THE AMWAY STORY

Built on a Dream

Founders of Amway Corporation Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel.

It is 1959.  Two successful young entrepreneurs sit at the kitchen table mapping out their dreams for expansion of direct selling food supplement business from their home. Then the idea comes to them:  How much more they could accomplish if they widened their product selection!  Good as they were at marketing vitamins and minerals, what if they were to offer household products used every day-such as cleaners and detergents?

With what they know of multilevel marketing, they look at the lines of sponsorship and dream of worldwide growth.  They see acquaintances contacting relatives, relatives speaking with friends, and friends discussing with colleagues.  Across America, people's hopes come alive, their personal dreams of success are realized, and a new era of prosperity spreads across borders into another lands.  Supporting them are a host of high-quality products.  One successful product becomes two then four, and so on, as each offers Distributors a new opportunity to accomplish their goals. 

Thirty nine years later, you have the answer.  A perfect marriage of business savvy and market opportunity.  Today, the Amway business is a success of gigantic proportions, due to the brilliant leadership of co-founders Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel, thousands of dedicated Amway employees, the spirit and drive of  Distributor leaders and millions of others.

From Basements to Boom Town

When jay and Rich committed themselves to the challenge, they started from scratch.  There was no handier place than their basements, where bonus cheques were written, newsletters typed, and products stored and shipped.  A year later, with business booming, they bought a repair garage and made this their new headquarters.  Over the years, facilities were added for product development and marketing manufacturing, ware housing, quality assurance, distribution, literature and package printing, distributor relations, corporate communications, international administration, and more.  Today, there are more than 80 buildings just in Ada.  There are also facilities in many of the other countries and territories.

 

In 1991, Amway crossed the 10,000 mark for employees worldwide, and today, there are over 13,000 employees to support the core Distributor force of over 3 million Amway Distributors worldwide.

Billions in Sales

In the first year, with only one product -- L.O.C. a Multi-Purpose Cleaner - Amway managed an incredible $500,000 in sale.  In 1996, the ftgures have reached $6.8 billion and at year end, August 1997, they reached $7 billion.

Millions of Success Stories ...and Growing

Distributor achievements have formed the foundation for all other growth over Amway's 39 years of success.

Recognition of new pins has expanded just as dramatically.  Today, thousands of Distributors at all levels of achievement enjoy invitational trips to exciting venues. 

Sharing the Vision

Part of Rich and Jay's vision has been to include Amway's independent Distributor in the decision-making process.  Over decades, Amway has relied on the advice of the A.D.A. (Amway Distributors Association)   Board, made up of Distributors elected from among their peers.

Amway organized another group of Distributors in 1988 to help lead the Amway business into the 21st century - the heralded Cabinet 21.  Distributors met with Amway's corporate leaders to conceive and implement wide-ranging changes:

• Raising the level of awareness and maintaining high ethical standards in the Amway business, including the formation of a standing "ethics committee"
• Recommending changing DD qualification as part of a programme to reward consistent and stable business practices
• Recommending new sponsoring literature, which was introduced in 1993

• Initiating research of increasing profitability and retention.

Bringing Distributors together every year has been an Amway tradition sinces its first annual convention in 1961.  Sharing ideas, motivating one another, and meeting with corporate staffhave been key elements in each convention programme.

Opportunity Makes the World Go Round

As the numbers of American Distributors grow over the decade, so did their desire to share the Amway opportunity with family and friends across our borders.  Amway expanded northward in 1962 to serve Canadians.  The first truly international expansion occurred in 1971, when Amway opened for business in Australia.  Today, men and women from all walks of life can share the many advantages of the Amway opportunity with people in over seventy other countries and territories around the world.

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