Henry Marsh: a success story

"It's a phenomenal success story," Marsh says, as he takes a guest on a tour of the MonaVie headquarters and introduces him to various employees, which includes three of his four children from his first marriage — Jimmy, Andrew and Lauren.

Marsh says MonaVie has tried to maintain a low profile, but recently it has begun to receive attention from the national press, most notably Newsweek, and with it has come the usual detractors of multilevel businesses.

Newsweek reported that only 1 percent of MonaVie's distributors make money; Marsh says it's more like 14 percent.

"I know we've paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in commissions," says Larsen.

Marsh is clearly irritated by such issues, but he knows it comes with the multilevel territory. As he wanders the company's spacious headquarters, he wants most to talk about charity work the company is performing in Brazil, home of acai and the place where Marsh served a church mission 25 years ago.

They have chosen to focus their efforts on one of the many slum areas of the country, an area so rough that before MonaVie representatives visit the area to perform charitable work an advance party has to get permission from local drug lords. MonaVie provides education, food and medical care for 165 children in the area, and there's a long waiting list of other children who want to participate. MonaVie also funds a school to teach job skills to adults and is building MonaVie Village to provide housing for homeless orphans.

"It's so overwhelming," says Marsh. "There is such a need and you feel so inadequate. It's like the story of the kid who is throwing starfish into the ocean — you don't make much of a difference, but you do make a difference for those few. We want to give back to the country that's giving us so much. Mostly, American companies go into a country, and all they do is take."

Marsh, who has adopted two children with his second wife, Rozanne, including a high-functioning autistic child, also helps sponsor a family foundation in Utah that purchased a building to house the Spectrum Academy for autistic children.

"I don't know how religious you want to get here, but I feel like there's a reason for this," he says, as he looks around MonaVie headquarters. "I feel like I can do a lot of good."

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E-mail: drob@desnews.com