Remarkable successes have been registered throughout the world by individuals engaged in Network Marketing (NM). On the other hand, numerous individuals have failed to achieve significant economic successes in this field. In other countries such as the USA, China and India record numbers of successful stories in NM Network Marketing have been reported. The African economies, however, are lagging behind in this wealth creation phenomenon. They are yet to unlock the power of NM as a solution to job creation, as well as discovering its potential as an entrepreneurial opportunity capable of changing the economic challenges being faced by many companies. The purpose of this research is to investigate the determinants for Network Marketing NM success in the Zimbabwean economy and to attempt to generate a model on Network Marketing practices. The study intends to identify challenges that Network marketers face in the Zimbabwean context. Participants, who are also distributors of different products in the Network Marketing business, were interviewed, drawing them mainly from five of the Network Marketing NM companies that are widely represented in Zimbabwe namely, Forever Living and Dynapharm (health care products); Table charm (kitchenware as well as healthcare products); Tiange (Chinese health care distributor) and World Ventures (tourism services). Findings from the study suggest that success in Network Marketing NM is dependent primarily on the following factors: making presentations, providing support, team building, motivation and collaboration amongst team members. It is from these factors that the research further sought to identify the individual factors or combinations of such that could be endorsed as predominantly influencing the success of Network Marketing in Zimbabwe.

Keywords: Network Marketing, Distributors, Dendrites, direct marketing, multi-level marketing.