MMM: Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes and the complicit thievery of an educated elite
Editor’s note: Growing up we have always dreamed of making it big, driving fast cars, living in luxurious houses and taking trips round the world without working very hard for it. In some cases quite a number of people continue with this line of thought hoping that someday they will get lucky and as such there are people who take advantage of this.
Yoma Victor in this piece warns on the danger of MMM Nigeria, a Ponzi scheme where you are promised unrealistic returns for some investment.
I was nearing the end of an event-full day at the office when I stumbled on my facebook chat box and saw the statement “what is on your mind?”, immediately, this title popped up.
As a background, i have been involved in network marketing since 2010 and in the process, i set out to study, understand and succeed in network marketing through personal experience. In the process of building a network marketing business, I have ended up providing value in consulting, training, public speaking, social media marketing, coaching, most importantly, I have grown in financial intelligence and help to coach others.
Six years in, i have built what I consider a growing business that pays me better than most senior level staff in traditional companies, aside having the time freedom to do many other things like start up a new travel company – www.travelbay.co and more importantly, have a hand in practically impacting the financial and business lives of tens and maybe hundreds of people many twice my age. This I consider to be the most amazing part of network marketing. The fact that I can only truly succeed only when I help others succeed. There is no way you can help others succeed if you are not developing yourself.
Why do scams find their way here?
Nigeria is such a high energy entrepreneurial country, and over the last few years, lots of network marketing companies have invaded our space. While that is a good thing, we must however not forget that the bad and the ugly always accompanies the good. Today our country is undergoing a slow but grinding change. Our developing economic space is struggling with itself how to get out of its own mess, also the propensity for people to want money without work and Nigeria’s reputation for corruption, and you find a breeding ground for those wonder banks that aim to take advantage of the lack of financial intelligence of millions of Nigerians.
The latest craze is MMM, if you haven’t been approached personally, you may have run into it online or on broadcasts, etc. Funny enough, MMM clearly says you may not make money, yet because testimonies abound, people ignore that disclaimer. See below.. It even bans people from countries where it has crashed from participating.
It clearly says it is not a network marketing company, yet asks for referrals on the same page. Brethren, how it makes any educated sense to expect 30% monthly return on an investment of any amount is beyond me. You went to school over a 12 – 16 year period, and even graduated from an institution of higher learning yet you cannot decipher what a scam is? The worst part of it is that MMM is not a complicated scam, it is a low level poorly thought out cheat, hence a lot of people are falling for it i guess.
I put up a post about my thoughts on MMM and loads of educated individuals were so vehemently defending what is clearly food without work, earnings without work, dividends without business, cheating Peter to pay Paul. It irks me to the bone. but truly, when emotions are high, intelligence is low. Easy money has the reputation for creating high emotions.
Just google and see loads of terrible information about MMM. The founder is in prison or just got out for MMM scam-related issues. It started in Russia but presently does not operate there. China has refused it in their space. It has crashed in a number of countires. When they destroy one market, they enter the next to take advantage of gullible people.
If you want to eat, work. If you don’t know how money works, ask and be taught. N1m won’t do you any good if you are not financially intelligent. Solve your financial problems from the correct perspective.
->https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMM_(Ponzi_scheme_company)
->http://www.fin24.com/…/alleged-sa-ponzi-scheme-mmms-global-…
->http://barenakedscam.com/mmm-global
Even our Nigerian regulator, SEC issued a warning
–>http://thenewsnigeria.com.ng/…/stay-off-mmm-it-is-a-ponzi-…/
He whom the gods want to destroy, they first make mad. It won’t be the first wonder bank, it won’t be the last. So long as there are greedy educated people in this world, the smarter greedy ones will keep on exploiting them
Ladies and gentlemen, for clarity MMM is a ponzi scheme.
1. Named after Charles Ponzi (google is your friend), a ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment program where you are promised unrealistic returns for some investment. What really happens is that investment of the new entrants are used to pay the dividends of the early entrants. At a point, it all crashes and people lose life savings, and many lose their lives out of disappointment. There are winners and losers in a Ponzi scheme. Generally, it is the “earliest batch” of “investors” who will make the money
2. A pyramid scheme is a system that mirrors networking marketing, where you are asked to refer others to register into a program so you can earn. It clearly has no product or service. They have very interesting sales pitches, some may tell you the company is investing in oil or that you are just ‘making a donation’, etc. bottom line is that there is no real product or service of value that you are selling.
3. Network marketing is a distribution system that rewards your active recruitment of others into your sales organisation, but more importantly, ensures you earn passive income from the efforts of your team so that at a point, you can retire to passive income. It is a real business. The company simply uses its advertising budget to compensate distributors who are sharing the value of the product or service, thereby enabling sales to happen. The attraction is that you learn entrepreneurial skills , have time freedom, is cheaper to start as a business than traditional systems, you get help from those who have been there before you, and ultimately, that you can retire to passive income and be financially free, is the exciting reason to get involved in one. But before you do, ask these three questions:
- First, does the company have a product or a service of value. If the only value is the network, run! They MUST have a product or service that on its own is valuable.
- Secondly, study the compensation plan, does it show that you can earn when you stop actively working after building for 5 – 7 years?
- Thirdly, who are the drivers of the business? The MD, CEO, leaders, etc. Are they people with a track record of integrity and business failure and success?
Robert Kiyosaki of the ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ fame has over the last 10 years or more advocated for most people to get into network marketing even though he didn’t make his money from it because after studying it for years, he came to the conclusion that it was the way out for 90% of the population. As it has the capacity to grow you, teach you business skills, and earn amazing income over time.
I have done business in one form or the other for over a decade before joining network marketing. It’s the best business decision I ever took because it added so much value to my businesses and i truly found a way to make money by empowering others with life, financial and business skills i have learnt along the way.
Network marketing is not ‘get rich quick, it is get rich sure, over time’, i say 5 – 10 years, maybe shorter. If you want in on the industry, check out the following: Trevo, Forever Living products, Oriflame, Tianshi, GLND. And when you get in, run with the right philosophies, build a team, a lasting system. Don’t get people in and not train them. Develop yourself. It’s amazing what this industry will do for and in you.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of Naij.com.
Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@naij.com — drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Naij.com’s step-by-step guide for guest contributors.
We’re ready to trade your news for our money: submit news and photo reports from your area using our Citizen Journalism App.
Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to Naij.com Opinion page!
The post MMM: Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes and the complicit thievery of an educated elite appeared first on Nigeria News today & Breaking news | Read Naij.com 24/7.