By Prisca Sam-Duru

It’s that time of the year when companies put smiles on the faces of diligent customers who stood by them all through the years. Many of these customers are usually rewarded with an all-expenses paid trips abroad, cash running into millions, as well as gifts.

In the face of dwindling economic fortunes in Nigeria, companies adopting the strategy of giving back to their loyal customers are not only making them happy, but also indirectly sowing for a more bumper harvest in the future.

Mrs Regina Azunwena is among Nigerians whose Christmas celebration is fun filled by reason of her winning a whopping two million naira cash through a raffle draw powered by a group of Forever Business Owners, FBOS, of the Forever Living Product company. Mrs Azunwena, a resident in Port Harcourt, was absent during the raffle draw because she chose instead to be at the Church. She had asked the distributor from which she purchased the products, to keep her ticket for her while she attended Church service, oblivious of the huge fortune that awaited her. Azunwena was still on her way back from Church when her phone rang and the coordinator of the event, Mrs Susan Itemuagbor broke the cherry news to her. “Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ”, was all she kept shouting as she was loss of words momentarily. On gaining composure, she told Itemuagbor, who had the company’s global community listening and watching via zoom, how excited she was for being the star prize winner.

Explaining her journey into becoming a millionaire, Azunwena whose ticket with number 0000446, was picked during the raffle draw by Managing Director of ThisDay, Mr Eniola Bello, further said “I was once a member before I stopped but I continued purchasing all my supplements before I was told about the promo”.

For the second consolation prize winner, this reporter picked the ticket of US-based lady, Deborah Ojo, winning for her, a 43 inches Full HD Lite smart television. Ojo connected via zoom where she managed to contain her excitement for being appreciated by the company. Another lucky winner was Timothy Amabeoku with ticket number, 0000412. He won an Iphone 13 worth 544,000 naira. Timothy, who has been purchasing the products through his uncle also a distributor, expressed gratitude to the organisers while promising not to stop using the products.

Novel Woko with ticket number, 0001196, was also lucky as he won a brand new bicycle.

 Earlier in her presentation titled, “Your Dreams, Our Plans for 2022”, Dr Uzoma Otaraku who flew into Lagos from Port Harcourt, Rivers State for the event, encouraged Nigerians to invest in Network Marketing which according to her, is a trending kind of business that helps prevent people from dying early due to financial pressures.

She noted that by involving in the Aloe Vera Company which combines network marketing, e-commerce and wellness, one is investing in uncertain times, adding that the three trending business patterns, allow flexibility, do not have risks, and do not require spending money to engage staff or rent shop even when the business is usually open for 24 hours, more so, they are global businesses.

Explaining the risks involved in relying solely on paid jobs, Dr Uzoma advised individuals to ensure they have road-side businesses in case of any eventuality because according to her, upon the death of an individual in a paid employment, he is immediately replaced but whereby he has a business running, his children or family members take over the management. She also advised people to be passionate about whichever business they have started so as to make maximum profits.

Sharing his excitement on the success of the programme, Country Manager for Forever Living Product, Mr Daniel Ikechukwu said, “We are in the Christmas period and this is the season of giving. A group of our Forever Business Owners actually organised this, to not just say thank you to their customers but also to kind of give back to these loyal customers for their patronage over time. “And you know, if you look at what the world is going through, a lot of people are disturbed psychologically and financially. And for them to have still found time to use our products, the group of FBOS are just expressing their gratitude to these customers for continued patronage”.

Throwing more light on the organisers of the raffle draw, Ikechukwu explained that “Nationally, we have over 700,000, Forever Business Owners, so a group just came together and deemed it fit to do this. They decided that if a customer bought products worth 50,000 naira, he or she is given a ticket and those were the tickets we had in the raffle draw”.

 On how the company has managed to stay relevant in the wellness industry, he disclosed that “The company is 43 years globally and 21 years in Nigeria, and still exists today because of excellent products and because it’s all about health and wealth. It’s not really about us but all about making more people look and feel better”.

 “We have a management that is consistent and strong for over 4 decades. And in over 160 countries where we do business, we own the properties and do what we call vertical integration; we control from the plant to the products and to the customers. So, there are no third parties and because there are no third parties, we are able to control the quality of the products. This has kept us for 43 years. And in Nigeria, despite all the challenges, we are still there, we are still strong and it can only get better,” he added.

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