Bringing Transformation to South America

Abstract

A young man dressed in a blazer and carrying a briefcase and a newspaper classified section knocked on the door of the office. Felipe, a newly enrolled Chilean distributor, welcomed the guest and escorted him to a row of molded plastic chairs. From the fourteenth floor, the men could see Santiago’s La Providencia neighborhood and an arc of snow-topped mountains at the edge of the city, but they focused their attention on a screen at the front of the meeting room. Daniel stood by the opposite wall and operated a PowerPoint slideshow from his laptop computer and digital projector. Felipe asked the young man his name and found out he was unemployed with a newborn daughter. Gripping a bottle of Omnilife product in his hand, he explained that he would teach him to be an entrepreneur, not an employee. Chilean employers, he claimed, fired their workers before payday and, if a worker died, gave nothing to the surviving family. The first slide appeared with an image of Mexican currency. “Here there is financial security. You’re your own boss and grow as you want to,” Felipe said. Unlike salaried jobs, the income generated in this business continued to accrue to the family even after the worker’s death. The next slide showed a cruise ship and the company’s name for the first time.