Amway Corp., a U.S. direct-sales producer of cleaning and nutrition items, opens for business in the Philippines April 8. Amway distributors in Hawaii like G.K. Kamakani Souza, a firefighter at Aikahi Fire Station, see this as their giant step on the gilded highway toward wealth.
"I will make a lot of money in the Philippines because we've taken a proven formula of success and duplicated it," an excited Souza said. "This is the greatest opportunity in the world."
Here's how it works: Filipinos who want to sell Amway must have a distributor to sponsor them. Hawaii, with its large Filipino-American population, "is an ideal place" to look, Souza said.
Overseas sponsors start reaping a 2 percent bonus of their partners' total sales, paid from corporate headquarters, after the partners acquire 100 distributors under them, Souza said. The Kaneohe fireman is sponsoring about 100 Filipinos.
Souza said he and at least 100 Hawaii distributors, including about 60 Filipino Americans, are traveling to the Philippines to recruit and train. Filipinos can sign up April 5-7, and sponsors are arriving from around the world.
"It's crazy; it's creating a frenzy," Churma said. "If you're on the top, you'll make a lot of money."
Hawaii attorney Sandra Cirie is helping each of four clients here sign on two partners in the Philippines. "I get tons of people calling," Cirie said. "It's like a gold rush."
Amway expects 22,500 committed Filipino distributors within the first year, said Barbara Hohman, Amway supervisor for international public relations at the Ada, Mich., corporate headquarters. More liberal Philippine laws allowing the U.S. Amway Corp. to wholly own Amway Philippines was the key to the opening. But only Philippine citizens will be able to retail products there, Hohman said.
"We know the products to be launched are tried and true Asian sellers," Hohman said about the 11 Amway products to be sold in the beginning. "We know business will be strong."
One of the Amway attractions is the low up-front capital needed to become a distributor. Cost to buy an Amway kit and become a U.S. distributor: as little as $57. Cost for a Filipino: 2,000 pesos, or about $80.
Some see negative spinoffs from the predicted Amway craze in the Philippines.
"It perpetuates this notion that goods made in the U.S. will be better," said Belinda Aquino, director of the Center for Philippine Studies at the University of Hawaii. "It's a colonial mentality. I'm sure it will be successful, but there needs to be some regulation so it doesn't hurt home-grown industries."
Aquino is also worried that exporting the "American Dream" to the Philippines, where many think a ticket into the United States means guaranteed wealth, could work people into an unhealthy frenzy. Too much hype and the motivational meetings that go along with becoming a distributor could feed unrealistic expectations to poor Filipinos who are desperate for jobs.
"I'm afraid they may be bamboozled into it without a realistic understanding of what it is they have to do," Aquino said. The profit motive might lead them to "almost deceive people or pressure them to buy things."
Hohman emphasized that Amway distributors must follow a high standard of ethics.
Amway's delivery of the "American Dream" -- if you work hard, you can succeed -- has spread quickly in Asia. Last year, sales reached $2 billion in Japan, where young people are looking for an escape from the "salaryman" mentality that chains them to long hours with one company. Amway Japan was the second most profitable foreign-affiliated company in Japan after Coca-Cola in 1996. In China, where Amway opened two years ago, sales reached $84 million in the last six months. Amway's future target is the burgeoning Indian market.
Amway may have taken off in Asia because of the importance of relationship building and group decision making in Asian cultures.
Amway may have taken off in Asia partly because of the importance of relationship building and group decision making in Asian cultures, speculated Dana Alden, chairman of the marketing department at the University of Hawaii. But Amway's quality products, low entry fees and training for distributors give the system universal appeal, he said. Amway also promotes sales, not just recruiting.
"Some require $1,000 to $2,000 to get in, move like a fad through society, then sputter out when there's no one else to recruit," Alden said.
Even in Amway, Alden warned that "people don't calculate the amount of time you invest acting as a distributor and meeting individuals. It takes a tremendous amount of time before you see a large payback."
Souza, looking to supplement his firefighter's paycheck, sold real estate here several years ago until the market collapsed.
Two years ago he joined Amway. When he heard about opportunities in the Philippines, Souza contacted Filipino Americans in Hawaii for friends and relatives who might be interested in becoming distributors. "There's definitely big excitement. I've had very good success," Souza said. "Amway does all the negotiating with different governments. As a distributor I can go into another country where Amway is, follow their parameters and start an international business or be an international sponsor."
The Amway headquarters did not have a state-by-state breakdown of business. Souza estimated 8,000 Amway distributors in Hawaii, with less than a thousand actually building businesses and a few hundred "really going for it."
Souza said there are at least five "diamonds" in Hawaii -- distributors who have helped six others acquire 100 distributors below them. People familiar with Amway say diamond distributors make more than $100,000 a year. Souza hopes to become a "ruby" soon (three levels below diamond).
The firefighter is a fervent believer in Amway, not only for the money he can make but also for the "American Dream" it offers to Asians who don't have such a vision in their countries.
"The more you help other people, the more you benefit," Souza said.
And with an estimated 1 billion middle-class consumers in Asia within a decade, Souza predicted those benefits "won't max out" in his lifetime.