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Biram Fall, is the Regional Manager for the Sub-Saharan Africa representing QNET, a lifetyle and wellness focused direct-selling company, in this exclusive interview with Daily Sun, Mr. Fall spoke on QNET’s operations in Nigeria and other African countries.
Excerpt…
Can you tell us about the company?
QNET is an Asian multinational company that is based in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. We are 25 years of age and as I put earlier on we are a lifestyle and wellness company. We offer 600 catalog of products in different aspects, wellness, personal care. We also sell watches and jewelry. We offer also vacation packages and online courses to learn a few through 100% ecommerce platform. And, we have hundreds of thousands of distributors that we call Independent Representatives (IRs) who market our products to the general public.
When you talk of QNET, direct selling comes to mind. What is Direct selling business all about?
Direct selling is a huge industry. It is about $125 billion industry throughout the world. It started in the US over 50 years ago, spanned through Europe and Southeast Asia. And it is gradually coming to Africa, because this business has been really booming for the last 15 to 20 years in Africa. It is a tremendous opportunity for everyone because there is no restrictions to it. Anybody can become a distributor or become an entrepreneur to change their lives and help people also to run them and change their lives through hard work, dedication, commitment, you earn commissions crescendo, and if you don’t quit, and as I said, if you are determined throughout the time you start earning slowly within a year 18 months, you start making a good living.
How is QNET tackling fraudulent activities in Nigeria and Africa?
Unfortunately, our very generous compensation plan attracts all kinds of people. But, 98% of the people who really are involved in QNET are honest and hard working people who make a decent living.
But, unfortunately there is a slight number amongst them who come into this business and think they can make easy money overnight by going against the restrictions put there and we are aware of this and we are working assiduously to see to it that the business is credible business and that, it respects the people prospects and the company. Of course, through complaints we get, we try our best to flush them out of the system once we identify them internally. If there are people who happen to have done those things out of error and misunderstanding, we train them and coach them but when we are sure that these are people who personally and purposefully go against our rules, we terminate them. Then, we press charges against them so that they can be dealt with by the police.
We know the recent negative news and would like to restate our commitment to a zero-tolerance policy for fraudulent actions and preserving the highest ethical standards in the direct selling sector. We assure everyone that we are actively addressing any issues or misinformation that may have arisen and that we are dedicated to maintaining open communication with the media and all stakeholders to offer accurate information about QNET and its activities.
We expect the highest ethical standards of our workers and distributors, and have instituted strict regulations and processes to safeguard customers from illegal and fraudulent behavior. We encourage anyone who has been impacted by these claimed instances to come forward and report them to the appropriate authorities, as well as to QNET, either through our Direct Selling Disinformation Center (DSDC) or by email to [email protected].
Are you working with local authorities?
We are a credible company before we operate in any market, we approach the authorities and see what it takes for our products to be marketed in the country. And we make sure that the regulatory requirements or recommendations are adhered to. For instance,
the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC) certifies our products in Nigeria, ensuring that we fulfill the necessary criteria for importation, exportation, manufacture, advertisement, distribution, sale, and usage in Nigeria.
So, we have always worked to meet our markets’ highest ethical and legal standards. We follow local laws and regulations in each country, ensuring our business operations are transparent, fair, and sustainable.
What is your plan for Nigerian market?
We are here to stay. That is what I will like to say right now. Nigeria has a population of more than 200 million and this is a huge market. It is the biggest one in West Africa. And, we all know that Nigerians are strong people who are very business oriented. We have noticed that when opportunities are offered to Nigerians, they are faster in terms of reaction, and they demonstrate a strong role to really pick it up and run with it. So, we figure that the future holds many more interesting prospeczts for us than anywhere else in West Africa. And we are determined, that is why we are investing a lot of energy, time and also process in seeing how we can best cater to the needs of the Nigerian public.
What is the reason behind the QNET’s products expo in Lagos?
We are trying to bring our products in all our features to the people. We are an online company and we offer products through an electronic catalog, which is fantastic. That is pretty much how everyone does it, but from time to time it is necessary to come to the ground with what we have and bring it to the people for them to feel and experience and have a better idea of what we are and what our products are. Our expo in Abuja was a tremendous success. We are very happy to share that with everyone here and definitely sure that it will be a better one in Lagos where we have a bigger crowd and people who have heard about what happened in Abuja, we come to see us.
What are the challenges of doing business in Africa?
One of the biggest challenges is the people who really don’t have a good understanding of what the industry is about and approach it with the wrong intentions as we put it earlier, and that in itself is really detrimental to our company’s image and credibility. We do audit to really sort that out and make sure we arrest those issues. But, we have other challenges in Africa, like someone put it earlier on in Nigeria you have over 50 languages, not everybody speaks English and we have to adjust to the realities on the ground and see to it that we find specific ways of reaching out to everybody in having an inclusive approach to what we are doing just so we can better offer our products and improve our turnover. It is not easy, but we have been able to do well in Nigeria for the last year and we are hoping to do better going forward.
What is the expectation from QNET in the next two years in Nigeria?
In the next two years, you will hear more about QNET and I mean, you will hear more positive things about QNET as we have endeavored recently to really look into the issues that have come up our way and see how we can best reach out to the people through good communication via social media or the regular press or TV and other means that are available to us. In the next few years. I think we will be a household brand with much less negativity and a lot more to offer to people.
