There is a thin line, nowadays, between network marketing companies, or multi-level marketing companies, and pyramid schemes. Particularly where the former has a business model that involves attracting sales agents by rewarding them for selling products to their network of friends and family, and setting up teams of other people – who also want to start their own business selling the product – and getting a percentage of their sales revenue.
People end up receiving solicitations from their friends or family to take advantage of a ‘unique opportunity’, with promises of financial independence and the allure of a lifestyle that comes with ‘being your own boss’.
“I really believe that, as an industry, it makes a difference in the lives of people that have few opportunities,” says Ernest du Toit, chairperson of the Direct Selling Association