In honor of Women’s History Month, QNET deserves to be recognized for empowering women in Nigeria and around the globe. The international e-commerce-based direct selling company establishes entrepreneurship opportunities for self-motivated distributors by offering mentorship, training, and education to instill the priceless skills and knowledge needed to succeed.
“Direct selling is providing Nigerian women with the valuable opportunity to balance professional and personal lives on their own terms while enabling them to overcome barriers that often keep them from entrepreneurship, such as a lack of capital, time, and skills,” explains Biram Fall, QNET regional general manager for sub-Saharan Africa.
Women play an important role in the global economy as entrepreneurs. They drive economies by helping to create jobs, boost revenue, and generate income while reducing long-standing inequalities between the sexes. A study finds that in many emerging economies, women are starting businesses at a more rapid rate than their male counterparts, which means the women are responsible for boosting economic growth.
Empowering Women Worldwide
“Through our training, we ensure that our independent representatives, who are majorly women, experience hands-on learning and grow their networks too,” says Fall. In addition, women are attracted to direct sales because it offers the flexibility of scheduling and a completely personalized work process. According to the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations, women comprise an estimated 74.4% of direct selling distributors worldwide.
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“The direct selling business model provides women with the freedom to choose where they want to work from and when they work,” notes Fall. “The provided flexibility of working hours, unlike nine-to-five corporate jobs, have enabled women in the direct selling industry to work as desired, thus allowing women to walk the fine balance between work and personal life.”
Historically, women have had to overcome significant obstacles in many aspects of economic growth — from financial assistance and technology to networking. Yet, with the right mindset, women are finding increasing success with QNET.
The Ultimate QNET Success Story
Malou Caluza is the first female CEO of the direct selling company, which is headquartered in Hong Kong. She has 20-plus years of experience at QNET. “When I started with the company, we were just a small group of people, and everyone was involved with everything. There was no employee manual. What we actually did was to learn and build as we grew,” she says. “I am proud to say that I am part of a company that has always promoted diversity in all aspects of our business.
“The good thing about the direct selling business is that it is a great equalizer,” Caluza adds. “It is gender neutral and does not discriminate on the basis of age, education, or socioeconomic background. As a result, anyone can have access to the opportunity to become an entrepreneur at a very low cost, provided they are willing to put in the hard work and have the right mindset to build a business.”
Caluza says that during her two decades at QNET, “I have witnessed so many women, especially from developing countries, who have truly taken charge of and transformed their lives by building a successful direct selling business. And in almost all cases, they tell us that the best thing they got out of the experience is not the financial reward, but the personal growth.”
According to Caluza, at the corporate level, 46% of QNET employees are women, with 43% at the managerial level. However, she believes “direct selling is truly an industry where gender or background does not dictate one’s success; hard work and a passion for building relationships with people is the most integral part of our distributors’ success stories.”
