SINGAPORE – While fears of AI-driven job losses persist, a new perspective on artificial intelligence is gaining ground: Workforce disruption is giving rise to more solo business owners, or solopreneurs, who will need human connections to succeed.
The world could see its first billionaire solopreneur within the next five years, as AI tools take over functions such as accounting, finance, marketing and administration that once required a large organisation.
But however brilliant such a one-person, billion-dollar operator may be, connections will always matter in business, said Mary Kennedy Thompson, chief executive of Business Network International (BNI), the world’s largest business referral and networking organisation.
As AI continues to disrupt the workforce, this generation of solo business owners will need to master networking and find a community they can belong to, Thompson told The Straits Times in an interview.
With the technology becoming more prevalent and powerful, the need for human connections becomes even more critical because people prefer to do business with those they know and trust – and face-to-face interactions build that trust, she said.
Thompson said more firms from AI-related sectors have been increasingly expressing interest in joining the BNI network.
As AI advances and people’s understanding of it improves, she believes BNI can help businesses establish credibility through human connections as AI makes it harder to distinguish genuine capabilities from convincing claims.
“People are going to want proof points, and organisations like BNI that can provide those proof points and the human connection will grow faster.”
Additionally, the organisation has observed a fall in the average age of its members over the past three to five years as more young people take the plunge into entrepreneurship.
“Gen Zs are more entrepreneurial than millennials,” said Thompson.
She noted that chapters consisting entirely of business owners aged 30 and below already exist in Singapore and the US, while the youngest member of the local network is a 21-year-old running an events management business.
Creating a robust business referral network
Founded in 1985, BNI is a membership-only organisation that helps business owners develop networks and share customer leads.
Spanning 78 countries, its global footprint is organised into local chapters, each typically comprising around 35 business owners or professionals from different industries who meet weekly to share business needs and leads.
In Singapore, BNI has grown from a network dominated by financial and property professionals in its first decade to more than 2,000 members from diverse industries today.
Established in 2000, it now counts business development staff from several multinational companies among its members.
No two professions within a chapter are the same, ensuring there is no competition within the group and that members can refer clients to one another’s businesses.
Often, that results in collaboration, said Thompson. A chapter could include a property agent, a lawyer, a plumber and an electrician all helping one another with leads or even working together on the same project.
“Every chapter meeting that we attend is a business development opportunity. That is to allow you to educate another business owner about who you are, what you do, how you value it and what businesses you’re looking out for,” she said.
“And the numbers tell the story.”
She noted that on average, a BNI member gets US$71 (S$91) in closed business for every US$1 spent on dues, with a one-year membership in Singapore costing around $1,700.
“I don’t know any kind of marketing that has that kind of return on investment,” she added.
“When you walk into a room, a lot of times what happens in networking is you and I are talking, we share greetings and pleasantries, but we didn’t get anything accomplished.”
But if both parties understand the science of having a one-to-one conversation, a meaningful business lead could be developed in 30 minutes. That would be most beneficial for any business owner when developing a new connection, she noted.
Over the last 12 months, the global BNI network generated more than 17 million referrals amounting to roughly US$27 billion in member-to-member business.
Thompson herself has referred more than US$30,000 worth of business since the start of 2026.
Beyond facilitating business development, BNI views its role as equipping entrepreneurs with the connection-building skills needed to scale their companies successfully.
Thompson pointed to the weekly chapter meetings as regular practice for BNI members such that the honed skills become second nature in the real world.
“It’s not just going to a meeting and talking. You’re learning how to tell your story in a way that people understand what you can offer and are more likely to then extend that out.”
Safe space for business owners
Many business owners, especially those running small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who previously struggled to articulate their unique selling proposition, can now deliver an effective 30-second elevator pitch, Thompson said.
Amid rapid economic shifts, SME owners can also leverage BNI’s peer network for advice and support in what Thompson described as a “safe space” – a community that she noted becomes especially valuable during periods of uncertainty.
She pointed out that many members were able to bounce back from financial challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic thanks to their chapters rallying around them to find new business opportunities.
Members involved in the manufacturing and export of goods, such as furniture companies, also received help from their chapters and the wider organisation to navigate the tariffs imposed by the US government in 2025.
“We always say BNI is the best-kept secret,” she said, adding that the organisation relies on word of mouth rather than large-scale advertising to grow its membership.
She noted that August’s Singapore convention was the first time that it was open to non-members and drew a high turnout of business owners who were keen to explore how the network could support them.
Thompson recalled how her journey as an SME owner first brought her to BNI in 1994.
Running a chain of bakeries as her first business, she was introduced to the organisation by her insurance agent.
By her second chapter meeting, she had connected with the vice-president of marketing at Dell Computers – long before the company became a tech giant.
Dell went on to purchase Thompson’s baked goods as gifts for computer launches, and over the next seven years, the account accounted for 10% of her business.
“No one in my family or circle had ever been an entrepreneur,” said Thompson, who began her career as a logistics officer in the US Marine Corps before venturing into business on her own.
“So all of a sudden, I had this network of people I could lean on to build my business… So I stayed in BNI not because of just one meeting with Dell, but also because of all the connections I was able to develop along the way.”
