Learn about Omnilife and the man behind the vision: Jorge Vergara. This is a presentation I gave onboard The Scholar Ship in December 2007.

1. Omnilife: Awakening of a Giant.
Presented by: Arturo Pelayo
TICM 811 | SEPD | Dr. Ralph Berenger
TSS September 2007 Voyage

2. About Mexico Social Dev.
Jorge Vergara Economic Dev.
Omnilife Political Dev.
Conglomerate
Closing
comments, Q&A

3. Mexico

4. Mexico
• Federal republic
• 11th most populated country in the world,
14th largest on earth.
• In 1950, there were 25.8 million
inhabitants;
in 2005, 103.3 million (INEGI, 2005).
• Mexico has 32 States,

6. Economic
Development

7. Mexico
• Human Development Index are similar to
those of Sweden, Germany or Burundi
• The primary source of foreign income is the
sale of crude oil, tourism and remesas
• About 18 million have substandard
employment or marginal employment
conditions.

8. Jorge
Vergara
The Character

9. Jorge Vergara
• Born in 1955 in Guadalajara,
• He never went on to College, only finishing
High School at Tecnologico de Monterrey.
• He used to be car salesman for Volkswagen
• In the economic crisis of 1981 he looses his
job at CASOLAR.

10. Jorge Vergara
• He start his own businesses: he started by
cooking and selling carnitas using his own
kitchen.
• Then expanded:
• He opened an Italian restaurant and
during this time he gained a lot of weight
and became ill.

11. Jorge Vergara
• As a result of his illness, he began a long
(and later highly profitable) way of
improving not only his health, but his
personal wellness.
• As a consequence, he began loosing weight
and regained financial independence.

12. Jorge Vergara
• Through this process he began working at
Herbalife, an American multilevel
company (similar to Amway) where he
reached the Team’s President distinction,
the highest one that the company gave.
• Through his own saying, this is where he
learned the strengths and weaknesses of
the business he was now involved with.

13. The
Conglomerate

14. Omnilife
• He created his own company, adopting
the nutritional formulas to local
preferences
• Unlike the competition, he shortened
the time that he committed to pay to
his distributors in half, paying them
every two weeks.

15. Omnilife
• He intuitively assumed that the client had
to be catered, had to feel cared for and
protected by an omnipresent company.
• This is the primary reason why he even
goes to the extent of making his personal
mobile number public and it is printed on
every single welcome letter that new
distributors receive (Delaunay, 2005).

16. Not your ‘typical’ Mexican:
• Does not use socks,
• Is vegetarian,
• Will always be seen carrying a bottle of
one of the many soda brands that his
companies make.

18. Not your ‘typical’ Mexican:
• He owns a $50 million U.S. dollar
Boeing Business Jet 737-700,
• the first ever and only of its kind sold
by Boing to a company in Latin
America (Delaunay, 2005), it has
distinctive coloring and was baptized
“Nilambara”.

19. Omnilife: The Giant.

20. • The company began operations with a
loan of $10,000USD
• It is now one of the 200 best-leading
corporations in Mexico
• It is number 118 of the 500 most
important companies of the country.

21. • Annual sales of over $1B USD with
profit margins of over 20 percent.
• Omni products are targeted towards
the “C” and “D” market segments
(medium to low income & low
income, respectively)

22. • Vergara heads a corporation that now
has presence in over 19 countries,
• through 4 million sales agents that
provide products “for the body and for
the soul”

23. OMNILIFE TODAY
• A conglomerate of 30 companies
• Range from financial, logistical,
packaging services and even power
generation services.
• Vergara owns editorial companies, a
records company, a film maker
company

24. OMNILIFE TODAY
• Many philanthropist foundations and
• JVC, a 240-hectare complex that is
currently in development and will
require an investment of over $600M
USD.

25. Centro JVC

26. • This mega architectural complex will
include eleven buildings,
• it will be one of the best of its kind to
promote culture,
• it will also function as a much needed
ample convention center, a business
center and an entertainment center in
the outskirts of Guadalajara.

27. • The best eleven architects of the
planet are developing each a building.
Renowned architects include:
• Wolf Prix, Tom Mayne, Zaha Hahid,
Yoko Ito, and Enrique Norten.

28. • It is expected to receive over 25 million
visitors per year,
• having in the complex:
• a hotel,
• a business center,
• a cultural center,
• a children’s museum,
• a museum for contemporary art, a
commercial and entertainment area,
an adventure theme park, the new

29. • a museum for contemporary art,
• a commercial and entertainment
area, an adventure theme park,
• the new Chivas Soccer Stadium,
Universidad del Exito (University of
Success),
• an apartment complex a Palenque
and green areas for festivals and
concerts.

30. Social
Development

31. • He is the only Mexican entrepreneur
that is committed to fluently speak
Mandarin (and along with him his
children and close collaborators) as
part of a strategy to conquer the
Chinese market and increase his
sales three fold in the next five years
(Zepeda, J. 2007).

32. Publishing
• Celeste Magazine: Upper Class and trendy
• WOW Magazine
• Chivas Magazine
• Babybaby

33. Branding
• Arte & Parte : Brand Imaging Company.

34. • Jorge has made his presence known in the Arts
Sociosphere by sponsoring a series of exhibitions and
solely funding a new award for artists during his
Salón de Octubre (October’s Salon) art series, which
takes place in the city of Guadalajara in that month.

35. Cinema
• Financed "Y tu mamá también" which was nominated
for an Oscar,
• "El espinazo del diablo" (The Devil’s Backbone),
• "El asesinato de Richard Nixon" (The Assassination
of Richard Nixon),
• He produced Amores Perros (Acosta, 2007) through
his company, Deseo Films.

36. Education
• “The goal of the Educare system is to part ways with
the old educational traditions such ! as memorization,
reward & punishment, competition against everyone
and even grades.
• Instead, Educare’s goal is to have each child gain
recognition of their capabilities and !give value to the
concept of personal awareness and personal
development; that s/he learns to love and respect him/
herself and others.” (Educare 2007).

37. Passion for
Soccer

38. • Chivas
• Chivas USA
• Chivas CHINA
• Deportivo Saprissa (Costa Rica)
• Real Madrid ?

39. Political
Development

40. • In 2001, Vergara signed a partnership
through EDUCARE to collaborate with
the National Council for Science and
Technology (CONACyT),
• He donated $10M pesos to support
projects related to Health, Wellness
and Food Sciences.
• Over 30 projects where funded as a
consequence of this partnership.
(CONACyT 2006).

41. Economic
Development

42. • Jorge was also part of the Mexican
delegation that participated in the
2006 edition of the Davos World
Economic Forum in Switzerland
(Gutiérrez, 2006).

43. Q&A

44. References

45. • Acosta, A. (2007). Postales Tapatías. Retrieved October 31, 2007 from http://
• " www.nexos.com.mx/spip.php?article1323.
• Almela, R. (2000). Fragmentación y Contraposición en el GRAN PREMIO OMNILIFE
2000. ! Retrieved October 29, 2007 from http://www.criticarte.com/Page/file/
art2001/
• " OMNILIFE2000.html.
• CONACYT (2006). Informe de los Programas de Trabajo Institucional
2001-2006.Retrieved on
• " November 02, 2007 from http://www.conacyt.mx/RendicionCuentas/docs/
LibroBlanco-PECYT/ANEXO1.pdf.
•

46. • Cestau D. (2006). La venta directa sigue creciendo. Retrieved on November 02, 2007
from
• " http://www.gestiopolis.com/canales6/mkt/mercadeopuntocom/venta-directa.htm.
• Crocker, R. et al. (2004). Interculuralidad alimentario-nutricional en la etnia
wixarika de México. ! Revista Española de Salud Pública. Retrieved on November
02, 2007 from http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/redalyc/pdf/170/17078604.pdf.
• Delaunay M. (2005). The planet of Jorge Vergara. Expansión. Retrieved on
November 01, 2007
• " from http://www.expansion.com.mx/nivel2.asp?cve=853_31&xsl=print.xsl&y=1.
•

47. • Educare (2007). Educare. Retrieved on November 02, 2007 from
• " http://www.educare.edu.mx/
• Government of the State of San Luis Potosí (2004). Cultural Sectorial Program.
Retrieved on ! October 31, 2007 from http://www.culturaslp.gob.mx/cultura/
prograsec/progra.pdf.
• Gutiérrez, H. (2006). Lacking participation of Mexico and Latin America in Davos
2006. El ! Universal online. Retrieved November 03, 2007 from http://
www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/327160.html.

48. • National Institute of Geography and History http://www.inegi.gob.mx and
• " http://cuentame.inegi.gob.mx/poblacion
• Omnilife (2007). Omnilife. Retrieved on October 28, 2007 from http://
www.omnilife.com/.
• Rozenberg, D. (2004). Omnilife: The Miracle. Alto Nivel. Retrieved on November 01,
2007 from " http://www.altonivel.com.mx/articulos.php?
id_sec=2&id_art=31&num_page=94

49. • Universidad de Guadalajara (2003). Entrepreneurs bet on values and professional
ethics. " Retrieved on Octuber 30, 2007 from http://www.cucea.udg.mx/noticias/
nota_comp.php?id=84.
• Zepeda, J. (2007). Los amos de México. México, D.F.: Planeta.