BladesCHAIRMAN OF Mussons (Jamaica) Limited, Desmond Blades, has been selected as this year's inductee into the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica's (PSOJ) Hall of Fame.
PSOJ president, Oliver Clarke, who made the announcement at a press briefing at the business lobby group's headquarters at Hope Road, St. Andrew, yesterday, said the induction ceremony will take place during the organisation's Hall of Fame banquet on May 16.
Mr. Blades, who was born in Barbados in 1928, is being honoured as a senior businessperson who has made a substantial contribution to the development of business and to the Jamaican economy during the four decades he has lived in Jamaica.
According to information released to the media, Mr. Blades, after high school and just after World War II, got his first job as a clerk at the Royal Bank of Canada in Barbados, but three and a half years later he decided to make a career change and delved into the world of business.
He worked as a sales representative and then moved to Trinidad to manage Mussons Sons and Company, where his leadership significantly improved the performance of that firm. He was called on to assist with the Jamaican operations of Mussons, which was then losing money, with the understanding that he could acquire shares in the business. He came to Jamaica in 1961.
More than 40 years later, according to a PSOJ release, "his outstanding entrepreneurial acumen and business savvy have made an indelible mark on the island's development."
A past-president of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC), Mr. Blades has also been an active member of numerous other organisations, including the Kiwanis Club, Royal Jamaica Yacht Club, the Council of the Bureau of Standards, United Way, Kingston Restoration Committee, Board of Kings House Restoration Fund, and the Century Club of the University of the West Indies (UWI).
The PSOJ Hall of Fame is designed to honour Jamaican business people who have made significant contributions to the development of the private sector and to the country. Nominees should have served in Jamaica's private sector for at least 25 years, be of sound character and integrity, and their companies should be successful with above average growth.
The Hall of Fame banquet will be held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, at which chairman of Digicel in Ireland, Denis O'Brien, will be the guest speaker.
Last year's inductee into the PSOJ Hall of Fame was Maurice Facey, chairman of the Pan Jam Group of Companies.
