This man I met in a café last Saturday set a deadline of two days for me to decide whether I wanted to become a crorepati! Today, I have to confirm with him whether I am ambitious enough to have an eight-figure bank balance. If I don’t, I miss the bus.
The man in question is in his forties and a qualified chartered accountant, he claims to have made around `25 crore in the last three years by inducting people from all walks of life into what he refers to as an “e-commerce project”. He was introduced to me by a friend as his senior business partner. All he expected from me is an investment of `7 lakh, several hours a week to be spent on the project and a go-getter attitude.
In the meeting that took place in an upmarket café in Bandra, the man Dhanraj Sonawala enquired whether I loved my profession and whether I had the zeal to earn extra income. Seeing the spark in my eyes at the prospect of earning more money, Mr Sonawala took out his notepad and started scribbling my road to success.
Mr Sonawala said that in exchange of the initial investment, I would be given a micro subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based group, which according to him, manufactures everything from a pin to a piano. The group, Mr Sonawala says, does not believe in middlemen and caters directly to the end user. To explain this, he said that people could relish a certain chocolate at a much lower price if the company did not waste money on Amitabh Bachchan who endorses the product.
This multi-million dollar group, Mr Sonawala said, does not have any sales outlets except for the online portal where all their products are sold and delivered right to the consumers’ doorstep. Mr Sonawala explained how his associate quit his high paying job as a vice-president with a multinational bank to work full-time for the project.
“Just get the traffic for the portal,” Mr Sonawala said. A weeklong induction programme will be held for me after I paid the amount, he assured where I would be made familiar with the businesses of the group.
When I asked him what I was supposed to do after getting the agency, Mr Sonawala said that I would have to induct more people into the project and expand the business keeping in mind that sky is the limit. Mr Sonawala said that there are over 25,000 persons across the world who are part of the “family”. He said for every member I get into the project, I would get 16 per cent of the amount remitted by him. When I asked him whether this was just another multi-level marketing business, Mr Sonawala denied it with a straight face.
Almost mesmerised after hearing the success stories of people, I had to gather courage to ask a very basic question — the name of the group. After Mr Sonawala told me the name of the group, I told him that I would think over the proposal and revert to him within two days. His reply to this came as a shocker. “Dippy frankly speaking, don’t think about it. If you think about it you will never join the project. Please do not consult your friends because they will advice you against joining. Especially do not do a background check of the company on the Internet as it is new and we are growing. You know once I wanted to buy a flat. When I took my friend along he told that it was not ‘vastu’ compliant and I couldn’t buy it for another three years. However, the next time I went alone, I booked a flat immediately,” said Mr Sonawala.
He did not want me to check on the company. Nor did he want me to know the business well before taking a decision. He just wanted me to be a crorepati. He wanted me to join the bandwagon without thinking.
Everything said and done, I did check out the web and found that a significant amount of cyber space is occupied by people discussing the fraud committed by this company and its likes. So sorry Mr Sonawala, I think I am happy with my modest salary as a crime reporter!