A delegation of West African journalists from Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Togo, Benin and Senegal was invited by QNET, a 26-year-old global lifestyle and wellness direct-selling company, to its bi-annual VCON conference in Malaysia.

VCON brings together, several thousands of QNET independent representatives, business partners, government officials, network marketing enthusiasts and the media. QNET explained its business model, clarified misconceptions about the company, its stakeholder engagement efforts and its concerted fight against scams and misrepresentation.

During the successful event, QNET curated a special media engagement session where West African journalists were allowed to meet the leadership of QNET one-on-one to ask every probing question they may have. QNET’s leadership at the session include the Chief Communications Officer for the QI Group (parent-company for QNET), Ramya Chandrasekaran, Chief Marketing Officer for QNET, Trevor Kuna, Regional General Manager for sub Saharan Africa for QNET, Biram Fall, Chief Legal Officer for QNET, Nikhil Patel and Victoria Al-Taie, Deputy Head of Public Relations and Communications, QNET.

In the transparent, no-holds-barred conversation, journalists, including a Ghanaweb Editor, asked difficult questions bothering on why QNET was battling negative mentions in the sub Saharan African region and what the company was doing to salvage its image and reputation.

The Chief Communications Officer for the QI Group, Ramya Chandrasekaran in her explicit and detailed response pointed out that the direct selling industry was bedevilled with misconceptions and QNET, a significant player in the industry was not spared from the industry-wide misrepresentation. She however added that QNET was investing more time, energy, manpower and resources into re-telling the direct selling industry story and changing the QNET narratives.

In her submission, Ms. Chandrasekaran revealed that: “QNET is very committed to helping demystify the misconceptions surrounding direct selling in Africa. And beyond that, QNET has been consistently committing resources and time to fighting misrepresentation and scams. We have implemented a number of media and public education campaigns in many African countries. Currently, we are implementing the “Say No’ and the ‘QNET Against Scams’ in Nigeria, Ghana and other French-speaking countries. We use multiple channels – social media, television, radio, billboards and languages to drum home the key points about our business and to differentiate it from the fraudulent activities perpetuated by dishonest persons.”

"We are not beating around the bush: QNET is against scams. Our business model is about empowerment, not exploitation. That is our key message, and we stand by it," she emphasized. 

"The people selling or promoting our products are not employees or agents of QNET. They are independent individuals or business owners who buy our products, promote them, and build their own sales businesses while we provide them with intensive training and tools. They earn commission on products that are sold and not on recruiting people."

Ms Chandrasekaran revealed that QNET has been actively engaging with governments, law enforcement agencies and the media across West Africa, to set the record straight, understand QNET’s business model and how the direct selling industry actually works.  

"In our 26 years of existence, QNET has helped hundreds of thousands of individuals transform and improve their lives and livelihoods. Our life-enhancing product portfolio, coupled with a unique business opportunity, allows people to take charge of their financial and overall well-being," She concluded.