Our Distributor & Partner Conference takes a walk on the wild side | Wednesday,17 Feb 2010
Our Distributor & Partner Conference is an annual event that recognises and rewards our Distributors for their hard work and successes over the previous year. It gives them the opportunity to meet old friends, be introduced to new, hear more about our plans for the year and give their feedback.
Our Distributors & Partners grow in importance to us as more and more markets become more heavily regulated and restrictive. They act as our voice in these markets and can promote and sell our products on our behalf. They also bring with them extensive market knowledge, cultural understanding and very importantly fluency in the languages of our diverse, global customer base. Last year 80% of our business was broked!
This year the conference took 60 delegates and 20 members of the Bupa team to Zambia, where we played host to the most successful event yet. The Royal Livingstone Hotel on the banks of the Zambezi and just minutes from the Victoria Falls proved the perfect setting for a relaxing (for our delegates at least!) and informal meeting of our top Distributors and our Partners, IMI from Singapore and Al Ahlia from Bahrain.
Some Bupa colleagues took to the stage. Tim Slee, Sales Director gave his entertaining insights into 2010 and introduction to his team. Alistair How, Managing Director introduced himself to our Distributor and Partner audience with a walk through of where he had come from and his initial thoughts for Bupa International. Dean Holden, Divisional Managing Director, International Businesses stopped in on his move back from Australia to the UK (quite literally), bringing news of what is happening around the Bupa Group. Paula Covey, Global Service Director shared her improvements to our service proposition – goodbye paper, hello web! Dr Sneh Khemka, Medical Director proved why he is a doctor with an interesting medical tutorial! And John Stubbington, Commercial Director followed in James Bond’s footsteps to share the successes of Worldwide Health Options and introduce new developments along our product strategy journey.
Our Distributor Advisory Board (DAB) was set up a year ago to provide a clear and insightful lens into our global markets and the thoughts of our global Distributors. All eight members the DAB also took to the stage to introduce themselves to the group and participate in “Question Time”, where they took questions from the floor such as what impact the global recession has had in the UAE, how Bupa International is faring against our competitors and what the advantages of the DAB are for the rest of our Distributor audience.
The conference also gives us the opportunity to recognise the ‘best of the best’. Awards were given to our top Distributors. These included recognition for Nassif Assurances for the best recent development. An award went to Deraya for the most Worldwide Health Options sales since its launch. And Medmark scooped the accolade of top Bupa International Distributor 2009, with Lifecare coming 2nd and Vernwood 3rd.
Other activities during the four day event included a series of Surgery Sessions. These give all of our attendees the opportunity to meet with our Sales, Service, Marketing and Purchasing experts and ask questions in a 1-1 environment pertinent to their business and market. We’re getting better at hosting these Surgery Sessions each year and feedback from our conference guests is that they get real value from this 1-1 personal time with members of the Bupa team.
In addition to a day’s safari in the Chobe National Park in Botswana, our guests took the opportunity to experience everything Victoria Falls had to offer – micro-lighting, walking with lions, bungee jumping to name just a few. We also enjoyed a couple of spectacular dinners with our guests, another opportunity to get to know them better and offer them the chance to meet different members of the Bupa team. Dinner on The Livingstone Express, a train running into safari country was a particular favourite of many.
Of course it would be wrong to ignore the plight of many of the inhabitants of Zambia who live with very basic food and shelter. One story that particularly touched the hearts of the Bupa team was that of a local orphanage, The Ebeneezer Orphanage, that had been set up by an amazing woman who couldn’t bear to see the way the street kids were living and took them in and gave them food, shelter and love. Not only this but she built a school in which they could get a good education and was very happy to tell us some wonderful stories of some of her students who have gone on to be very successful. None more so than Austin, a child she had taken in and schooled and is now the Assistant Head Chef at The Royal Livingstone Hotel where the conference was hosted.
Members of the Bupa team visited the orphanage and school and took gifts for the children. And, along with our Distributor and Partner attendees have raised £8228 to date for the Ebeneezer Orphanage and school. You can see photos of the orphanage we are helping here www.bupazambia.com/ along with photos of the other things we got up to and the beautiful scenery Victoria Falls has to offer.
If you would like to upload your pictures from the Zambia Conference, go to http://www.flickr.com and click the sign-in button in the top right hand corner of the screen. Use the details below to enter the site.
Yahoo! ID: bupa_intl@ymail.com
Password: zambia
“That was the best location ever. Africa is always a great choice”
“It gets better and better each time”
“It exceeds expectations every year”
Look out for your our first communication which will hold of all the information you need for the 2011 Distributor and Partner conference.