World's Leading Brand of Vitamin, Mineral and Dietary Supplements Teams Up with Brazilian Soccer Star in an Effort to Raise Money and Awareness for GRAACC Children's Hospital

São Paulo, BRA (July 8, 2008) – International soccer icon Ronaldinho hosted the first ever “Nutrilite Celebrity Football Friendly” charity soccer match in São Paulo today at the ‘A Hebraica’ Sports Club.

The star studded event raised R$50,000 for GRAACC, a hospital in São Paulo that strives to ensure that children with cancer have the best access to treatment and a cure with state-of-the-art scientific technology, along with providing patients with quality of life.

Having established a strong presence in North America and China, US direct-sales cosmetics company Amway (Alticor) is now bolstering its operations in Latin America, particularly in Brazil. “Amway will invest around $230m until 2012 to consolidate its presence in the Latin American market and will be investing around $100m [in Brazil],” Amway Brazilian managing director André Raduan told Cosmetic News. He says Amway is concentrating on targeting lower-income consumers via the launch of new skincare, haircare, fragrance and nutritional supplement brands positioned at a lower-price range.

Amway will also open six “experience centers” in Brazil through the end of 2009, starting with new doors in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo early next year. The experience centers—a model that has been used in international markets including Asia and Europe—are used as promotional tools to recruit consumers and sales affiliates and promote consumers’ experience with Amway products. Raduan says Amway is projecting annual sales of some $550m in Latin America through 2012. Amway posted global sales of $7.4bn in 2007.

source: http://www.cosmeticnews.com/visit/affichage/asp/headlines_article.asp?id_article=28498