Thinking outside the box

04 Dec, 2016 - 00:12 0 Views
Thinking outside the box

The Sunday Mail

Harmony Agere —
After several hours of job searching in Harare’s Central Business District without success, childhood friends — Sebastian and Takura — both in their twenties, retreated to catch a breath under a cool jacaranda shade in the once esteemed Harare Gardens.

The two were for the first time coming face to face with realities of limited employment opportunities in the formal sector. As people of limited applied skills, they had tried their hand in the welding business but failed dismally. As they sat in the park, they now had to contemplate their alternatives.

“Some friends have for sometime been trying to recruit me into some type of pyramid network or money game but I have always had my doubts.

“Maybe it’s time to try it out now, my brother’s friend is involved and he says there is good and quick money there,” Takura said.

Having been tricked into the same scheme, Sebastian immediately dismissed Takura’s suggestion, warning him that the schemes are nothing but scams. The two are among the many youths who are confronted with rampant fraudulent projects and schemes.

As such, a lot have given up hope and are now engaging in drug abuse and other criminal activities to earn some income. However, amid all these trials, a new kind of entrepreneurship in the form of network marketing has arrived in the country.

Network marketing is a method that utilises independent representatives to reach potential customers that a company otherwise would not reach with traditional marketing strategies.

In order to accomplish this, network marketing companies and their associates recruit individuals to market and sell a certain product or service. The process of recruiting and training these individuals is called network building and the larger it grows, the more it benefits that particular network builder.

Though still doubted and looked down upon in Zimbabwe, the profession has helped many to earn a living. In Zimbabwe, companies like Green World have successfully sold herbal products and cosmetics through network marketing.

Rather than engaging in criminal activities, experts say, youths should explore network marketing as it will bring financial relief and crucial business experience.

One of the success stories of network marketing is Green World’s director general Mr Tendai Chinoperekwei. Having given up a career in Banking and Finance about 11 years ago, Mr Chinoperekwei reinvented himself to become one of the most revered network marketers in the region, winning several awards in the process.

Last week, he told The Sunday Mail Extra that network marketing is now the greatest substitution of formal employment.

“Network marketing is a profession that is now over 60 years old and it is a very big industry with an annual turnover of over of about US$180 billion in the world,” he said.

“Unemployment is not a Zimbabwe problem, unemployment is a global problem because technology has increased, the population has increased and a lot has changed over the years.

“If you were to check, you will find out that this profession has grown tremendously in America, Europe and Asia.”

Mr Chinoperekwei is today a proud owner of several properties and luxurious vehicles. He encouraged the people of Zimbabwe to embrace network marketing.

“In Africa and Zimbabwe in particular, people are still trying to learn how to do this business and most people are still not sure if it works but with my 11 years of experience, I have realised that it works.

“This business model is rejected in Africa but we have to educate people more, also here in Africa most people do not read about financial education so trying to help someone to do a business when they don’t understand the language of money and the language of entrepreneurship is difficult.

“When I first came into network marketing there was heavy resistance. At that time people would associate network marketing with all kinds of bad stuff, but now people are beginning to embrace this profession.”

Those who are skeptical of network marketing compares it with the illegal pyramid and Ponzi schemes. However, marketing consultant and expert in network marketing Michael Sheffield says there is a huge difference between pyramid schemes and network marketing.

“Network marketing isn’t a pyramid scheme. Pyramids are programs similar to chain letters where people just invest money based on the promise that other people will put in money that will filtrate back to them and somehow, they will get rich,” he says.

“A pyramid is strictly a money game and has no basis in real commerce. Normally, there is no product involved at all, just money changing hands.

“However, network marketing is a legitimate business. It’s based on providing people with real, legitimate products they need and want at a fair price.

“While some people make a lot of money through network marketing, their financial benefit is always the result of their own dedicated efforts in building an organisation that sells real products and services.”

Mr Sheffield said pyramids are illegal and are based on taking advantage of people. He says for a person to actually make money in a pyramid scheme, someone else has to lose money.

“But in network marketing, each person can multiply his or her efforts, skills and talents by helping others to be successful. Network marketing has proved itself as part of the new economy and a preferred way to do business here and around the world.”

Advocacy Officer for the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe Mr Clive Mphambela nevertheless warned that some modern day pyramid schemes may involve some kind of service or product but only as a cover up.

“Whilst pyramid schemes are easily disguised as multi-level or network marketing business ventures, a number of seemingly legitimate investment vehicles or strategies can also become the backbone of Ponzi schemes,” he said.

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