Money Tel, operating from Harare, Zimbabwe, markets itself as a cell phone airtime reseller. However, the company's financial structure shows recruitment of new members matters far more than actual product sales.
Fagnol Investments, a parent company sharing the same Harare address, appears to own Money Tel. Takwana Hove is listed as CEO and founder on Money Tel's LinkedIn profile. The company's own materials state co-founders possess "combined years of experience in Direct Sales, Retail, Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) and Customer Services."
Money Tel claims to sell airtime for various mobile networks. It promotes this as a way to "earn a portion of what people do every day." But the company offers almost no details about its network partners, specific costs, or available plans for members. The vague compensation plan only mentions that "retail sales allows you to increase the volume of airtime used within your network." No specific figures are provided.
The primary income in Money Tel comes from signing up new people, not from selling airtime. Retail commissions are minimal. Basic members earn just 0.25% on sales. Higher-ranked members receive 0.5%. Someone would need to sell an extraordinary volume of airtime to earn significant money from direct sales.
Recruitment offers more substantial rewards. New recruits bring in $1 to $4, depending on the recruiter's rank. Promotion commissions offer even more. When a recruited individual reaches Executive Manager, the recruiter pockets $4. A move to Director pays $8. An Executive Director promotion yields $10.
Money Tel uses a unilevel structure for residual commissions. This means directly recruited affiliates sit on level one, their recruits on level two, and so forth. This arrangement is typical of multi-level marketing, where earnings derive mostly from the downline's activity, rather than direct product movement.
The compensation plan does not specify the residual commission percentages or how much money flows down these levels. This omission suggests the company wants members to focus on recruitment targets. It does not encourage them to calculate sustainable returns from airtime sales.
Members pay to join Money Tel. They are promised returns. Yet without transparent pricing, clear product specifics, or viable retail commissions, Money Tel functions more like a recruitment scheme. It uses telecom language to disguise its core business.
The lack of verifiable information on partnered networks, pricing, and actual product availability raises questions. It is unclear if Money Tel primarily sells airtime to customers or if it mainly collects membership fees from those hoping to profit by recruiting others.