In September 1998, two entrepreneurs faced a difficult decision. Their American business partner had vanished overnight, abandoning over 1,000 distributors who had invested in a direct selling business.
Most people would have cut their losses and walked away. Instead, Joseph Bismark and his partner chose to start their own company—QNET—to protect the people who had trusted them.
What followed was the creation of one of the world’s largest product companies using a direct selling model. But the path forward wasn’t clear at first.
That crisis became the founding principle of QNET: a commitment to distributor welfare that would guide the company’s growth over the next quarter-century.
Two Unlikely Partners
“When we discovered that the company we were associated with had been dishonest with us and had abandoned us, I was initially very depressed,” Bismark explained. “I didn’t know what we were going to do, but my partner told me to look at this as an opportunity. Ultimately, we had started on this journey of network marketing because we wanted to be financially free and have control over our lives.”
Bismark suddenly found himself responsible for more than a thousand people’s financial futures. Prior to running the business, he was a 3rd Dan black belt in Taekwondo who had competed for the Philippines national team.
The duo wasn’t starting from scratch. Their previous team, known as the V Team, had become the largest revenue generator for their former American company. This track record gave them credibility when they asked distributors to take another leap of faith into a new venture.
In September of 1998, they made it official. Meeting in Manila’s Philippine Stock Exchange Centre, they launched what would initially be called GoldQuest. The location choice reflected their commitment to the Filipino distributors who had supported them through their previous success.
Who is the CEO in QNET?
The QNET’s current leadership structure includes Trevor Kuna as Chief Marketing Officer and Jean Francois Huertas as Deputy CEO, while Bismark serves as Deputy Chairman of the QI Group, QNET’s parent company. The company’s executive structure has evolved over its 27-year history to support global operations across more than 100 countries.
The leadership approach established by the founders continues to influence the company’s management philosophy.
“The founders of QNET used to be distributors, so they understand what it takes to really succeed in the field,” said Trevor Kuna. “They made it a point that if they were ever going to start a company, they would always make it a customer-first company and support the growth of the business and the distributors on the ground.”
Building a Multinational Company
Starting a multinational corporation from nothing requires solving hundreds of practical problems at once. The new company needed products to sell, systems to track sales, legal structures, and compensation plans—all while maintaining the trust of 1,500 people who had already been burned once.
Commemorative coins formed the company’s foundation. The founders recognized that collectibles combined tangible value with emotional appeal, creating opportunities for word-of-mouth marketing. By 1999, the company had partnered with B.H. Mayer’s Mint, a respected German mint, to produce its first coins. The 2002 FIFA World Cup coin distribution program marked a major milestone, connecting the company with global events that attracted mainstream attention.
Geographic expansion happened one handshake at a time. Malaysia and Singapore became early strongholds. Indonesia and Thailand followed as the founders personally traveled to build distributor networks, city by city, meeting by meeting.
The company invested heavily in training programs, support systems, and technology infrastructure to benefit distributors over the long haul. GoldQuest became QuestNet, then finally QNET, with each name change marking major business expansions. Travel services arrived through QVI Club in 2002. Health and wellness products launched in 2006. What started as a coin company gradually became the comprehensive lifestyle portfolio that defines QNET today.
Raise Yourself To Help Mankind
By 2005, QNET had formalized its service mission through the RYTHM Foundation (Raise Yourself To Help Mankind). Tsunami relief efforts in Thailand and Red Cross donations in Cambodia demonstrated that the company’s values extended beyond profit margins.
The founding story of QNET offers lessons that go beyond direct selling. Companies born from crisis often develop resilience that planned startups never acquire. The necessity of protecting existing stakeholders created accountability structures that would guide decision-making for decades.
Geographic expansion followed personal relationships. Countries where the founders had built genuine connections provided stronger foundations for long-term growth.
The evolution from GoldQuest to QNET shows how companies can maintain core values while adapting to changing conditions. Product diversification, name changes, and regulatory adaptations all occurred within a consistent framework of distributor support and ethical business practices.
Today, QNET operates in over 25 countries with customers spanning more than 100 nations. That global reach traces directly to decisions made by two entrepreneurs in Manila 27 years ago.
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The Story Behind the Founding of Direct Selling Company QNET
