A lot has been said about the late Gordon “Butch” Stewart, and his impact on entrepreneurship and the general development of Jamaica. In my eyes (as I have said in the past), he has had a more positive impact on promoting Jamaica than any prime minister, just like Bob Marley.

The reason for me saying this is that through the Sandals and Air Jamaica brand, he managed to bring a lot of attention to Jamaica, which continues today.

He did so, while not only being a very successful entrepreneur, but one who brought creativity and innovation to whatever he did. It may not have had a happy ending, such as in the case of Air Jamaica, but there is no doubt that he added value to it, as after he gave back Air Jamaica to the Government, there is no doubt that the branding he brought to it created significant value.

In fact, the time he spent at Air Jamaica were not only some of the best years from a brand perspective, but also financially. I know because I was the one who was responsible for managing the divestment of the airline.

It is important to understand though, that most successful entrepreneurs have many ventures that do not become successful, but their success is not defined by how many times they fall but how many times they get up, and keep running.

Such was the man. He was never daunted by the challenges that confronted him, and even took on national challenges, and added much value.

I recall in the early 1990s the Butch Stewart dollar initiative, where he took the decision to sell US$ at a specific rate into the market in order to control the depreciation of the dollar.

That was always never going to be sustainable, as the problem with the exchange rate is a fundamental issue of policy. However, what he did through that initiative is give the country hope for that period of time and reset our thinking.

And he was the perfect person to do that, as he had a natural flamboyance and swagger about him that cannot be taught as it has to be naturally acquired from birth. Whenever he saw me he would say, “what you saying now, babes”. Any other man who called me “babes” I would feel uncomfortable, but not Butch. For me, when he called you “babes” you felt appreciated.

He built a massive empire, which includes the iconic Sandals brand, Appliance Traders (ATL), and the Jamaica Observer.

The Sandals brand, we all know, is the standard by which all-inclusive hotels are judged globally, and this innovation is actually what saved Jamaica’s tourism from the crime fields cultivated by our politics over the years.

I can safely say that if it were not for the innovation of the all-inclusive through Sandals, maybe Jamaica would not have a tourism market today. But even though Sandals benefits from the all-inclusive experience, he always tried to promote community tourism and that need for national contribution lives on through his two sons I have had interaction with, Brian and Adam.

The ATL brand, we all know, carries the more expensive product but he managed to make it successful because of the service he offers through ATL.

The Jamaica Observer was started as an alternative to the Jamaica Gleaner, and did help to improve the quality of reporting. The development of brands such as the Business Leader Award, Food Awards, and Takes Style Out speak to the innovation that follows his ventures.

And having written for years for the Observer, one thing I can say is that I have never received any calls about my opinions. This to me speaks to the true independence of thought there.

What makes someone an icon though, is not the financial or professional accomplishments by themselves, but more importantly the national and people contribution they make.

I recall a few years ago going to what was supposed to be a 10-minute meeting with Mr Stewart, while he was still active at ATL. I had wanted to get his perspective on something I was working on, and organised how I was going to maximise my 10 minutes with him. Well, I ended up spending two hours with him, and it was such an enlightening conversation that it seemed like 10 minutes.

From that meeting I gained a lot of insight into how he thought and my respect for him increased. Not to mention the learnings.

We spoke about everything from his time starting out with ATL, building his Sandals hotels, his time at Air Jamaica, and his love for Jamaica. I think what I got the most from the conversations was that most of what he did was driven by a love for Jamaica and the people that worked for him. That conversation had a significant influence on my own way of thinking, which impacted also the way I approached my writings.

One of the things he said to me, which I would never have thought, is that ATL and Sandals almost never happened and it was a decision that he made to persevere with a challenge he was having, and change the way he was doing business that resulted in his success at ATL. That thought caused me to speak with some of Jamaica’s leading business personalities and I found that many of them had that single moment when they made a decision that turned everything around for them.

He also told me about starting with Sandals and when he spoke about the success of Sandals he said something that was very profound and shaped the way I approached things myself.

I asked him if he was concerned about the larger hotels and their ability to provide lower costs, and he said, ‘No’. He said that his greatest asset at Sandals is not the product but the people who work for him. He said they were the best trained in the world and captured the culture of Jamaica. He said one of the proudest moments for him was when he went to a hotel in the US and saw a former worker in a senior management position and who thanked him for the training he received at Sandals.

Not to be outdone was his conversation on Air Jamaica.

I had completed the divestment of the airline and was saying to him that an airline is probably the most difficult business in the world, and how does he feel about his time at Air Jamaica. He admitted that many people had the impression that he benefited from the airline, but in fact it had cost him a lot. He said, however, that he would do it all over again as it gave him an opportunity to rebrand the airline and make it better than it was before and besides he saw his time at Air Jamaica as his contribution to the country.

He spoke about Jamaica and the challenges that the country faced over the many years, but said that he believed that Jamaica would overcome and one day be a very successful country. One of his main reasons for saying this was because he believed in the people.

The last time I saw him was when I went on a trip to London, while walking to meet some colleagues for dinner. I saw him on his phone in his trademark jacket and stripe shirt. I greeted him and we took a selfie together.

Mr Stewart you have certainly changed the course of Jamaica’s development in a positive way. Your influence on tourism, the airline industry, news, people, and the country is unparallelled.

I will take the liberty to say “walk good, babes”.

Dennis Chung is the author of Charting Jamaica’s Economic and Social Development AND Achieving Life’s Equilibrium. His blog is dcjottings.blogspot.com. Email: drachung@gmail.com