# Archive > Open content archive > MLM Industry Forum >  1 Way Forward - The Way Forward In South Africa

## adele.strydom

1 Way Forward wants to change your life. We want to change your life so that you can change the lives of others. In other words, we want to help you Pay it Forward! 

We think it's time for a modern day revolution; a revolution of changing minds and spirits. To help us do this, we want to bring you into our network and we want you to subscribe to change. We want you to subscribe to changing our country.

1 Way Forward was founded for the specific purpose of researching and developing ways to not only combat unemployment and poverty, but to get rid of it altogether.

*How to earn money :* 

t's simple! We have taken the well-established business model of network marketing and recognized that most people join multilevel or network marketing companies not for the product, but for the potential commissions they can make from network marketing. So we're not going to sell you a product you don't really want to buy just so you can participate in our network. We are simply going to ask you to Subscribe to Change, to participate in changing our country for the better. We help you earn additional income, and we help the poor and unemployed. And we encourage you to help others too, once you're able to. Subscribe to us for R25 per month.

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## AndyD

Hi Adele, welcome to TFSA.

You're punting a 'network marketing' system without a product in which case you're gong to have to convince us it's not a pyramid scheme.

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## Dave A

You also posted MLM outside of the MLM forum  :No: 
But I'll fix that now  :Wink: 

Ditto the pyramid query.

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## wynn

If it is a 'Pay it Forward' pyramid is it an upside down pyramid with you at the base (upside down apex) with an increasing number of dependants above you?

If it is I would suffer 'Donor Fatigue' within minutes!

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## adele.strydom

If you go to our website and view our transformation plan, you will see that the money that subscribers pay, is used for the following :

44% is used for commission
38% is used for bank charges and Tax
18% is used for Research & Development

We are basically asking the public to pay R25 to help us change the unemployment, poverty and housing problems in South Africa. We do not have government grants, our start-up capital ws pruvately funded. Therefore we need people to want to help. Imagine wherever you drive down any road, you no longer see townships with thousands of shacks built from dodgy materias, but you see beautiful cob villages? That's what your R25 can contribute towards! Think about it.

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## Dave A

Adele, it sounds like you face the same dilemma as Give for Life.

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## AndyD

> 44% is used to pay commissions to subscribers and the individuals they signed up. 
> 38% is used for research and development of our cause, and the remaining 
> 18% is used for supplies & materials that the people would need when buidung the cob houses.


I understand the structure but I don't see a 'product', ergo, I see a pyramid scheme. A pyramid scheme that donates 18% of the income to charity or homeless is still a pyramid scheme. 




> Adele, it sounds like you face the same dilemma as Give for Life.


I agree. With your opening post I immediately thought it might have been a re-hash of Give For Life but if it is they don't seem to have addressed the fundamental flaws of that system. I'm hoping you can show us otherwise.

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## adele.strydom

While I do understand you being skeptic and immediately think that it is a pyramid scheme, I would like to explain the following :

Yes, 18% of the money is used for supplies and materials. But, the 32% that I stated is used for research and development, does not go back into the company. We are planning on bringing in experts in every field necessary for us to achieve our goal. Like I said, we are not government funded, the whole start up process was privately funded. 

What we are trying to do, is help people in townships that do not have a home, do not have any form of income, and cannot support their families. At the same time, we are helping the people that work for a salary of R1800.00 to maybe make some extra money. Yes, there are people working in well known stores for R1800.00. So instead of just helping the townships, we are trying to help each and every struggling South African. 

I don't have to sell you a product so that you can earn money. That's why most people join a network. They probably don't even like the product, but they join the network anyway in order to earn an extra income. I'm taking out the product, and still offering them a chance to make some extra money.

Anybody can donate to charity, or help a specified group of people. 
But it takes the whole nation, working together, to change the lives of every South African. Whether they live in a township or suburbia, every person deserves to have a home, an income, and a way to support their families.

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## wynn

I can't find a web site, can you post a link?

Excuse me if I sound ignorant and as usual cynical, but I believe you are trying to take coal to Newcastle, you want to teach people who stay in mud huts how to build mud houses?

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## Cat

> I don't have to sell you a product so that you can earn money. That's why most people join a network. They probably don't even like the product, but they join the network anyway in order to earn an extra income. I'm taking out the product, and still offering them a chance to make some extra money.


Adele - may I be Devil's advocate here? Making money from charity seems a little backward to me first of all and secondly - I can see how and why this system (albeit looking very pyramid like) may work but is it legal?

I must say I take umbridge to your statement above - not everyone that joins a network does it just for the money. Any system will work for someone whether it be a paying job or a MLM if they apply the right ethic and of course believe in the product. I would not have lasted 10 years in my field selling a product that I don't like or don't use. That alone would put someone's ethic under fire, yes?
There are three types of network marketers - those that ONLY sell product *(because they believe in it), those that sell the product (because they believe in it) and offer people the opportunity to do the same under their guidance (i.e. downline) and then there are those that are in it just to prove the system works - a system that would not work without a base line product.

I do not stand up for all MLM systems here because I know that some are pretty dodgey in their own right - however, to me it's all about ethic and how much of that is applied to a business, whether it be your own, one you get paid for or one you 'signed into'.

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## Dave A

> I can't find a web site, can you post a link?


1 Way Forward.





> I don't have to sell you a product so that you can earn money. That's why most people join a network. They probably don't even like the product, but they join the network anyway in order to earn an extra income. I'm taking out the product, and still offering them a chance to make some extra money.


The legal problem is _no product = pyramid_. I'm afraid the rosy glow of a good clause doesn't make it legal.

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## AndyD

> I can't find a web site, can you post a link?


I'm assuming it's h**p://www.1wayforward.org/. Please let me know if I'm wrong Adele.

*Edit.*Damn, that's what happens when you don't read to the end of the thread before replying.

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## adele.strydom

> I can't find a web site, can you post a link?
> 
> Excuse me if I sound ignorant and as usual cynical, but I believe you are trying to take coal to Newcastle, you want to teach people who stay in mud huts how to build mud houses?



No, we are trying to teach people who live in townships (shacks) to build a home out of cob. Transforming a township into a cob village is our goal .. 

The web address is www.1wayforward.org

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## adele.strydom

> Adele - may I be Devil's advocate here? Making money from charity seems a little backward to me first of all and secondly - I can see how and why this system (albeit looking very pyramid like) may work but is it legal?
> 
> I must say I take umbridge to your statement above - not everyone that joins a network does it just for the money. Any system will work for someone whether it be a paying job or a MLM if they apply the right ethic and of course believe in the product. I would not have lasted 10 years in my field selling a product that I don't like or don't use. That alone would put someone's ethic under fire, yes?
> There are three types of network marketers - those that ONLY sell product *(because they believe in it), those that sell the product (because they believe in it) and offer people the opportunity to do the same under their guidance (i.e. downline) and then there are those that are in it just to prove the system works - a system that would not work without a base line product.
> 
> I do not stand up for all MLM systems here because I know that some are pretty dodgey in their own right - however, to me it's all about ethic and how much of that is applied to a business, whether it be your own, one you get paid for or one you 'signed into'.


Hi,

Yes, it is legal. 

And with regards to your second statement, if I am in trouble financially, but, I find this company that says if you pay R4500.00 you come into our network at the highest level, and can earn up to 'X' amount in a year, I would do my homework before joining. Not everybody has that kind of money, I know I don't.

I am not making money off charity. To rebuild a community costs money. To help people costs money. What we are trying to do, is merely help those who live in Suburbia and earn a low income, earn some extra money, and also help those who live in townships to actually be able to support their families.

Why do people break into houses? Steal Cars? Rob people at gunpoint? .. for money .. if everyone can work together as a nation to change the unemployment, crime levels will come down. 

Changing people's mindsets about anything is a difficult task. And getting the idea of a crime free, unemployment free South Africa across the board and into the mind of every South African is our biggest obstacle, but we believe we can do it. And we will. And when we do, I hope everybody is ready for it.  :Smile:

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## adele.strydom

So it seems in my rush to type everything out, I gave you incorrect information. My apologies for that. Here are the correct figures ..

44% is used for commission
38% is used for bank charges and Tax
18% is used for Research & Development

http://www.1wayforward.org/index.php...u_item~~L1_535

Sorry again. I hope this explains it better.

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