Our History
The basic framework of Okanagan Business Excellence is not unique to our organization. Similar referral groups have been around for years. What makes us unique is the tremendous success we have enjoyed. Typically, such groups have membership numbers in the 10-20 range, with 30 seen to be a particularly successful group. Further, longevity is an issue facing many such groups as with relatively small numbers, there are fewer referrals and it is less easy to demonstrate the value of attending a business meeting at 7:00 a.m. every week.
The only similar type organization that we are aware of enjoying anywhere close to our success is a group in Winnipeg that has been around for over 50 years and has a membership of approximately 65-70. It was Ernie Pawluk of Purified Water Store, our bottled water member, who brought our attention to that group when he moved from Winnipeg and joined our group in 2005, causing the Executive of the day to see a much more illustrious potential then aspiring to the mediocrity of other groups in the area.
Okanagan Business Excellence started out as a Business Networking International (BNI) group. BNI is an international organization that starts up similar referral groups, provides administrative support and guidance, and in turn charges each member of each group approximately $4-500.00 per year in fees. In addition to having to pay those fees, members are responsible to fund such basics as a meeting space and social functions.
The true founding member of our organization was Bob Knoblick, who in 2000 was the manager of the new Canada Trust branch (now TD Canada Trust) in Westbank. Having the foresight to see the potential of such a group, he was interested in working with BNI. Paul Hergott, our group’s lawyer, teamed up with Knoblick, and soon there were a handful of members meeting Wednesday
mornings in a booth at the White Spot.
Building our membership was not easy. Not only did we have to convince busy business people of the merits of a referral group, we had to convince them to attend for 7:00 a.m. meetings and cough up the hefty BNI fees.
Through membership drives that included going through Westbank Chamber of Commerce lists, yellow pages, and dropping in on Westside businesses, we managed to build our membership to 11.
In April, 2001, our core group of 11 parted from the BNI banner and formed new group that we called Business On Breakfast (“B On B”). The “charter” of our new group was roughly modelled on that of a business group in Alberta that was graciously provided to us by a relative of Dr. David Manns of Westbank Chiropractic, our group’s Chiropractors.
Building membership as B On B was easier in the sense that our initial membership dues were $50 per year, but it was also more difficult because we were creating a business networking group almost from scratch. Over the years the format of our meetings, executive structure, and Charter underwent major changes to the point that our group today bears little resemblance to its humble beginnings.
We are now called Okanagan Business Excellence, with a growing membership that meets in a conference room in a hotel. We have a well established and effective Charter, a 10 member Executive, a web site and brochures of the members in the Westside section of the Capital News. Our $475 annual dues are still a fraction of what the BNI groups charge, includes our website, our sponsorship of one of the Westbank Chamber of Commerce’s Key Business Excellence Awards, our meeting room, miscellaneous expenses, and funding for our Summer and Christmas parties.
We have accomplished a lot in seven years. The visionaries in our group, however, see room for even greater strides into the future.
