Peru: FuXion Biotech: Ancient Andean and Amazonian heritage combined with the latest scientific advances in cell biology and human nutrition

In 2006, next having worked for additional than 15 years in the food processing and manufacturing industry, Álvaro Zúñiga Benavides founded FuXion, a incomparable venture specialized in high-quality food and food supplements.

The uniqueness of FuXion is that it uses ancient knowledge about nutrition and health from century-old cultures and combines them with modern biotechnology to produce shakes, teas and beverages that are marketed and distributed by a growing direct sales network presently present in 12 nations. FuXion’s “ authentic Health” integral approach is focused on physical health through nutraceutical products that complement a balanced daily diet; emotional health, through personal development and personal transformation workshops, courses and seminars delivered through SerFuXion, FuXion’s Leadership Institute; and, financial health, through FuXion’s shared-price approach. Indeed, the company distributes close to 50% of its net revenues as compensation and incentives to the direct sales force. Founding President and CEO of FuXion Biotech, Álvaro Zuñiga Benavides, explains what makes the company’s culture so incomparable and its potential impact in the U.S.

What is FuXion?
FuXion is a young and passionate food manufacturing company that markets and sells high-quality food supplements extracted from selected superfruits and vegetables originated from the Andes, the Amazon and Asia. Our products are based on a fusion between century-old knowledge from ancient cultures and modern science and technology, hence our name, FuXion. We have developed a incomparable product and service offering aimed at improving the physical, emotional and financial wellbeing of our customers.

From the start, we decided to set up a direct sales model in order to engage customers with our “ authentic Health” presentation, i.e. improving the physical, emotional but as well financial health of our customers. Hence our tag line, “We Improve Your Health”.

FuXion is present in 12 nations: Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico and the United States. We have been present in the U.S. since 2014 and we have been fully operational since early August. Our next plans include opening in Argentina and Brazil in Latin America, and to start operating in Europe, in Spain, next year. We will explore other international markets during 2016.

Our distribution network comprises a growing direct sales organization with additional than 50,000 members in 12 nations, supported by our 600 highly motivated staff members. Our consolidated sales figures in 2014 were $80 million, with Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica accounting for close to 60% of the total. For 2015, we estimate no less than 60% increase. Over the next three years, we expect to reach sales in excess of $500 million.

When was FuXion founded? How did it all start?
FuXion was founded in 2006, on the back of additional than 15 years of experience in the food processing and manufacturing industry. We funded the company with the support of friends and family, inclunding a significant investment from two childhood friends, Frank and Derek Michell, who are presently successful entrepreneurs, and from my brother, Rafael Zúñiga Benavides, who was an investment banker in Europe at the time and presently serves as Executive Board Member. For me it was a logical extension of my dream to ensure that our high quality products reach as a lot of customers as possible, leveraging on a grassroots, person-to-person distribution model. We invested the initial several years in developing our product offering. We wanted to have a product offering for the whole family.

My vision was that all family members would share a healthy lifestyle. We are passionate about promoting a balanced diet for the whole family. We started with sports nutrition, extending our product offering to energy drinks, immunology, weight loss, anti-aging, kids nutrition, and women nutrition. We use an array of additional than 1,500 active ingredients extracted from fruits and vegetables and we combine them in a incomparable way to multiply their result. We call it the “X factor”.

What gave you the idea of combining the age-old knowledge of Andean, Amazonian and Asian cultures with modern biotechnology?
One of my passions is to discover and understand the impact of certain foods on our body, mind and spirit. At the same time as I was young, I was always curious and surprised by my grandmother’s knowledge and her considerate of the effects of certain foods on our body. I started to read and experiment as a child. Each time my family went on a trip, each time I had the opportunity, I’d spend time and energy trying to understand additional about nutrition and how to achieve a balanced, healthy diet.

In high school and later on during my industrial engineering studies, I continued to gather knowledge and experience. Completely naturally, I started my career in the food processing and manufacturing sector. Later on, during my MBA studies, I came up with one of my initial business ventures, and next 15 years of experience, I worked on the basic concepts of FuXion: the initial one is the concept of “Nutraceutical Fusion”, the process of merging ancient nutrition knowledge of the Andes, the Amazon and Asia with modern biotechnology, and the other core concept was the network marketing distribution model that allows us to deliver our high-quality products through word of mouth, leveraging on customers who share their passion for a healthy lifestyle. It took additional than three years of research and development before we really started.

Our team, together with our distributors and customers – the FuXion Movement as we call ourselves – is determined to share a healthy lifestyle with Latin passion, a combination of enthusiasm, joy and unconditional love for family, friends and the community. We are convinced that this passion can be shared anywhere in the world where there are people who are passionate about their heritage, their culture, and a healthy lifestyle.

Our second differentiating factor is our commitment to Mother Nature: we have recently acquired 75 acres in the Amazonian region to build our training and convention center, with plans to build an “Experiencial Learning Center” called FuXionLand. The project includes: i) a convention center that will serve as a gathering point for people from around the world who are willing to connect with nature; ii) a lodge and spa where guests can focus on rebalancing their emotional wellbeing, relaxation, meditation and massage; iii) a large area devoted to fun and exercise, which will include activities as part of the Amazon adventure; and, iv) a biotech lab that will show and demonstrate the way we bring nature to their daily beverages, teas and shakes. In addition, we are considering organizing trips to the Amazon River in order to experience nature at its fullest while connecting with local communities.

What are the reasons behind FuXion’s exponential increase rates in the last three to four years?
The major two forces behind these increase rates are: a world trend to connect with nature and the passion of our team for personal increase and for the increase of our FuXion Movement. Learning from nature, we spent significant time learning to prepare for increase and therefore we want to manage our increase with care and caution. We want to get close to people to understand their needs in order to truly improve their lives.

Do you think that North American customers are prepared to embrace FuXion’s culture?
How are you planning to conquer the market? The North American market is very competitive and demanding. We believe that our business model, based on sharing price with customers, distributors and society, gives us long-term sustainability.

We as well believe that North America will be our major international operation within the next three years and we are enthusiastic about the challenges ahead.

Our culture is one of humbleness, passion and love for who we are and what we do and in each country where we expand to, we initial focus on learning from customers and distributors, which is why we expect to learn a lot from the United States and their culture. Actually, the values of the American Declaration of Independence – “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” – are really what the FuXion Movement is all about. We are confident that people in the U.S. will embrace our mission. We will enter this market with a humble from presently on strong message from nature. We want to bring price to our customers, distributors, suppliers, and to our people in the U.S., and through them to society, thus growing together.