It was good to catch up with David Hall, co-founder of VIP Attractions, operator of Club Mobay and Club Kingston.

The former CEO of Digicel Jamaica has always said, “Never let the sun set on an issue — deal with it now!” It is this policy that has made 13-year-old VIP Attractions a favourite of local and international travellers. Club Mobay has become so popular that he is now planning two additional lounges and enhancing his 705-strong team.

VIP Attractions has partnered with over 180 domestic and international brands, such as Expedia, American Airlines Vacation, British Airways, Transaero, Apple Leisure Group, Air Canada Vacations, Sunwing and Vacations Express and Condor, among others. The company’s mission is “to enhance the luxury experience of passengers by making their transition through the airport effortless, smooth, and efficient”.

The airport lounges feature photos of Jamaican celebrities, fruits, cultural icons, national heroes, and fun facts about the island, a mini history lesson right there on their walls.

Hall ascribes the company’s success to his amazing team and his corporate colleagues. He says that Sandals Resorts International Executive Chairman Adam Stewart has been a faithful supporter, even during those trying COVID-19 times. Recently Stewart addressed VIP staffers, who have sent scores of messages showing appreciation for the dynamic guest speaker. “Adam is charismatic and authentic. What an impact he made!”

Hall reflected on Stewart’s late wife Jill and said, “I just had to be here for the Jill Stewart MoBay City Run [held earlier this month] to pay tribute to this wonderful lady.”

Hall, like his fellow investors in the hospitality industry, is concerned about the dwindling number of trained personnel for the hospitality industry. He noted that the cruise ships and hotels are recruiting skilled Jamaicans.

Jamaicans are targeted for these jobs because of our English-speaking ability and our innate emotional intelligence. We meet our fellow Jamaicans abroad in hotels, stores, banks, hospitals, schools, and on cruise ships. They have left Jamaica because, while they yearn to be with their families, they must face the reality that they can maximise their earning power by migrating. Once we lose these skilled Jamaicans, we are left with a high percentage of unskilled people.

This is an emergency and HEART/NSTA Trust must respond by accelerating training for these hundreds of upcoming jobs and the private sector companies must increase salaries.

A company we represent tried to find a promising graduate to whom it wanted to award a scholarship only to be told by National Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET) that it had none. Hopefully we will soon hear of the implementation of the promised performance management system to drive increased productivity in government bodies after the unprecedented increase of some $200 billion to fund salary increases.

With some 20,000 hotel rooms being completed this year, the opportunities are there for Jamaican workers. Let us ensure they are upskilled to keep our Jamaican tourism product attractive and enjoyable.

A calming evening

The monthly meeting of our St Andrew Business and Professional Club, led by our president, Dr Lilieth Nelson, started under a cloud. On our minds were the four students who had lost their precious lives last Tuesday: one stabbed in her classroom, one in a drive-by shooting, and two from Titchfield High School in a taxi which crashed into a parked truck. How can we be losing so many promising young people in such tragic circumstances?

Our hearts were buoyed by guests, members of the Dehaney family, who related their experiences around the theme ‘The four Es: Example, Encouragement, Empowerment, and Education’. Mrs Dehaney shared an incident which encapsulated all four. She and her husband had ensured their children had bank accounts and debit cards from their early teens so they could learn how to budget. Her teenage son went to a restaurant with his friends, but when he swiped his card he was told it was declined. The nearby automated teller machine (ATM) also declined his card, so he called his mother.

“The restaurant expected that as we stepped in we’re either going to be forking out money or we were going to be swiping another card to pay the bill,” said Mrs Dehaney. “Anyway, what I demonstrated to my child was even though you may be in a precarious position, what you need to do is dot your I’s and cross your Ts. So the first thing that I did while I was in the presence of the restaurant was to go online and check the account. As I opened the account there was it that the money had been debited by the restaurant.”

“We must protect our rights — demand, and I’m using the word ‘demand’… required respect in any interaction,” she said. She believes that incentives, like prizes, encourage her son and she and her husband both guide their children with their homework. We heard from her daughter, now at The University of the West Indies, that she is now paying forward the Four Es by tutoring and mentoring younger children.

As we reflected on recent tragedies in which young men have been charged with the murder of their fellow students, we wonder how many of these Four Es were used in their upbringing. Three of these Es cost nothing and are transformative elements in a child’s life. Let us add these lessons in prenatal guidance and in compulsory sessions for parents throughout the school life of their children.

Alpha Institute continues to shine

Colm DelvesEstablished in 1880, Alpha Boys School (now Alpha Institute) has been widely recognised as the cradle of Jamaican music.

It gladdened our hearts to attend its end of term examinations last Thursday. Gay Magnus, director of the current School of Music, staged a concert in which the students performed for their marks. The school is now a modern facility, inclusive of an open-air auditorium built in memory of the great Colm Delves by the Digicel Foundation.

We enjoyed ska, reggae, and soca selections, reminding us that the Alpha spirit will continue to colour our music for many generations to come. A moving moment was a tribute to the wonderful Desi Jones, a dramatic drum conversation by Clayton Samuels and the ASOM Percussion Studio.

Heron to produce Alwin Bully’s McBee

David Heron (Photo courtesy of Nehassaiu deGannes.)

Broadway World Award winner David Heron will produce and direct the American premiere of the late Dominica-born playwright Alwin Bully’s Caribbean drama McBee on Sunday June 23 at 7:00 pm at Jamaica Performing Arts Center (JPAC) in Jamaica, Queens.

Bully’s play is based on William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and will be performed on American soil for the first time ever as a staged reading presentation in tribute to the late playwright. It will also be part of New York City’s festivities to mark Caribbean American Heritage Month, celebrated annually in June throughout the USA.

The cast includes Luke Forbes (Amazon Prime’s Harlem), Denise Hunt (How Stella Got Her Groove Back), Miranda Melhado (Amazon Prime’s Amityville Vampire), Emilio Evans, three-time Actor Boy Award winner Karl O’Brian Williams, and Oniros Film Award winner James Duke Walker. Tickets are available at mcbeetheplay.eventbrite.com.

Jean Lowrie-Chin is author of Souldance and founder of CCRP. Send comments to lowriechin@aim.com.