, visited the chapter meeting in June to present the Founder’s Award. Niall commented afterwards “Hand on heart, I had no idea that Charlie was there to present us with the Founder Award, and it was a genuine shock when he did.”

Niall admits that being director of such a successful chapter carries its own pressure, “From the day I agreed to become Chapter Director for my six-month stint, I always felt that I was simply trying to continue the incredible work carried out by my predecessors, and to try to lead the chapter to the heights previously achieved, and where possible to lead the chapter to even greater things.”

Like all true success, this was not an overnight process. Niall was quick to acknowledge this, “As part of previous leadership teams, I was aware of the amount of work and effort that my colleagues had put into the Cork City Chapter and this award was recognition of their efforts, and of the effort, integrity and honesty of every member of the Cork City Chapter, past and present.”

All of the leadership roles within a BNI chapter are rotated every six months. Niall’s term as chapter director ends in September. Niall realises “to be the Chapter Director when the award was presented was a personal piece of good fortune. To be a member of the Cork City Chapter when the award was presented was an honour.”