SUMMARY OF 2014
In 3 short years since our inception, we saw many exciting developments in Dragon Boat Innovate (DBI). Firstly, we are proud to announce that we have engaged more than 15,000 participants till date. Our participants come from all over the world and the number of activities had doubled compared to the previous years. The DBI team provides more than just the conventional dragon boat paddling sessions and continues to innovate with new ideas to value add our programs. Bringing the sport closer to the community and associating it to a lifestyle, ways we never thought possible. With the overwhelming support of our clients, partners and friends, our vision to become the region’s most successful and prominent dragon boat service provider had seem to come earlier than expected. If you have been closely following news about DBI through our social media networks like Facebook and Instagram, I am sure you know that we have achieved many milestone events over this period.
Coming in on our top spot was our proud involvement to assist DBS Bank to organise the inaugural DBS Marina Bay Festival in May. Thanks to DBS, for the first time ever the community of dragon boat clubs were treated with a relaxing afternoon of racing and a scrumptious spread of international buffet in the evening. Families were also able to bring their kids down and experience an exclusive paddling session too. Our dBians had the rare chance to inspire little ones by showcasing their passion up close to them. Even weeks after the event, we still received enquiries from parents for kid’s classes and the on-going mentions within the dBians online universe. This is why, we would be lining up a special Kids Program coming 2014 that gives parents a new platform to attempt the sport on a more regular basis with their children.
DBI also ventured a project into foreign land for the first time in February, when we customised a program to engage 500 participants from Elsevier. 20 dBians had a treat in the capital where they had an opportunity to collaborate with executives from the Malaysia Dragon Boat Association and members from the KL-Barbarians. (KL- Barbarians have marked itself as the biggest corporate club team in Malaysia, some were trainers certified from DBI Academy Malaysia). It was a heartfelt experience for us where we saw dragon boat enthusiasts from both sides of the border, coming together, exchanging ideas and passionately presenting our favourite sport to our clients.
On another milestone, we are very privileged to have sponsored one of the most successful dragon boat clubs in the country, The British Dragons Singapore. A semi-professional dragon boat team consisting of 17 nationalities in the club, they are driven by the inspiring motto: “Party Hard, Paddle Harder”. We may have about 200 odd clubs on the island, but apart from standing out as a diversely colourful cultural team, many do not know that The British Dragons Singapore has a very strong team management system that solidifies its roots of sustainability in areas like recruitment, finance, sponsorship, social, charity, marketing and performance.
It is easy for any business to go into an auto pilot and to forget the core values that drives it. Hence the management team from DBI was sent to their first Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) trip to Lamongan, Indonesia, embarking on an initiative from Singapore International Foundation (SIF) called the Water for Life project. Primary reason being in the business of water sports, we wanted to identify an approach that is water related so we could give back to the community.
We also want to take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to our dBians for all the assistance they have supported us over the years. Towards the end of 2013, DBI Appreciation Night was organised for the first time to bring together our trainers, steers and events crew for an evening of bowling and food. We were happy to see the many hours of laughter when we fun bowl our way into the night. Our dBians have been the pillar and backbone of all our programs and they certainly deserved a huge shout out.
Thank you for all the support and regular referrals given to us. Please continue to send in your suggestions to info@dbi.com.sg and keep believing that dragon boating is not just a sport, it’s a lifestyle!
