As Nigeria faces rising youth unemployment and increasing scrutiny of informal business models, trust has become the defining currency of entrepreneurship.

Against this backdrop, QNET, a global wellness and lifestyle company, says it is repositioning ethical direct selling as part of the solution – not as a quick-income promise, but as a regulated, transparent pathway into micro-entrepreneurship – as it outlines its Nigeria-focused strategy heading into 2026.

With nearly three decades of experience in the wellness and lifestyle segment, QNET has operated in Nigeria through independent distributors and digital sales channels since 2021.

In recent years, regulators have intensified oversight of informal and semi-formal business models amid growing concerns around consumer protection, transparency, and fraud, reshaping expectations for how direct-selling companies operate in the country.

For Nigeria, where millions of young people rely on informal income streams, the distinction between legitimate direct selling and fraudulent schemes has become a policy and consumer-protection priority.

“Against this backdrop, QNET’s 2026 strategy for Nigeria will place integrity, strict regulatory compliance, and responsible stakeholder engagement at the centre of its operations.

“As the company adapts to tighter oversight and evolving market conditions, we believe ethical entrepreneurship must be anchored in transparency and accountability if it is to remain a credible pathway for economic participation, particularly for young Nigerians facing limited formal employment opportunities,” says Ayokunmi Solesi, General Manager for QNET in Nigeria.

At the core of QNET’s direct-selling model are product value, transparent compensation structures, and strict adherence to consumer protection standards, principles aligned with the global direct selling industry’s performance as reported in the WFDSA 2024 STATS Report, which showed the channel generating around $164 billion in retail sales and supporting more than 104 million independent representatives worldwide.

QNET’s model ensures that Independent Distributors (IDs) earn solely from verified product sales rather than recruitment-based incentives, reinforcing the distinction between legitimate direct selling and illicit schemes.

This distinction—earning from products rather than recruitment—is widely recognized by regulators as the primary line separating ethical direct selling from pyramid-style schemes.

By prioritizing verifiable product demand and transparent earnings, QNET supports sustainable income opportunities and professional skill development that contribute positively to Nigeria’s formal economy.

Product innovation remains a key pillar of QNET’s 2026 outlook in Nigeria. Through its partner Transblue Limited since 2022, the company has hosted workshops and expos, such as the 2025 Lagos Product Expo, to promote innovation and youth opportunities.

These events showcased certified wellness products while addressing misconceptions, with over 8,000 attendees at the Abuja edition alone.

QNET’s product portfolio spans health, wellness, personal care, home living & living. At the heart of its wellness category are the Amezcua range of products – including the Amezcua Bio Disc and Chi Pendant – which remain among the company’s most recognised offerings and are widely used for personal well-being and lifestyle optimisation.

Complementing these are timepieces and accessories under the Bernhard H. Mayer brand, including the OMNI Watch, which earned a Silver Stevie Award in 2025 for its sustainability-forward design.

Together, these products reflect QNET’s continued emphasis on certified wellness, durability, and long-term consumer value within Nigeria’s growing lifestyle and wellness market.

Beyond product innovation, consumer protection is expected to be a central pillar of QNET’s strategy, amid rising financial fraud in Nigeria. Building on recent advocacy and enforcement efforts, the company says it is expanding both preventive and defensive measures to safeguard consumers.

In an environment where financial fraud continues to undermine public trust, QNET says consumer education and institutional accountability must go hand in hand. The company’s “Say NO!” public awareness campaign, launched in 2023, focused on helping citizens identify fraudulent schemes through mass outreach and community engagement across Nigeria and other West African markets.

This effort was reinforced through structured collaboration with Nigerian authorities, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), aimed at disrupting impersonation networks and protecting the integrity of legitimate entrepreneurship.

Such measures place QNET among a small group of direct-selling firms in Nigeria publicly aligning enforcement, education, and regulator engagement as part of their operating model.

In addition to external advocacy, the company believes ethical direct selling must be enforced from within. Between 2022 and 2023, QNET suspended more than 80 distributor accounts across Sub-Saharan Africa for ethics violations, underscoring its zero-tolerance approach to misrepresentation and misconduct. Continuous monitoring of digital platforms for brand misuse further reflects QNET’s view that compliance is not a one-time response, but an ongoing responsibility essential to sustaining trust in the direct-selling sector.

Complementing these legal efforts are educational programmes, such as QNET’s signature financial literacy programme, FinGreen Programme, launched in 2022 in partnership with Transblue Limited, which has trained over 1,500 young people and women across Nigeria in budgeting, saving, responsible spending, and digital financial literacy skills to avoid exploitation.

Moving forward, QNET aims to strengthen its role in Nigeria’s formal economy by positioning ethical direct selling as a viable pathway for micro-entrepreneurship, income diversification, and skills development, particularly among young people navigating an increasingly competitive labour market.

As Nigeria’s gig economy matures under tighter regulation, QNET argues that the future of direct selling will be decided less by scale and more by trust—measured in transparency, consumer protection, and the economic literacy of those it empowers.

Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce and cloud computing powerhouse, announced plans Wednesday to eliminate 16,000 jobs globally, escalating a restructuring drive first flagged in October with 14,000 earlier cuts.

Amazon

The layoffs, hitting corporate ranks across multiple divisions, aim to slash management layers, boost accountability, and dismantle bureaucracy, Senior Vice President Beth Galetti stated in an internal memo. Despite booming holiday sales and $21 billion quarterly profits on $180 billion revenue, Amazon seeks to redirect resources toward massive artificial intelligence investments amid slower post-pandemic growth and rising costs.

Galetti explained that while some teams finalised October adjustments, others required extended reviews, pushing total reductions toward 30,000—the firm’s largest ever. CEO Andy Jassy, pursuing leaner operations since 2021, has long signalled AI’s role in shrinking white-collar headcount, with corporate staff—about 350,000 of 1.5 million total—bearing the brunt, sparing warehouses.

The move mirrors Big Tech’s broader belt-tightening as firms recalibrate pandemic-era hiring binges against economic headwinds, AI disruption, and policy uncertainties under President Donald Trump. Amazon’s October cuts struck 2,000 in Washington state—including engineers, recruiters, analysts—and 1,500 in California, with fresh impacts undisclosed by location.​

Jassy emphasised culture over pure finances in prior notes, blaming rapid expansion for excess layers after workforce doubling during COVID lockdowns fueled online shopping surges. Recent U.S. hiring slowdowns—to 50,000 jobs in December—underscore corporate caution amid AI’s job-shifting potential and tariff worries.​

Analysts note the cuts free capital for AI dominance, pitting Amazon against rivals in generative tools despite no immediate financial distress. Ex-workers have decried impersonal processes, often learning via media leaks, highlighting tensions in Earth’s “best employer” shedding talent en masse.​

As tech pivots to AI frontiers, Amazon’s aggressive pruning signals a new era: fewer bodies, sharper focus, betting machine smarts eclipse human scale in the post-boom landscape.

Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force smashed a sophisticated cybercrime ring Wednesday, arresting six suspects accused of hacking a major telecommunications company and looting airtime and mobile data worth a staggering N7.7 billion.

The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, disclosed in a statement that the suspects breached the telecom giant’s core billing and payment systems by compromising internal staff login credentials, enabling them to siphon off vast quantities of airtime and data for illicit resale.

Named in the arrests are Ahmad Bala, Karibu Mohammed Shehu, Umar Habib, Obinna Ananaba, Ibrahim Shehu, and Masa’ud Sa’ad – a mix of northern and southern names hinting at a cross-regional fraud network that preyed on Nigeria’s digital backbone.

Police swooped on the gang’s hideouts in coordinated raids across Kano and Katsina states in October 2025, with a final takedown in the Federal Capital Territory, recovering two mini-plazas masquerading as legitimate retail outlets stocked with over 400 laptops, about 1,000 mobile phones, and a Toyota vehicle.

Investigators also froze substantial sums in the suspects’ bank accounts, tracing the dirty money trail back to the diverted resources that left the unnamed telecom firm reeling from unauthorised activities reported in a desperate petition.

The breach, described by police as a “calculated assault on critical infrastructure,” allowed the hackers to manipulate the company’s systems undetected for months, offloading billions in airtime and data bundles through underground channels and raking in illicit profits.

Hundeyin vowed that the net was widening, with forensic experts combing through digital footprints and financial ledgers to expose any remaining accomplices or beneficiaries in what he called “one of the largest telecom heists in recent Nigerian history.”

Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, praised the crack team from the National Cybercrime Centre for their “relentless professionalism,” urging telecom firms to bolster cybersecurity amid a surge in digital predation.

As the suspects cool their heels awaiting arraignment under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention) Act, the case underscores Nigeria’s growing battle against tech-savvy fraudsters targeting the N1.7 trillion telecom sector that powers millions of daily transactions.

Industry watchers warn that such breaches erode investor confidence and hike operational costs, ultimately passed onto consumers already grappling with soaring data tariffs in Africa’s most populous nation