About Us

Mr. & Mrs. Nathan T. Edwards

Mr. & Mrs. Nathan T. Edwards

In 1980 Mr. and Mrs. Edwards founded Austin Diversified Products, Inc. (ADP) to manufacture market and sell their proprietary Advanage Multipurpose Cleaner. Today, thirty five years later, well over 30 million customers have purchased Advanage.

To sell their product, ADP recruits young men and women from the inner cities of America and gives them an opportunity to build a career and earn a good living. Along with basic sales training, ADP helps them prepare for a productive life by instilling in them the disciplines needed to cope with life and its uncertainties.

It is the Edwards’ decades of work helping young people become contributing citizens that has prompted them to establish the Advanage Foundation.

Proclamations – Nathan T. Edwards Day in the Ohio 21st Congressional District 1072 for hiring and training young people nationwide; Nathan T. Edwards Day in Topeka, Kansas. Presented by the Governor of Kansas for hiring and training inner-city youth; presented to Nathan T. Edwards in Ohio by Congressman Stokes.

Awards – Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame 2000; Chicago Area Manufacturer’s Award, 2001; Black Role Model, Orange County, CA, 1972; Small Business End-of-Year Award by the Chicago Chamber of Commerce, 1975.

Memberships – One of the Founding Fathers of the NFSA (National Field Selling Association) 1986; Past President of the NFSA 1972 & 1999; Member of the University of Chicago Family Business Council, 2004 – 2009; Los Angeles and Chicago Better Business Bureaus; NAACP (South Cook County, IL and Orange County, CA).

 

July 23rd, 2013 by GBN1