Zija International

Is it legit?

Zija International operated for roughly 14 years (2006–2020) as a registered Utah direct-selling company and was acquired by a larger, established MLM (Isagenix) in an ordinary corporate transaction — not shut down by a regulator or in a collapse/exit-scam scenario [web]. No FTC lawsuit, court judgment, or final regulatory finding of Zija operating an illegal pyramid scheme was located in this research [web].

That said, the following documented points are relevant for a reviewer:

• FTC Notice of Penalty Offenses. Zija International appears among the recipients of the FTC's Notices of Penalty Offenses concerning money-making opportunities and concerning deceptive/unfair conduct around endorsements and testimonials, sent to hundreds of companies (widely reported in October 2021, with a further 2023 list) [web]. Important context: these notices were sent broadly to a large number of MLM and direct-selling companies to put them on notice of conduct the FTC considers deceptive; receiving one is not itself a finding, charge, or admission that Zija violated the law. It is a preventive/notice action.
• Business-model risk (general). As with binary MLMs generally, independent reviewers flagged high product pricing and volume/recruitment requirements to stay commission-eligible, and noted that income depends heavily on building a downline [web]. No verified official Zija income-disclosure statement was located in this research, so the share of distributors who earned a net profit cannot be stated.

Overall, from cited evidence: no regulatory finding of illegality was found, but Zija was flagged in the FTC's mass 2021/2023 penalty-offense notices, and standard MLM income-concentration risks apply. Anything beyond this would be unsourced.

Overview

Zija International was a Lehi, Utah-based multi-level marketing (MLM) company that sold nutritional supplements, weight-management products, beverages, skincare, and essential oils, most of them built around Moringa oleifera (the "moringa" or "miracle tree"). The company was founded in 2006 by Kenneth (Ken) Brailsford, a long-time figure in the Utah direct-selling industry who had earlier been involved with Nature's Sunshine and founded Enrich International (later Unicity). Zija ceased to operate as an independent opportunity in January 2020, when Isagenix International acquired it and folded its brand, products, and distributor network into Isagenix [web].

Beyond its core moringa line, Zija marketed a weight-management range (the "XM3" products), a fitness/supplement brand ("Ripstix"), and an essential-oils line ("Améo") [web]. In May 2017 Zija acquired fellow Utah MLM XanGo, known for its mangosteen beverage [web].

In January 2020, Isagenix International announced it was acquiring Zija International. Trade-press coverage discussed Zija's declining sales relative to the much larger Isagenix, but the specific sales and revenue figures are not publicly documented in primary or official sources [web]. Following the acquisition the Zija brand ceased trading as an independent company and its distributor network and products were folded into Isagenix. As of this draft, Zija International no longer operates as a standalone company or opportunity [web].

Cost to join

This section is a historical record; Zija International is no longer a joinable opportunity. Independent review coverage reported that joining Zija as a distributor required an enrollment fee that included a starter/enrollment kit of sales and demonstration materials, plus a smaller annual renewal fee; the specific enrollment and renewal amounts are not publicly documented in primary or official sources [web]. Some sources noted the enrollment fee could be waived with the purchase of a product "system" [web].

Beyond the enrollment fee, reviewers noted that becoming and staying "active" for commissions typically involved purchasing product packs and maintaining a recurring monthly autoship order to hit the required personal volume [web].

Reviewer note for the human editor: the underlying dollar figures for enrollment, renewal, product packs, and autoship came from third-party MLM-review sources and were not confirmed against a primary Zija policies-and-procedures or enrollment document; they have been removed as unverified. Because Zija no longer trades, current official pricing is moot, but any figure added for historical context should be sourced to an archived official document.