1. Presented by
FELIX SUNNY ANINZE
DISTRICT GOVERNOR 2013 –14.
ROTARY INTERNATIONAL
DISTRICT 9125, NIGERIA

2. I am immensely grateful to Rotary
International for creating this platform
that has placed membership in Africa on
the front burner.
I feel honoured as one of the DG's
selected to make a presentation today
on how my district has been able to
manage membership growth for two
consecutive years.

3. To those that know our history, District
9125 came about by the merger of former
District 9120 and District 9130 for the
simple reason of membership attrition.
Before then, both Districts worked so
hard to wade off the imminent merger
but could not succeed to meet up with
the membership requirement. Ever since
the birth of District 9125, the desire to go
back to our previous status has continued
to be the hope of all Rotarians in my
District.

4. Here at ROTA each member of the Troika is
asked to declare where the membership of
his district would be when he is in the
saddle and having made an open
declaration you have no other choice but to
go home and work the talk.
Working as a team of governors in our
district we have come to the agreement
that one of the fastest ways to grow
membership is by sponsoring new clubs.

5. A list of possible locations where new
clubs can be formed was made,
though, subject to constant review.
Since the formation of new clubs takes
varying length of time each successive
governor continues with the progress
of his predecessor without any change
most of the time

6. As District Governor
Elect I did the following

7. 1)prepared a template on the opportunities for
membership extension in my district,
2) created a possible delineation of our present
district into a workable two districts
3) identified membership drivers at different parts
of the district supported and encouraged them.
4) created a Top Notcher challenge and
5) selected a committee that reviewed all the
concept and further developed the modalities for
its implementation and supervision.

8. At DTTS and PETS the concept was totally
sold to the attendees and everyone went
back to their various clubs to work
towards its success.
Some of the criteria are as follows:
1) A Rotarian becomes a Top Notcher if he
introduces three persons to rotary and
they get inducted, or he becomes a Major
Donor or makes someone a Major Donor

9. 2) A club becomes a top notch club if she is
able to double her membership strength
Some of the benefits are as follows:
1) Apart from the lapel pin a Top Notcher is
elaborately decorated.
2) A Top Notcher gets rebate on all district
ticketed events and is treated in high
esteem
3) A top notch club aside from other
incentives receives 30% rebate of her
district dues and a grant from the district to
fund a project.

10. A scoring criteria was also developed
for the district as a way of
mathematically calculating
achievements of clubs and scored to
100% and membership extension has a
sizeable chunk. During my club visit
clubs were specially asked to
show their score card.

11. A mid year review meeting was held in
January that had club presidents and
assistant governors in attendance to review
the first half year and renew commitments
for the rest of the year.
This rotary year the district has lost no
club, already received charter documents
for three new clubs had submitted
documents for the fourth club and at
different progressive stages with 8
provisional clubs.

12. We started this rotary year with a total of
81 clubs and 1909 members, but
immediately met with massive delisting of
members by several clubs across the
district. Today we have a total of 84 clubs
and 2,024 members and still counting.
One of the strategies that has kept us thus
afloat is the Top Notcher Challenge,
because a Top Notcher is respected,
appreciated and in a class everyone wants
to be identified with in the district.

13. Today we have a total of 84 clubs and 2068
members and still counting. One of the
strategies that has kept us thus afloat is the
Top Notcher Challenge, because a Top
Notcher is respected, appreciated and in a
class everyone wants to be identified with
in the districts. For the first time the
Rotarians who are bearing fruits and giving
life to rotary in my district are given their
pride of place by being decorated as Top
Notchers.

14. Today, permit me to declare Tom
Branum as a Top Notcher and decorate
him with our pin for his role as a major
player in our effort to grow rotary in
Africa.
And also our dear President Nominee,
President Elect and our First Class
Rotary International President Ron
Burton as we Engage Rotary, Change
Lives.

15. Thank You