BNI stands for Business Network International. It is a business referral group: members meet every week to pass each other customers. Each group is called a chapter, and a chapter takes only one person per trade.

No. Nobody recruits under anybody, there is no downline, and no member earns anything from another member joining. BNI is a referral organisation: members pass each other business, and each pays their own membership to the organisation.

Do I have to join BNI if I visit a chapter?

No. Plenty of people visit, decide it is not for them, and that is the end of it. Members invite visitors because the room only works if the right businesses are in it, not because there is a quota to fill.

How much is BNI membership in Singapore?

Membership is a yearly fee. It changes from time to time, so it is not printed here, and many of the prices you will find online are from other countries. The chapter tells you the current figure at the meeting, and hearing it commits you to nothing.

How long is a BNI meeting?

At BNI Premier, 90 minutes: every Wednesday from 8:00am to 9.30am.

How should I prepare for my first BNI meeting?

Barely at all. Business attire and a stack of name cards. Have a rough idea of how you would describe your business, and give a thought to the kind of customer or contact that would be genuinely useful to you. That second part is what decides whether the morning is worth it. No script required.

BNI Singapore members send each other customers. Visit a chapter for one morning, from S$15.

BNI is a business referral group. In Singapore it runs as chapters: rooms of business owners who meet once a week and pass each other customers. This guide is from BNI Premier, one of those chapters. It tells you how a meeting works, what a visit costs and how to choose a chapter.

Written by BNI Premier, one chapter in Singapore. For BNI Singapore itself, go to bni.com.sg. Updated November 2026.

A group photograph of BNI Premier Chapter, Singapore

How BNI works in Singapore

Nobody in the room competes with you

A chapter takes one accountant, one lawyer, one aircon specialist. That is why members are willing to hand over their own contacts.

Customers arrive already trusting you

Each week members pass each other the names of people who need their work. Somebody they know has already put in a good word for you.

You can try it before you decide

Every chapter takes visitors. You sit in on one meeting, meet the room and make up your mind afterwards. Visiting is not joining.

What happens at a BNI meeting

At BNI Premier the meeting starts at 8:00am and is done by 9.30am. It goes in this order.

Open networking
Coffee and name cards before the formal start. Your host introduces you around to the businesses you could work with.
Everyone introduces their business
Your turn to tell the room what you do and the kind of referral you are looking for. Everyone else does the same, so you leave knowing who can send you work.
One member presents properly
A single business goes deep for a few minutes. This is where the room learns who to refer to whom.
Referrals and thank-yous
Members name the business they are handing each other, and what closed from the last round. Real work changing hands, out in the open, with the names attached.
Close, then breakfast
The formal meeting ends and the networking carries on over breakfast. Stay and follow up with whoever you want to, or get on with your day.

A member talking with two other people over coffee before the meeting

Two members deep in conversation beside the breakfast tables

What it costs to visit

S$65 in person, breakfast included. S$15 on Zoom.

That is the only thing you pay to visit. BNI Premier meets in person in the first week of each month, at Copthorne King's Hotel, 403 Havelock Road, Singapore 169632. The other weeks are on Zoom.

How to choose a BNI chapter in Singapore

Singapore has a number of BNI chapters, and they are not all the same. Three things decide which one suits you.

Is your trade still open?

Each chapter takes one person per trade. If a chapter already has an interior designer, a second one cannot join it, but the next chapter may still have that seat free. Look at the member list before you visit.

See who is in BNI Premier

Can you make the time?

Each chapter has its own meeting time and place. BNI Premier meets every Wednesday at 8:00am.

Do you like the people?

You will see them every week, so this matters most. One visit is enough to tell.

BNI Singapore keeps the list of every chapter on its own site. Find a chapter on bni.com.sg.

Trades BNI Premier wants to meet now

Caterers and restaurants · Property developers · Conveyancing and family lawyers · Immigration specialists · Physiotherapy, TCM and allied health · Facilities and building maintenance · Photographers and videographers · Cleaning services and handymen

Not the full list. Other trades may be open too.

Members of BNI Premier passed each other S$758,191 of business in six months.

That came from 717 referrals between January and June 2026. These are the chapter’s own figures.

In June 2026 the chapter placed first in Singapore for keeping its members, at 74%, among chapters of 41 members and under. It has met every week since 2003.

“I have learnt a lot from being in this community. In fact, I have achieved 30x ROI on my investment in the membership.”

Jax Tan · Digital Marketing, Ice Cube Marketing

“This business community helped my debate academy to enter the Chinese and Indonesian markets.”

Andre Kua · Debate & Public Speaking, EduDrift

Questions people ask about BNI in Singapore

What is BNI?: BNI stands for Business Network International. It is a business referral group: members meet every week to pass each other customers. Each group is called a chapter, and a chapter takes only one person per trade.
Is BNI an MLM?: No. Nobody recruits under anybody, there is no downline, and no member earns anything from another member joining. BNI is a referral organisation: members pass each other business, and each pays their own membership to the organisation.
Do I have to join BNI if I visit a chapter?: No. Plenty of people visit, decide it is not for them, and that is the end of it. Members invite visitors because the room only works if the right businesses are in it, not because there is a quota to fill.
How much is BNI membership in Singapore?: Membership is a yearly fee. It changes from time to time, so it is not printed here, and many of the prices you will find online are from other countries. The chapter tells you the current figure at the meeting, and hearing it commits you to nothing.
How long is a BNI meeting?: At BNI Premier, 90 minutes: every Wednesday from 8:00am to 9.30am.
How should I prepare for my first BNI meeting?: Barely at all. Business attire and a stack of name cards. Have a rough idea of how you would describe your business, and give a thought to the kind of customer or contact that would be genuinely useful to you. That second part is what decides whether the morning is worth it. No script required.

One Wednesday morning. That is the whole commitment.

A member is assigned to meet you before the room fills up. S$65 in person, breakfast included. S$15 on Zoom.

Visiting is not joining.