I first met Bernie De Souza soon after he was introduced on stage as a new Amway Diamond distributer at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC). I had started my Amway distributer business and discovered that Bernie De Souza was my up line Diamond and he was very helpful to me as a mentor in building my Amway business. At that time Bernie De Souza was the youngest Amway Diamond distributer in England. Bernie De Souza was still only 28 when he reached the Amway Diamond level.

Bernie De Souza had started his Amway business while he was a Physical Training Instructor in the Royal Air Force. After the first year Bernie De Souza’s Amway business began to grow rapidly to the point whereby he was earning more through his Amway business than his Service pay. In fact Bernie De Souza rose to the Diamond level in his Amway business in a shorter time than other Amway Diamonds in the UK at that time.

Once Bernie De Souza reached the Diamond level in his Amway business he was very much sought-after as a public speaker at Amway business functions. Bernie De Souza soon received invitations from Amway Diamonds in the USA and Europe. He travelled widely including speaking visits to South Africa and India. His family, on his father’s side, originated from the Portuguese community in Goa, India and his mother’s family was from South Africa. It is probably true that Bernie De Souza was the first mixed race Amway Diamond in the UK. One of Bernie’s claims is that when sports teams are playing he has a choice of whether to support England, the land of his birth, or South Africa, India or Australia where his brother lives. Bernie De Souza is a member of the Public Speakers Association.

Through his connections with other Amway Diamonds in Europe and the USA Bernie De Souza was able to run in the Hawaiian marathon. Bernie De Souza’s fitness from his PTI work and his own drive in setting the goal to run enabled him to train early every morning through fair and foul weathers to do justice to his running in the race. His main ambition for entering the race was to be able to spend time with other international Amway Diamonds and learn from them.

Bernie De Souza had an excellent training as a PTI in the RAF. This put him in good stead to train others in their Amway businesses. While Bernie De Souza focussed on building his Amway business he regretfully had to set aside his cricketing interests until he reached the Diamond level. This enabled him to start practicing cricket again until he was suitably qualified to become a playing member of the MCC which he still is.

From the experience in building his Amway business Bernie De Souza was able to write and publish his first book “Unlock Your Dreams” It is a story of a young couple building a network marketing business. Bernie De Souza wrote the book to give tips and techniques to new distributers in network marketing. Bernie’s second book: “Your Success Is… hidden in your daily routine” is intended for anyone who wants to improve their performance and reach higher levels at work or in their leisure activities. Best-selling authors and motivational speakers Allan and Barbara Pease wrote the Foreword to the book and former Heavyweight boxer, Earnie Shavers, was at its launch in Leamington Spa.

Bernie De Souza now runs a successful peak Executive Coaching business.

David Cook