Joe Issa Cool on Metaphor Depicting Jamaica’s Growth Path

Of the many metaphors used to laude Jamaica’s current economic recovery, from a light at the end of the tunnel to an engine at full throttle, business leader Joe Issa says he likes best the “sailing boat” allegory used by Gregory Fisher, managing director of Jefferies LLC, a United States-based investment and securities firm, to depict the island’s recent achievements and good prospects going forward.

In hailing the positive results being recorded under Jamaica’s economic reform programme, at the just-concluded 12^th Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) Regional Investments and Capital Markets Conference at the Jamaica Pegasus, Fisher likened Jamaica to a sailing boat at full sail with the wind at its back.

Issa, who said he absent at the high-level annual conference but is a big supporter, says in an interview, “I read Mr. Fisher’s comment and was quite amused…I thought it was a cleaver and apt metaphor for where we are at now and where we are going – on a boat at full sail aided by a positive head wind.”

Only recently, Issa congratulated several ministers of government on the successes they are having in reducing its major ills like crime and violence and unemployment, improving the business climate and justice and supporting the stock market, in order to achieve higher economic growth.

Reminded of Jamaica’s rough economic times which has stymied growth, compared with today, Issa says he sees the current positive developments and the prospects for the future in Rod Stewart’s mega hit song “I am sailing across the sea”, stating, however, that “it’s not in stormy waters anymore, as the song suggests, but instead, in calm waters.”

He also finds appropriate, R Kelly’s international single “The storm is over now”, in which Kelly is in a tunnel, can’t see the light and feels a strong wind, but then came a voice saying the storm is over now and he feels sunshine and heaven over him. 

The sentiments were shared by Fisher who, noting that Jamaica had made good progress last year under the IMF programme, citing record 64-year low inflation and 14.3% dividends to bond holders, said “we now have a country that has finally grown past the ills of austerity and is now in (transition to) full recovery,” according to the Jamaica Observer.

He informed that rating agencies had responded by upgrading Jamaica, at a rate higher than Barbados for the first time in history and that “Little Britain” is among other languishing Caribbean countries like The Bahamas; Bermuda; Trinidad and Tobago, which was downgraded; and the Dominican Republic, whose rating went up but the economy significantly underperformed in the markets.

According to Fisher, last year’s successes in Jamaica, in stark contrast to its neighbours, came on the back of an overall bullish capital markets whose performance has generated positive feedback from rating agency, Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC.

The agency has indicated it may raise the country’s rating over the next year, provided it “achieves sustained improvement in its external liquidity and indebtedness, along with a growing track record of sustainable public finances,” he was quoted as saying.

In encouraging Prime Minister Andrew Holness to stay the course “so that your beloved country can finally reach its full potential under your esteemed leadership,” Fisher told him that “the wind is at your back and your sails are full”, stating that the successor agreement, which was approved by the IMF Board last November, was a “job well done,” the newspaper reported.

He welcomed the positive feedback from Fisher in his keynote address at the conference themed: ‘Global Investment Horizon: Our Options and Our Future’, stating that it is imperative for Jamaica to get its economic affairs “in order” and assured, “that’s what we have been doing, as a Government.”

Ceteris Paribus or Not: Joe Issa Says As Jamaicans We Are Not a Bad People Urging “Big Up Uno Self!”

In a New Year’s interview about his reflections of 2016, the crime issue and how it portrays and impacts the country, popular Ocho Rios business leader Joe Issa, has said that despite the mayhem being caused by an insignificant yet impactful minority, Jamaica is not a bad country, even when all things are not equal.

“Jamaica is revered throughout the world – our people, culture, music and now sporting prowess; yet, so many of us think we are of the worst kind; well, I don’t think so. Big up Jamaica!

“Others can see it, yet so many of us don’t,” Issa says, referencing the experience of a Canadian policeman, from a force which the JCF has hosted here and was tipped to offer assistance, noting that “he would be acquainted with our crime issue, especially since it’s not his first visit to the island along with his wife.”

Citing a February 7, 2007 Letter of the Day in The Gleaner titled, “An open letter to Montego Bay: Jamaica - a paradise found”, Issa pokes: “Wait till you get to that part when he said, ‘He asked nothing for this, and we were treated to a tremendous day trip. Wayne should be commended for his pride in Jamaica and its people’, to which Issa responds, “That’s the typical Jamaican, taking tourists out and giving them a nice time just for pleasure and not gain.”

Considered in local newspapers as a tourism guru having developed the reputation as a turnaround manager in his family’s SuperClubs chain of all-inclusive resorts which he run and won several local and international awards in the process, analysts say Issa is best poised to know how visitors characterize their vacation experience in Jamaica.

“In my time the vast majority of visitors say they enjoyed their stay here and love the people, cuisine, service, entertainment and the beach, among others, highlighting special experience of acts of Jamaican kindness which, I know is within us to exercise,” says Issa who, through Cool Charities, a subsidiary of his Cool Group is giving back to communities in the form of education of disadvantaged children.

Noting that the decades-old letter to the Gleaner editor could have been written today, Issa cites a part which brings out the true Jamaican even when things are far from equal. In that part the visitor was describing the good times he was having on the Hip Strip where he was staying on his second visit.

 “I met a young man named David, who had one leg. We talked like old friends one morning, early, when I went for my walk. Again, he asked for nothing, only my company. I learned about his country and he about mine. Trust me, I am not naive. I know the difference between whether I am being hustled or not.”

Issa hastens further to get to the end of the letter, stating “it’s the best part…it puts everything into perspective.”

“Much is sometimes made of Jamaica’s struggles with violence. Some people here in Canada even asked us why we would take the risk of vacationing in Jamaica. Certainly January was a difficult month for violence.

“My wife and I have travelled extensively in the world. The answer is this: some of the finest people I have ever met, anywhere, were in Jamaica. The kindness, the genuine nature of their personalities, the strong spiritual strength that was exuded by everything that they did, made them such a pleasure to be associated with.

“Reading the Gleaner every day, with the letters and editorials, it was obvious that Jamaica abounds with persons of this sort – fine, upstanding people who only want the best for their country and countrymen and women.

 “The struggles are there, to be sure. Nuisance drug dealers abound, which takes away from the beauty of the city. Violence, however, encapsulated within small areas, cannot be tolerated. Poverty rears its head often.

“Yet, the beauty of Jamaica and especially its people overwhelms all of that. I speak as a police officer of 21 years service here in Canada, who has seen much. My wife is a nurse with similar years of service. We could likely be accused at times of being jaded by what we have seen; yet we see the beauty in our own city and nation, every day.

“Jamaica is a paradise – and not a paradise lost, but found. We will be back soon,” says Curtis Kemp from Regina, Canada, Via Go-Jamaica

For Health’s Sake Let’s Increase Economic Growth – Joe Issa

Healthy Lifestyle enthusiast and philanthropist Joe Issa, has said that the general health of a nation and in particular, its under-five-year-olds should serve as a warning of how well it will fare socially and economically in the long term and the future, and Jamaica is no exception.

“When you look at health trends all over the world it is frightening to realize how badly low income countries like Jamaica are doing relative to high income countries in reducing the prevalence rate of stunting, underweight and overweight,” says Issa, pointing out that the gap between high and low income countries is too wide and should be narrowed with higher social and economic growth.

Issa, who volunteers books, computers and even air condition units to schools in St. Mary and St. Ann, where he is a past president of the chamber of commerce, says the opportunity cost of a sick workforce is massive loss of production and miss-opportunity for economic growth, to say nothing of the burden on the health sector and tax payers. “When we see the national stunting rate decreasing we know then that conditions in the socio-economy are improving.”

According to World Health Organization (WHO), stunted growth, which means a low height-for-age “reflects a process of failure to reach linear growth potential as a result of suboptimal health and/or nutritional conditions.”

Such conditions are shown to be generally associated with poor social and economic conditions in the population and “increased risk of frequent and early exposure to adverse conditions such as illness and/or inappropriate feeding practices.”

The data showed that worldwide variation of the prevalence of low height-for-age is considerable, ranging from 5% to 65% among the less developed countries

Between 1990 and 2014 child malnutrition indicators for stunting, showed a reduction in the number of children affected, from about 255 million to 159 million, with the prevalence rate reducing from 41% to 26%.

Similarly, underweight children fell from nearly 161 million in 1990 to 95 million in 2014, while the prevalence rate reduced from 25% to 16% over the period. However, overweight children which numbered 31 million in 1990 has increased to 41 million in 2014, with the percentage prevalence increasing from 6% to 7% during the time period.

The picture is even more unfavourable when it comes to stunting among children under five years old, with low income groups having a higher prevalence rate than high income groups, as well as a relatively smaller decline in the rate over a 24-year period. The prevalence rate for low income groups was 54.6% in 1990 compared with 32.6% for high income groups.

Also, whereas the prevalence rate for the low income groups fell to 37.6 between 1990 and 2014, representing a fall of 17%, the fall in the high income groups to 7.5% in 2014 represented a reduction of 25%.

The data also show that the prevalence rate of underweight (low weight to height) under-five-year-olds in low income groups was higher at 34.7% in 1990 compared with 13% for the high income groups, a difference of 21.7%. In addition, 24 years later in 2014, the rate in the low income groups had fallen to 20.4%, whereas for the high income groups the rate fell to 2.5%.

However, the overweight (high weight to height) prevalence rate in the low income groups which was 3.1% in 1990 increased to 3.4% in 2014. Similarly, the prevalence rate in the high income group increased from 5.7% to 6.3% during the same review period.

“The reductions we have seen in nearly a quarter of a century in the number of children and the prevalence rate for stunting and underweight in both low and high income groups, are indications of improved social-economic conditions over the period.

“The increase in numbers and prevalence rates for overweight children in both low and high income groups, not only reflect such improvements, but also the bad eating choices made,” said Issa, who is the founder of the Cool group of companies based in Ocho Rios, St. Ann.  

Business heads to hold candidates accountable

Business Leaders who have put Government on notice that they want greater accountability in governance, has taken concrete steps toward securing action from the politicians.

The Gleaner has learned that a meeting of Chamber of Commerce heads and business leader held recently in Ocho Rios, emerged with consensus that candidates in the upcoming election should be made to sign a covenant with their constituents, agreeing to address the more serious problems shortly after they are elected.

The resolution will be sent to all the political parties for their endorsement.

The various Chambers are currently working on the wording of the document, which will be sent to the general secretaries of the political parties.

It calls for all candidates throughout the 60 constituencies to sign off on a document, prepared by their local Chamber of Commerce, pledging to deal with the two most critical issues affecting their constituency, in a period not exceeding 100 days.

The issues, depending on the area, could be anything from crime, bad roads, water, tourism, electricity or telephone service.

“What we are looking for is accountability from our politicians,” said Joey Issa, author of the resolution and executive vice president of the SuperClubs chain of hotels.

“Too often we see candidates getting elected and pretty much disappearing from the scene soon after. We are hoping to change this unfortunate trend by putting them on the spot for a change,” said Mr. Issa.

“We are not trying to intimidate or ambush anybody, what we are saying is that our political representatives must be held accountable by the people in their constituency.”

President of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) Anthony Chang agreed. According to him, “This is an excellent idea which my organization has no problem embracing,” he said.

“I am also confident the political parties will view this proposal as something positive.”

Donovon Cover, president of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce said his organization was all for accountability and adds that voters would be looking keenly to see whom, if anybody would refrain from signing off on the document.

Cruise shipping row brewing: Amid reports of possible head tax reduction in MoBay

Western Bureau:

Another row is brewing in the tourist industry amid reports of possible reduction in the head tax for cruise ship passengers arriving in Montego Bay.

The reduction is being pushed by Montego Bay cruise shipping players who, for the past three years, have seen a steady decline in the number of cruise vessels arriving in the city.

They have argued that a lowering of the head tax would encourage cruise line officials to have their vessels make more calls in Montego Bay, and more importantly, according to them, not having the resort city dropped as a port of call.

The head tax charged to passengers arriving in Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Port Antonio stands at US$15.

Official Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) figures, however, show that Ocho Rios enjoys the lion’s share of the market.

During the period 1997-1999, of the 2.1 million cruise passengers that visited Jamaica, 76.8 per cent or 1.6 million went to Ocho Rios. Only 461,944 went to Montego Bay. Port Antonio, a much smaller port, has seen only three cruise ships over the pat three years and was not factored into the equation.

The government has acknowledged talks on a lower head tax for Port Antonio but denies that a decision has already been taken on Montego Bay.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism, Wykeham McNeill, said that the government was not planning on doing anything that would be harmful to any particular port.

“There are ongoing discussions to lower the head tax in Port Antonio and this has triggered speculation about Montego Bay,” he said.

“If the tax were to be lowered in the Second City, it would involve careful consultation with all the players in the industry,” he added.

President of the Montego Bay Cruise Council, Lee Bailey, said that he was aware of the proposal to lower the head tax for passengers arriving at the city’s ports and would consider it a good move.

Ocho Rios was saturated with cruise vessels, he said, while other ports were not enjoying what he called “some of the special concessions that are in place”.

Mr. Bailey said that a lowering in the head tax in Montego Bay would in no way undermine Ocho Rios’ status as the cruise shipping capital of Jamaica and noted that fears being expressed to the contrary, are extremely premature.

“The proposal is not for ships to leave Ocho Rios,” he added. “It is to ensure that the whole industry profits.”

Former president of the St. Ann Chamber of Commerce, Joey Issa, who tree years ago was in the heart of a tussle with his Montego Bay counterpart at the time, Lloyd B. Smith, over a proposed head tax reduction for the second city, reiterated his earlier position in stating that any reduction of the cruise tax should be done across the board.

“In terms of equity and fairness, the head tax that is charged to passengers arriving in the island should be consistent at all the ports of entry,” Mr. Issa said. “As I have stated before, we have to be careful about trying to appease one sector at the expense of another. Before anything is done, there should be clarification on the matter.”

We empathize with our American partners

The island’s two major hotel chains, SuperClubs and Sandals, with nearly 70 per cent of their business being generated from the United States, have been hard hit by the terrorist attacks on two American cities.

The repercussions being felt by the two hotel giants have jolted their operations where they have now being forced to make radical changes to their operations, including the rotation of staff and the bonding of moguls John Issa and ‘Butch’ Stewart.

But according to representatives of both tourism entities, empathizing with their American partners were now foremost on their minds. They spoke of the relationship they have with United States and the importance of this relationship to Jamaica’s tourism.

“Seventy five per cent of our business come directly from the United States,” explained Leo Lambert, Group Public Relations Officer for Sandals. “As our American friends struggle to regroup, this is a very difficult period for all of us in the sector.” He added that Sandals was now making a concerted effort to pamper all their guests to how then that “in this difficult time we too share their pains and concerns.”

Mr. Lambert notes that now was the time for the Caribbean to come together as a region to strategize way to effectively deal with the massive downturn in tourism. “We have to pull through this together,” he said. “We have to convince Americans that we are the destination of choice during this difficult time – that we are a place to come and relax and try to relieve their stress. With our close proximity to the United States, we have a golden opportunity to salvage our season.”

Executive Vice President of SuperClubs, Joey Issa, said that as airline travel in the United State continues to decline, the effects were being felt “like thunderclaps throughout the sector.” Like hi competitors at Sandals, he notes that SuperClubs was feeling a lot of empathy for the people of the United States at this time, adding that his country has had a long lasting relationship with that country.

“This is a very difficult period for all of us locally but even more so for our American counterparts,” he said. “As America brace for war nobody knows what the future will bring. Whatever game plan we had going into the winter tourist season has to now be radically changed as we enter this grave period of uncertainty.”

The Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) is also firmly in solidarity with the country’s “American partners” despite the grave period where a number of their hotels are on the brink of closure. According to President, Josef Forstmayer, the JHTA has been working round the clock to find ways to get through the current crisis facing the sector but was optimistic that the winter season could be saved.

Picture caption: “This is a very difficult period for all of us locally but even more so for our American counterparts” –Joe Issa (pictured) Executive Vice-President of SuperClubs