Counting losses after QuestNet’s shutdown

Though easy to understand, the pyramid scheme is still a sophisticated way of making money. Early this week, the Government of Rwanda banned the operations of QuestNet, one company which conducted its operations in Rwanda through independent representatives. As a marketing company, QuestNet had a boast in its operations to have managed to cut across geographical boarders, race, tribes and religion as it created a global family of successful entrepreneurs. According to a statement released by the Ministry of Finance, QuestNet had failed to meet the required tax procedures expected from a registered company. The statement read that, “It shall be compulsory to register a company in the Registrar’s General Office.” It further indicated that, “Any person who sets up a business or other activities that may be taxable is obliged to register with the tax administration within a period of seven days, from the beginning of operating the business, or activity, or the establishment of the company.” Despite, the business operation measures set in place, the statement also stated that there were illegal transactions by QuestNet like, using the pyramid scheme or chain referral scheme to acquire more customers from the public. Eventually, the collected revenue from the sold products is transferred in and out of the country in an uncontrolled and unsupervised manner by the Central Bank. For this reason, the National Bank of Rwanda sanctioned its closure. However, by this time many Rwandan’s had already been connived and trapped into QuestNet’s pyramid scheme. Lambert Ingabire, was a former member of QuestNet. He expressed his disappointment to ‘The New Times’ as he came to terms with counting his losses. He wondered whether there was a way of getting a refund but he had already started doubting the whole QuestNet movement. “I don’t know who the leader of the movement is; I just know the people who made me join,” Ingabire said. He said that the group entices someone into buying their wellness and lifestyle products, jewellery, and one famous Bio Disc that charges the body with the right frequencies and prevents diseases. According to amezcua.com, after many years of research of Bio energy and water, Dr. Ian Lyon came up with an amazing discovery of a Scalar-energy producing product known as the Bio Disc. A Bio Disc is a circular glass disc of approximately 9centimetres in diameter which is made through Heat Fusion and Nano technology. The disc is believed to eliminate and nullify the effects of man-made frequencies within the human body. It is also believed to increase the energy level of every single body cell to an ideal level. “With all the hype about the Bio Disc, it was hard to resist joining QuestNet. They even said that it could protect your DNA from damage,” Ingabire added. “One needed to part with USD 630 to buy a Bio-Disc or even more depending on the product you wanted in order to join,” Ingabire added. With this sort of a mouth to mouth marketing based business, he added that “you had to get people buy products and be put on a commission based payment. The whole idea of the disc improving one’s immune system, cleansing of blood and also acting as an anti-depressant was the catch.” “I also can’t tell how many members we were because it had really been long since I went to any of their meetings. I had sort of quit because some people were negative about it when they kept on saying that it may be satanic,” said Ingabire. Many Christians had doubted this company with the excuse that people could no longer preach Christ’s gospel but rather the QuestNet Gospel. Through the Pyramid scheme, people were required to try and convince more people to join in order to make more profits and in return, members spent a lot of their time and energy ensuring that everyone around them knows about QuestNet. Rose Kitakufe, a Ugandan QuestNet representative during a phone interview with ‘The New Times’ said that she already makes good money through the business. She was even selected as one of the representatives to go to Kenya some time back to lure more people into the business. Kitakufe assured that QuestNet is not a pyramid scheme as long as there are products sold to maintain the smooth running of the company. “A pyramid scheme only fails at some point because of lack of trade in te movement and the lack of ways of generating more money,” she assured. She further added that QuestNet is not bound to fail since their products are medically proven and have proved the test of time. For this reason Kitakufe said that QusetNet was genuine and hence many people are purchasing the products. Despite all the various reasons given for QuestNet’s dealings, the Ministry of Finance’s statement confirmed that the chain referral earns commissions that are not declared in accordance with tax laws of the Republic of Rwanda. karuthum@gmail.com