Our Business Innovations team has some great stories to tell.

We posted one last month about asking the simple question: What if? Here’s one about a pilot project they supported in Ghana.

It’s a wonderful tale of creating choices, reducing barriers and empowering people as told byAmway Business Innovations Manager Seth Starner.

“When our founders Rich and Jay were thinking about this business – this was a business for everyone,” Starner says. “So how do we truly live up to that dream of creating opportunity for everyone?”

Watch the video to find out.

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Our recently released Amway 2012 Global Corporate Social Responsibility Report is filled with amazing stories. We wanted to highlight one of them for you.

This video explains what happened in South Africa when we launched the Township Strategy, bringing the Amway Business Opportunity to the rural communities.

Here’s an excerpt from the report:

We used innovative strategies and alternatives to product sizing, pricing and bundling that resonated with individuals in these outlying communities. Physical presence and mobile marketing positioned the Amway Business Opportunity as viable and vital for this more financially challenged population.

In just three years, Amway South Africa has accomplished two significant results: increasing business and helping people to move up the economic ladder. Thanks to the Township Strategy, the Amway business in South Africa leapt by more than 200 percent and showed many low-to-middle class members of society a way out of poverty.

A distributor from Soweto featured in the video describes it like this: “From my personal experience, I can say that Amway is helping us to create real change in our lives, in our families, in our communities and across the world,” she said. “In previous years, Soweto was seen as nothing more than a holding area for cheap labor. … Now, Soweto is changing. And with Amway’s assistance our lives are changing. We are going up in the world.”

Watch the video to see the full story of empowerment.

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Our Amway One by One Campaign for Children had quite a week last week.

Amway staff attended the International Corporate Citizenship Conference, organized by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship.

Our own Jesse Hertstein was one of the speakers, explaining how our campaign is organized globally, but is implemented with flexibility among the local country affiliates.

We also were honored with an award: Our film highlighting 10 years of our One by One Campaign was named one of the 10 finalists in a film festival sponsored by Boston College.

Many thanks to all who voted for it. That film has now been viewed more than 10,000 times. Thank you to everyone for helping us share our story!

At our Nutrilite farms we take our soil health very seriously. It’s a crucial component of organic farming. One way we do this is through composting. We test our compost for nutrient analysis and apply it at specific times during the season to get maximum benefit. At our Trout Lake Farm, that happens twice a year.

When we drop compost on the fields, it must be worked into the soil within a couple hours, otherwise the nutrients will evaporate and the compost will lose its strength.  We use a synchronized process with two GPS-controlled tractors – one dropping the compost, the other following behind tilling it in.

Organic has been a way of life for us long before the term existed, including using compost in our soil.

We were composting in the fifties, as you can see in the top photo taken from our archives. We are composting today: The second photo was taken recently at Trout Lake.

And, we will continue our organic farming and composting practices long into the future – it’s part of our legacy.

Feeding the soil natural materials to yield the healthiest plants is just one way that Nutrilite maintains control of the process — from seed to supplement.

When Amway and Microsoft recently hosted an event celebrating and promoting women leaders in business, people took notice – including Forbes.com contributor Anne Doyle, who wrote:

“When two global corporations with the economic impact and cultural  influence of Amway and Microsoft – both reach and employ millions of consumers and change agents all over the world —  recognize that the women’s leadership engine is revving up and they’d better get on board, the possibilities for paradigm shifting change are enormous.”

More than 200 women attended the event, which started with a conversation between Amway managers and their Microsoft account executive about the need to better support women seeking leadership roles.

It resulted in a daylong gathering that included keynote speeches from Amway Chief Marketing Officer Candace Matthews and Microsoft Americas Premier Support Vice President Kelly Rogan, who explained why being a “street fighter” is just as important as being a great collaborator.

We can’t wait to see where this conversation leads.

(Guest post by Nick Wasmiller)

“Amway was founded on the belief that, by helping people improve their lives, they could make the world a better place.”

So begins the message from our Chairman Steve Van Andel and our President Doug DeVos in the Amway 2012 Global Corporate Social Responsibility Report released today.

The annual report highlights the many ways our company, its more than 21,000 employees and more than 3 million distributors make a difference in the lives of others.

That includes building homes in Latin America, providing water filters in Haiti, building libraries in China and adopting schools right here in the hometown of our World Headquarters.

Corporate Social Responsibility is built into everything we do: our people, our products and our performance.

 Steve and Doug credit their fathers for recognizing the potential in this business for making a difference.

“They made it their mission to be more, do more, give more. And more than a half-century later, we’re still emulating their powerful example. … We’re awed by how far we’ve come and inspired to keep becoming more, together.”

Read the full report here.

Amway is in the news quite frequently, and why wouldn’t we be? We lead our industry, have inspired millions, and win quality and excellence awards on a regular basis. We’re proud of those accomplishments, to be sure, but we’re also proud of what real distributors – current and former – have shared with us about their experience with Amway.

Are there critics of Amway in the online space? Absolutely – just like any other company. We care deeply about what’s said about us, and work hard to address the complaints we receive. But given that one of our cofounders wrote a book on positivity, it’s no surprise that we like to focus on that.

Below are some things about Amway that have been shared online, from former distributors both anonymous and identified:

• “I experienced a profound mental change. One moment I was an employee, and the next, I was an employee and a business owner. This was a monumental shift . . . you can read all you want about starting a business, but it’s different when you actually have your own business. . . it was something I couldn’t appreciate until I did it.”
• “Amway can help you learn to lead and work with people more effectively. It can also help you overcome fears such as public speaking or even talking to people.”
• “Amway provides a safe place for new business owners to grow and learn.”
• “I joined Amway in 1990 and left in ‘91. I never made money in Amway, but I met some decent people who were all dreamers – it was contagious and I learned how to believe – which is 4/5 of the battle. It was one of the most memorable times in my life . . . “
• “Amway was very beneficial to me and many people in my life. It is an incredible business for self-growth and I highly recommend this business vehicle to anyone who is looking for more in life.”
• “The Amway company is reliable . . . If you produce ‘x’ result, you will get paid ‘x’ compensation. Always! The only variables are a) who will you be learning from; b) how well will you listen to them; and c) how much work are you willing to put in?”
• “Not only do they help everyday average people open their own business, but they also help the world and local community.”
• “I spent 13-15 years in Amway and gained a whole new attitude in life, which is priceless to me. I may not be building Amway now, but from the things I have learned that I have applied to my life today and also to other businesses that we are building, I became the man I am today!”

Those are just a sampling of the ratings and reviews that give all of us something to write home about!

It was mid-day, but the stars shone bright at Figure Skating in Harlem’s Skating with the Stars Gala Monday.

Amway was among the shining stars at the event where some of the world’s greatest skaters, celebrities and corporate and community leaders united for an evening of ice skating at the Trump Wollman Rink in New York City’s iconic Central Park.

Amway has been a proud sponsor of this event and organization for the past five years, but this was the first as presenting sponsor.

Candace Matthews, Amway Chief Marketing Officer, joined Figure Skating in Harlem’s Board of Directors in 2005 and has served several terms as FSH’s Board Chair and Gala Co-Chair, including this year.

Learn more about this fabulous event, including photos and some of the big names that were there, at our One by One blog.

Workplace wellness is an integral part of optimal health. At our Nutrilite and Amway facilities in the U.S., we have a brand new program to help our employees achieve it as part of Amway’s Optimal You program. It’s called Fitness that Works, and it is the brainchild of Sean Foy, Nutrilite Fitness Instructor, and creator of the 10 minute workout.

Think of it as a first step toward wellness. Many of us sitting at desks and staring at computer screens all day — otherwise known as a “desk sentence” — have a hard time just getting started with an exercise regimen.  Fitness that Works addresses that with a simple approach — seven basic moves over a seven week period. They are moves you can accomplish in a minute or two in your office area throughout the day. They cover balance, reach, step, push-pull, squat-lift, twist and lunge.

Fitness that Works was developed through Sean Foy’s work with the Wellness Council of America. Interested in learning first-hand how this program works? You can soon follow the seven simple moves on our Facebook page. Now is the time to make your move!

Today we spend 5 minutes with one of our “nutritional sleuths,” Samantha Izzy. Samantha is a nutrition investigator in Buena Park. She joined Nutrilite in 2008 and describes her job as a liaison between science and the rest of the world.

How did you get started in this type of work?

I started in school at Purdue University as a pharmacy student. But I realized I wanted to be involved in prevention, so I switched into the dietetics program. When I saw a job opening at Nutrilite in Southern California, I applied, got the job, and moved from Indiana to Orange County. It was a great move!

What do you work on each day?

Every day I touch a little bit of everything. In product development we do a lot of research: exploring new ingredients we can put into products, understanding the benefits of those ingredients and how they will function in the human body. We do a lot of reputational work as well, publications and presentations to different audiences, including distributors.

You just returned from a trip to India. What did you do there?

It was huge, and very exciting. They’re launching their women’s health product line, so I traveled to five different cities, five days in a row to support the launch. I gave presentations to distributors on what a woman needs to maintain good health through the different stages in life and where supplements fit in. We highlighted NUTRILITE Complex for Hair, Skin and Nails; Tri Iron Folic; Cal Mag D Plus; and Black Cohosh and Soy. The audiences were the largest I’ve ever presented to; the people were really excited.

Did you feel like a rock star?

I did, people were asking for autographs. I kept joking that I felt like Madonna when I was on stage. But it’s so cool to see people this excited about health and well-being. They’re so passionate about it. That’s what we live for working in this industry.

What does Optimal Health mean to you?

It’s the million dollar concept: Striving to live a healthy life helps enhance the quality of life. I get all the healthy food I need, and I take my basic supplements each day. I take a multivitamin and omega-3. I take Complex for Hair, Skin and Nails, and I take Cal Mag D. I notice that when I take my supplements each day and maintain an active lifestyle, something as simple as walking in the evening, I feel better and happier. And I have the faith that I’m extending my life.