Submitting your Online Membership Application does NOT signify your company has been approved to join the AFBN Networks. You are requested not to contact any AFBN member while your Membership is processing.

Membership:

Companies are eligible to enroll in the AFBN NETWORKS without any exclusion based on market status, company size, specialist operations, or existing agent/partner affiliations.  You are eligible to join us if you have been operating for more than 2 years, have a website as well as a professional email addresses (other than free address such as Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, etc).

Termination and revocation of Membership:

• • Membership of AFBN Networks shall be terminated in case any of the following happens:
    • • Voluntary resignation of the member;
    • • Non-payment of the initial Membership Fees within 30 days;
    • • Non-payment of Annual Fees within two weeks of the renewal date;
    • • Death of a Member operating as a sole-proprietor;
    • •  Dissolution of a Company based on cessation of trading or the sale/transfer of more than 50% of the stock share or operating assets;
    • • Continuous non-response to accounting, operational and any AFBN Networks matters;
    • • Breach AFBN Rules and Code of Ethics resulting in other members complaining;
    • • Non-attendance at AFBN Annual General Meetings 2 consecutive years;
    • • Failure to maintain necessary local operational Licenses or Permits;
    • • Hold of any responsibility position by an AFBN member in a competitor network.

• • In case of Membership termination or revocation:
    • • Resignation or revocation of Membership during the year will not entitle the Member to any refund of Annual Membership Fees. Fees are not transferable under any circumstances.
    • • In the event of termination or revocation of Membership for whatever reason, the Member agrees to remove AFBN Networks’ name, logo and any related belong from his/her literature, publicity materials etc. and cease solicitation of business under the name and good-reputation of AFBN Networks.
    • • AFBN Networks holds the right to inform all existing members of the termination or revocation of membership stating the reasons for such occurrence.

Payment of AFBN NETWORKS Invoices:

All AFBN Networks invoices are due upon receipt of the invoice by email. Failure to pay invoices in a timely manner shall result in the loss of being a Member in Good Standing.

• • Most AFBN NETWORKS Invoices are paid by Wire Transfer. AFBN Networks assess a USD $45.00 wire fee on all invoices to help make up the losses the Networks incur from intermediate bank fees which get assessed against your payments. We do not make money on this fee.

• • AFBN Networks Membership Renewal invoices are sent three weeks before the membership term expires. Members are again notified one week before their Membership term expires if the payment is not received. Once the Membership term expires, the Member is alerted and is in risk of losing their status as Members in Good Standing. If the amount remains open for an additional 5 business days, then the member is notified that they have lost their Member in Good Standing status. The entire network will be notified of this change in status.

Attendance at the AFBN Networks Worldwide Meeting:

Attending the AFBN Networks Worldwide Meeting is a mandatory condition of membership and of retaining the status of being a Member in Good Standing in the network, on year by year basis.

• • If a member does not attend a Annual General Meeting, they will be sent a formal notice from the network warning them to not miss the following year’s meeting, and reminding them of the consequences; they will lose their status as a Member in Good Standing for the entire proceeding year and their membership slot will be considered as vacated, which will open that slot up to the recruitment of another member in the same territory.

• • If this same member attends the AFBN Networks Worldwide Meeting in the following year, there are no actions taken and they resume their Member in Good Standing status.

• • If the member misses the following meeting after receiving their notice, now having missed two meetings in a row, the actions as specified in the warning letter will immediately be put in effect.

• • Please note that once a member misses their second meeting they can still recover their Member in Good Standing status by attending the upcoming years meeting.

• • If after attending a meeting resulting in the return to the status of a Member in Good Standing, the member must also attend the next meeting following this, or they will be considered as having missed three meetings.  In other words, a member who misses two meetings must attend the following two meetings to continue with the network.

• • If a member misses three meetings, they will be terminated from the network.

• • The only acceptable reason for missing a meeting is a medical emergency, and this must be communicated and accepted by AFBN Networks Management prior to the meeting.

• • Our meeting is once a year and scheduling or cost considerations are not acceptable reasons to miss our meetings.  Every member has these considerations, and the large majority of members find a way to deal with them.  It is precisely for this reason that we are so adamant about attendance. Every member is expected to respect the time; effort and expense put forward by their partners to attend the meeting, and make themselves available for networking and business discussions that take place over this short period of time.

• • AFBN Networks has agreed that meetings should be moved around the world to various locations so that no one group of members is always burdened with longer travels. We tend to move the meetings EAST to WEST to EAST for this reason.

• • Meeting dates will always be posted at least 6 months in advance so that members can plan their schedules with plenty of notice.

• • AFBN Networks makes financial commitments and plans based on member commitments. Once a member confirms attendance, we make this commitment to the hotel.  If the member does not come, they will be charged for their room, as their commitment goes into the overall AFBN Networks Room Commitment.  Members must understand that the hotel will penalize AFBN Networks for not reaching their committed room numbers, regardlessof whether the member cancelled their reservation in time for their own refund or not. Please be clear on this point, as AFBN Networks cannot take up these penalty charges and in cases like this, the room charge will be charged back to the member.

• • The same holds true for meeting charges outside of room charges. If a member indicates they are coming to the meeting and cancels sometime after that, they will be charged one full meeting charge for every person they register to compensate for the commitments and penalties from the hotel.

• • The AFBN Networks Annual Meeting is perhaps one of the most important and most valuable aspects of your membership, so try to get the most out of it. It is the time of the year where you can build good relationships, on the long-run, sign partnerships and efficiently help your business.

• • It doesn’t take much time to disappoint people who are counting on you, but the consequences will badly affect your business no matter how good your sales materials say. So it is all about commitment, and keeping your commitment to attend the Annual General Meeting is keeping your commitments to all your partners, who are doing the same for you.

Disputes and Arbitration:

AFBN status of independent and neutral party allows it to intervene to solve any disputes and differences between its members. However, both involved parties should first agree to accept AFBN decision without resorting to further arbitrators.

Miscellaneous:

• • The business official language of AFBN Networks shall be English.

• • All rights, titles, and interests in the name AFBN Networks and associated logo are owned by African Freight Bridge Networks with trademark pending.

• • Communication shall be primarily by email. Members are expected to maintain an email account and the facility to access attachments in Microsoft Word, Excel and Adobe PDF.

• • AFBN Networks is not responsible for any damages or legal claims beyond the amount of Annual Membership Fees paid in the preceding year by the specific party