QNET yesterday commenced a deliberate, fact based campaign in The Gambia to clear widespread misconceptions about its products and business, positioning itself as a legitimate direct selling company built around tangible value rather than recruitment hype.
Addressing journalists yesterday at the Ocean Bay Hotel, Mr Cherif Abdoulaye, the regional General Manager for QNET in Sub-Saharan Africa, said the campaign is envisaged to tackle narratives aimed at tarnishing the company’s image.
“QNET wants to be judged by the quality, safety and usefulness of its wellness, lifestyle and technology products, not by rumours, copy cat fraudsters or misinformed commentary,” he said.
QNET presents itself as an e commerce–driven direct seller with a broad catalogue spanning wellness devices, nutrition, personal care, luxury watches, water and air purification systems, travel memberships and online education.
Mr Cherif added that the company’s independent distributors earn when products move to real customers, and that its business model is structured around repeat use and satisfaction, not speculative entry fees.
QNET also promotes endorsements like memberships in health food and supplement associations in Hong Kong and Singapore, and its role as an official direct selling partner for major sports brands such as Manchester City and CAF, as proof it must meet minimum regulatory and reputational standards.
Mr Cherif acknowledges that much of the hostility around its name stems from people who misuse its brand to promise fake jobs, scholarships or travel opportunities, or to run illegal money circles that have nothing to do with its official compensation plan.
He precisely explain that anyone asking for large, upfront “visa” or “job placement” fees in QNET’s name is acting fraudulently and outside company policy.
Mr Cherif also confronts the “pyramid scheme” label head on, arguing that such schemes are defined by lack of real products and reliance on endless recruitment, while QNET points to its multi category product portfolio, retail pricing, and income tied to product sales as differentiating characteristics.
He frames many complaints as the result of unrealistic expectations, misinformation during recruiting by rogue distributors, or pure misunderstanding of how direct selling works, and claims to discipline or terminate violators of its code of ethics.
“Our products are promoted as science validated or lab tested devices intended to improve water quality, reduce exposure to air pollutants, support energy and vitality, and deliver tangible lifestyle benefits in the home.”
The company trade in luxury watches under the Bernhard H Mayer brand, vacation club memberships through QVI, and online learning through QLearn used to signal that QNET is competing in real, established consumer categories rather than selling abstract “positions” in a money chain.
Recognising that public opinion often forms in newsrooms and on social media before it reaches regulators, Mr Cherif said QNET has started to bring journalists and influencers into structured product workshops and business briefings.
“These sessions are used to walk reporters through the product portfolio, explain how pricing, commissions and customer protections work, and clarify the gap between QNET’s official policies and the behaviour of impersonators or unethical distributors. This is we want people to judge QNET by the authenticity, quality and usefulness of what it actually sells—and hold accountable those who misuse its name—rather than allowing misconceptions to define a business whose reputation, it insists, rests on its products and customers’ long term experience with them.”
He said the company has launched a successful anti-scam media and public education campaign in some West African countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Sierra Leone. Its “QNET Against Scams” campaign used television, radio, newspapers, social media, online adverts and billboards to disseminate information thatempowered the public to know the real QNET.
QNET is organising an Expo on the 6th and 7th December, 2025 at the Coco Ocean Resort and Spa in Bijilo.
