By Tony Nwankwo

He worked in Singapore as a chief marine engineer but prayed for a more fulfilling, more rewarding enterprise.  And his prayer was answered through a chance meeting with a former colleague who had resigned and returned to his country to engage in Forever business as a distributor.  That meeting changed his life.  Engineer Vincent Udoye relives that experience and the venture he says had exceeded all his expectations.

How did this Chief Marine Engineer come into Forever business?

I was working in Singapore as a marine engineer when I came across this business opportunity for the first time. It was at a point in my life when I was looking for something else to do. I was sick and tired of my job: the long hours, so much stress and not enough time for myself and my family. I was searching for what else to do that could actually give me financial and time freedom.

Then I was fortunate to come across the FLP business through a colleague who worked with me in the same company. But when he left the company he went back to his country and joined Forever. I met him about 10 months after he left. I saw that the man had changed completely. He was driving a Jaguar. He wore a solid gold Rolex wrist watch. I could see money written all over him.

I asked him what had happened, ‘Had he robbed a bank?’. He said, no, he never robbed a bank. But that he had discovered a lucrative business opportunity. Of course, I wanted to know all about it. He began talking about Forever Living Products and showed me ‘Aloe Vera’. I said, ‘No, you are not saying I should go and start selling Aloe Vera! A well-known chief engineer like myself? I said, ‘No, I had no time for that, I was busy’. He said, of course, that I was busy being broke. Indeed, I was truly busy. I had a big office, I had a big title. But I had no money. And this guy asked me how much I was earning.

*Engr. Vincent Udoye flanked by FLP International Inc. chairman, Mr. Rex Maughan and Mr. Gary Maughan

I told him. And he asked if I wanted to know what he earned the previous month. I said, of course. And be showed me his bonus cheque for $33,000…just for one month. $33,000, if you convert that to Naira, was about N4 million for one month. From that day, I didn’t sleep again. The man murdered sleep in my life. I took a honest look at myself: a professional, slaving, working hard for 30 days and 30 nights each month and I had little to show for it.

And here was this man, who was even my junior on the job, he was making ten times more money than myself. And what did I do? I resigned my job. I came back from Singapore to Nigeria against everybody’s advice – my wife, my mother, my father. They were all advising against my starting this business, but I turned deaf ears. I came back into the country and began the business.

In my very first month as FLP distributor, I did not do quite well. Some people were laughing at me. My first FLP bonus cheque was a poor N4,300. But by the time I ended my first year, I was earning over N500,000.00 each month. By the end of the second year, my cheque exceeded N1 million per month. And then, of course, all the dreams I had – which I could not achieve in 15 years of hard work as a marine engineer – everyone of them became a reality in less than four years with Forever Living Products.

On his being instrumental to management bringing the business to Enugu.

I was based in Lagos and I had come to Enugu to work and soon built a team of down lines there. But the members of my team were having a very difficult time getting the products to Enugu. Either they travelled all the way to Lagos or went to Port Harcourt. In each case, they were going through a lot of stress, danger and much expense. And it occurred to me that the Igbo people are very industrious and very hard working.

How come we have FLP Centers in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Warri, yet we didn’t even have one in the whole of Igboland – in Imo, Ebonyi, Anambra, Abia, Enugu States? Then I approached the Managing Director and said, ‘Sir, I give you a promise. If you can come to Enugu, within a couple of years, you will be amazed at what you will see”. And he took me up on that challenge.

Luckily, the management opened a Distribution Center here in Enugu in 2011; and today you can see for yourself how well Forever is doing. The hall is jam-packed. Everyone is celebrating success of Forever in Eastern Nigeria.

Now, I am vindicated. You can see it was a very good decision to come to Enugu. The MD is very happy, the company is very impressed, the people are excited. What you are seeing here is just the beginning. I can assure you that in a couple of years to come, this hall will be too small to convene a Success Showcase event because more people are coming from Imo, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi States to do FLP business.

In Enugu itself, Forever Living Products is growing in leaps and bounds. Let me tell you, when we began training and held meetings to introduce FLP in Enugu, we had maybe 20 to 30 people in the hall. But today, you can see the crowd here; it is in the thousands. This business is exploding in the East. And I am calling on everybody, no matter what you are doing, even if you already have a job, you need to do this business, at least on part time. If not for health reasons, you can use good products for your own good health or for the money you are going to make. Are you looking for financial freedom, or time freedom, or good health? All of these things are found in Forever Living Products business.

On how to unify the different FLP teams in Enugu:

You know, I have a very strong team here in Enugu. But that is not the only team here. We have other teams too. Some people have sponsors and team leaders who come from Port Harcourt or Lagos or Warri or Abuja. All the teams may sometimes approach the FLP business in different ways. So, our Managing Director felt that it would be in the greater interest of all if we all come together and unify and begin to work together as a team.

As anyone knows, business succeeds when there is team work. Among all FLP distributors worldwide, we understand that the meaning of the word TEAM is “Together Everybody Achieves More”. So, Mr. Cornelius Tay felt that if all come together and unify and work as a team, instead of trying to undercut each other, we would all benefit from our collective strength. After all, the potential is awesome. We have not even tapped 25% of the potential business in this market. There is so much to do. You wouldn’t know how excited I am today to witness this Success Showcase event here in Enugu..