41 th Edition

April 2017

 

 

 

Calendar

 

Upcoming Events

Secretaries Seminar will be held on

June 4, 2017

Association Performance Program for the Latin America DSAs will be held on

July 20 -21, 2017

WFDSA Board of Delegates Meeting will be held on September 30, 2017


WFDSA CEO Council Meeting will be held on October 1, 2017

World Congress XV will be held on

October 1-3, 2017

 

The World Congress XV “Own the Future” WC

 

The World Congress XV”Own the Future” will be held on October 1 -3, 2017 in Paris, France. Participants from all over the world and more
than 40 CEO’s will attend the event. It will be an exciting event covering current direct selling topics in the technological world and will be combined with an introduction to parts of the French culture.

A power-packed program consisting of engaging panels will include discussions on The Y generation, the sharing economy, and successful
digital transformation of the direct selling model, among other topics.

If you have not done so, please register for the direct selling industry’s most important event that is only held once every three years.
You would not want to miss the chance to listen to the world’s largest direct selling companies and other industry leaders in an amazing venue – Paris, France. Register online at:

www.wfdsa2017paris.com

US DSA Update Russia

 

The USDSA, in conjunction with the Congressional Direct Selling Caucus, hosted a briefing: “Direct Selling: Entrepreneurism Driving Economic
Growth” for media, policymakers, and congressional staff to discuss the value of direct selling to the economy, society, and millions of micro-entrepreneurs, March 29, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.


USDSA President Joseph Mariano presented an overview of the positive impact of the direct selling channel as well as the importance of
the USDSA’s robust relationships with government officials and regulators. He also discussed the Association’s legislative agenda including consumer protection legislation, tax, and independent contractor status.

USDSA research shows that direct selling experienced estimated retail sales of $36.12 billion – a 4.8 % increase from the previous year.
Dr. Robert Peterson, Associate Dean for Research at the University of Texas, Austin, presented further data in support of the significant direct, indirect, and induced socio-economic impact of direct selling in the United States.

Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX) acknowledged the impact direct selling companies have on the economy and the community, and shared
his intent to champion the cause of direct selling in Congress. Rep. Veasey often meets with people involved with direct selling and hears first-hand their positive stories: “It’s amazing how interwoven direct selling is and how many people it affects on a
daily basis,” he said.

Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) echoed Rep. Veasey’s sentiments: “It’s wonderful what direct sellers do for the economy and
for individuals.” She described her formative years as a direct seller and how that experience was invaluable for teaching her how to manage a business and lead a team, adding that she is proud to now help lead the Caucus and encourage entrepreneurship, which
leads to new-start businesses, which leads to growth.

Former NFL wide receiver JJ Birden is now a distributor and spokesman for Isagenix. Birden described how direct selling taught him leadership
and life skills and brought him in contact with those who have benefited from both the products and the entrepreneurial opportunity. “This is a profession for everyone. You control the odds – it’s your effort, it’s your commitment; you get out what you put
in.”

The Direct Selling Caucus was established in 2015 as a bipartisan forum to consider policy issues affecting the retail channel and the
more than 20 million Americans involved in direct selling. Its membership has grown to 45 members, representing districts in every region of the country.

 


 

L to R: USDSA Executive Vice President Adolfo Franco, direct selling spokesman and former NFL athlete JJ Birden, and USDSA President Joe
Mariano

UE

 

Secretaries Seminar

The WFDSA Secretaries Seminar will be held on Sunday, June 4, 2017 in Orlando, Florida in conjunction with U.S. DSA Annual Meeting.

The purpose of the Secretaries Seminar is to provide a forum for DSA staff to exchange information on best practices in association management
and to build leadership skills. Around 20 DSA staff from the European, Latin America and Asian region will participate in this event.

For more information, please contact
mpaniagua@wfdsa.org

WFDSA Association Performance Program for the Latin American Region

 

The next Association Performance Program (APP) for the Latin American region will be held on July 20 21, 2017 in Costa Rica.

The purpose of the seminar is to assist paid DSA staff employees as well as company volunteers in better managing their national DSAs,
improving the value of the services they can deliver to member companies and assisting them in meeting WFDSA’s standards of excellence.

For more information, please contact
mpaniagua@wfdsa.org

 

WFDSA Board of Delegates Meeting

 

The next WFDSA Board of Delegates meeting will be held on Saturday, September 30, 2017 in conjunction with the World Congress XV “Own the
Future” which will be held in Paris, France.

For more information, please contact: Maureen Paniagua at:
mpaniagua@wfdsa.org.

Legal

Legal
Compendium

 

Has your DSA submitted their legal compendium update mpaniagua@wfdsa.org

Global Threat Report

 

Are you updating the global industry threat report and providing this as a tool to your members? Click Here for the online threat report: https://wfdsa.org/initiatives-and-resources/global-regulatory-resource/

Current Direct Selling Laws

Has your DSA provided a link on your respective website to current laws? Please remember to include the link on your website, as it is a DSA Standard requirement to maintain Silver level DSA or above.

 

Global Code of Ethics Recognition Program

Is your DSA and your members participating in the Global Code of Ethics Recognition program please visit

https://wfdsa.org/code-of-ethics-recognition-program/
for full details or contact Maureen Paniagua at
mpaniagua@wfdsa.org



DSA of Russia Update Aus

 


On April 11, 2017, the Russian DSA held a conference titled “Code of Ethics: Theory and Practice” in Moscow, Russia at Oriflame Headquarters. There were over 40 RDSA member companies who participated in the event.

RDSA President, Tamara Shokareva presented on the role of the RDSA Code of Ethics for the direct selling industry in Russia. A video dedicated
to the 20th Anniversary of RDSA was shown. The video included academic representatives and consumer advocates speaking about the role of the RDSA Code of Ethics as it self-regulates in the Russian consumer market.

WFDSA Executive Director Tamuna Gabilaia presented on WFDSA strategic goals, new initiatives and forthcoming amendments to the WFDSA Code
of Ethics. She also briefed the participants on WFDSA Messaging Guidebook.

Herbalife Vice President, Edyta Kurek spoke on behalf of the RDSA Ethical Committee on 2016 activities and future initiatives that will
focus on the development of easy to understand training materials. RDSA Code Administrator, Diana Sork analyzed the complaints RDSA received in 2016.

Topics in the conference also included discussions dedicated to the control of salesforce activities on the internet as well as protection
of trademarks, intellectual property rights and the importance of distributor education about products and earnings claims. Presenters from Herbalife, Mary Kay, Oriflame, Morinda and Nu Skin shared their respective company experience regarding training videos
and methods used for salesforce education.



WFDSA wants to thank RDSA General Secretary Oleg Podboronov and its Chairman Tamara Shokareva and RDSA members for organizing such an informative and useful event.


 

(Featured in the picture is Mr. Ali Ibrahim, Deputy Director General Department of Economic Development)

Middle East Direct Selling ForumUAB

 

The first ever Middle East Direct Selling Forum organized by the United Arab Emirates DSA (UAE DSA) and supported by WFDSA
was held on March 28, 2017 in Dubai. The Department of Economic Development, Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing fully supported the event as well.


WFDSA Executive Director Tamuna Gabilaia presented on the global state of the direct selling industry. There was a panel discussion focusing on international experiences in direct selling in Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia from WFDSA Association Services
Chair Garth Wyllie, Executive Director of DSA of Australia Gillian Stapleton and Executive Director of Malaysian DSA Lawrence Cheah.

Kelly School Institute for International Business LaVonn Schlegel and University of Monash Dr. Rowan Kennedy and General Secretary
of the French DSA Jacques Cosnefroy discussed working with the academia and developing direct selling programs.


WFDSA Association Advisory Council for the Asian Pacific Region Melissa Qujano, Tamuna Gabilaia and Jacques Cosnefroy discussed the industry ethics and best practices. Executive Director DSA of Colombia Patricia Cerra and General Secretary UAE DSA Ali Shabdar
discussed legal challenges and opportunities


Over 150 participants from DSAs, member company executives, government officials and academia from the Asia / Pacific region and other regions attend the event.

 


WFDSA Association Performance Program for the Asia Pacific RegionEcuador

 

On March 29-31, 2017, the DSA of United Arab Emirates (DSA UAE) hosted WFDSA’s Association Performance Program for the Asian / Pacific DSAs.
Secretaries and company executives from the Asia Pacific region participated in the event. This marked the 15th anniversary of the APP events. The format of the seminar was very interactive. The seminar focused on various issues, including exchange of best
practices, DSA performance standards, new initiatives, discussion on case studies and a presentation from the Kelly School of Business regarding entrepreneurship and direct selling, as well as a company visit to DXN. The seminar was very productive and WFDSA
would like to extend special thanks to its gracious host -UAE DSA General Secretary Ali Shabdar and special thanks to the Dubai government for hosting the APP anniversary farewell dinner.

William Lau, Direct Selling from Association of Hong Kong, Ltd commented, “I really appreciate the guest speaker from the Kelly School
of Indiana University who shared very useful tips from real cases for communicating with the academia”.

Gillian Stapleton, Direct Selling Association of Australia commented ‘The APP in Dubai gave me an opportunity to learn from my colleagues
and understand the broader workings of the WFDSA. I found the case studies particularly useful as they were interactive, allowed for creativity of thought, and based on real examples we were able to then understand how the matter had been dealt with locally”.

Click on the link below to view more photos:

 

DSA
of Philippines Update US

 

DSA of Philippines (DSAP) theme for the year is “Stronger Together: Committed to Excellence”. The DSA recently held its first general membership
meeting titled “Connect”. Guest speakers from COL Financials Group spoke to member companies about the financial forecast and financial literacy. The event also included the induction of the Board Members, the awarding of certificate of membership and a
speech from Undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry Zeny Maglaya on industry updates that will impact the DSAP projects.


DSA of Malaysia Update Malay

 

On March 21, 2017, the Ethics Council Malaysia (ECM)
an initiative of the DSA of Malaysia was launched by by Minister of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism YB Dato’ Seri Hamzah Bin Zainudin. The role of ECM is to form a united front against pyramid schemes, illegal investment schemes and all other
illegal schemes. ECM functions by collaborating information on suspected illegal schemes, deliberatingif these schemes are legitimate and disseminating the information to law enforcers for their immediate actions plus warning the public of such illegal activities.
ECM is chaired by DSAM Vice President Datuk Tan Chong Guan and consists of representatives from the DSA, Domestic Trade Division and Enforcement Division of MDTCC, Intelligence and Operations Unit, Royal Malaysia Police, MCA Public Services and Complaints
Department, Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong) and Wong & Partners. Complaints can be filed online via the ECM link at
www.dsam.org.my

 

Polish
DSA Celebrates “Consumer 2017”
LA

 

On March 15, 2017, the Polish DSA (PSSB) in cooperation with the Consumer Federation held an annual event in Warsaw, Poland devoted to
“Consumer 2017” in honor of International Consumer Day. The theme of the event “Consumers and Entrepreneurs – Together or Apart” focused on a wide range of topics between consumers, producers and entrepreneurs.

 

 

PSSB conducted a workshop devoted to compliance in direct selling. The workshop was very well attended by over 80 participants.
One of the topics discussed by the PSSB Code Administrator was on how well designed internal compliance procedures and their strict monitoring have a direct influence on the number of consumer complaints and the level of consumer satisfaction.

The Consumer Federation reiterated that the number of consumer complaints related to the operation of PSSB member companies
is next to nil because of Code of Ethics. Mr. Marek Niechciał, the Chairman of the Office for Protecting Competition and Consumers (UOKiK), the government consumer watchdog stressed in his opening speech the importance of having Codes and putting them into
practice.

The event was well attended by more than 130 people from local consumer organizations and government officials.

 

Reminders

 

Just a reminder to allow mail from News from WFDSA to safely come into your inbox without being placed in your junk or spam folder by adding mpaniagua@wfdsa.org

and
news@wfdsa.org to a safe senders list within your email client or Internet security software. DSAs also please remember to forward the news to your member companies – we would not want anyone to miss out on exciting news!

Don’t forget to like us on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/WorldFedDSA/

 

Does Your DSA Have Something to Share?

Having an event? Celebrating an accomplishment? Need help with an industry question? Just let us know at mpaniagua@wfdsa.org.

WFDSA,
1667 K Street, NW Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20006

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