The Bank of Namibia warned the Namibian nation against becoming members of the Elamant, as it is said to contravene section 55(A) of the Banking Institutions Act.
According to a google search, Elamant is a world-wide membership benefits club and consumer insights company with the goal to collect Point-of-Sale data from shoppers and generate revenue by providing target advertising to merchants and marketing partners from around the world.
It is being likened to other business operations such as Crowd1 Network Limited.
The Bank of Namibia in a statement they issued said that the business activities of Elamant contravene the Banking Institutions Act because they promote a referral system which encourages existing members to continuously recruit new members in order to earn a promised monthly income.
Another foundation is also that the main source of income for Elamant is from payment of joining fees by new members and monthly subscription fees paid by existing members, with the promise of earning money upon the recruitment of new members.
“As soon as the recruitment of new members stops, the members at the bottom of the structure will not be rewarded. The business model is thus not sustainable and will likely result in the public losing money,” the statement read.
EagleFM contacted the number listed on the ‘Elamant’ Facebook, a woman who identified herself only as Eva said that they will just ignore the Bank of Namibia’s pronunciation on the matter and continue.
“They are always saying that. We will just continue, they do not put food on our table,” she said.
