Tesi Johnson, Gleaner Writer
At Left: Mr. Julian Hunter (left), a security guard at the Portmore branch of MegaMart, presents a portrait he drew to Gassan Azan Jr. The presentation was made at the annual company party. At Right:
Sarge, of the group Apache hief and Sarge, performs at MegaMart's annual staff and dinner party, held at the Caymanas Golf and Country Club on Tuesday, January 17. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
ON WEDNESDAY, the Caymanas Golf and Country Club was the venue for friends, staff and business associates of the popular discount store chain MegaMart, for their annual staff and dinner party. The event, which was planned by Delrose Shirley of MegaMart, started out quite sedately, but soon evolved into a flurry of Mega fun! Of course, this happened only after dinner and the formalities were taken care of.
After dinner, Mr. Gassan Azan Jr., the chief executive officer of MegaMart, welcomed guests and gave an overview of the operations of the chain in 2005. He revealed that MegaMart would extend its reach to west Jamaica in September when they open their Montego Bay store, and also spoke highly of the performance of the company over the past year. He also recognised the staff's performance in 2005.
"We continue to improve our efforts to keep MegaMart the leader in customer service and satisfaction. Each one of us has a role to play in keeping MegaMart at the top where it belongs," he added. Mr. Kenneth Holgate, the chief financial officer, lauded Mr. Azan for the effort he has put into building the company. "Mr. Azan has dedicated time, sweat and energy into building MegaMart", he said. "Money too!" he added jokingly. He also recognised the boss' wife, Rosanne, who he says "packs more shelves than many staff members hired to do so." Mr. Azan was then presented with a gift, which when unveiled was a portrait of himself, done by Julian Hunter, a security guard from the Portmore branch. Mr. Hunter even revealed another of his many talents as he took the microphone and sang his rendition of Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna Come.
By this time, the guests were in extremely high spirits, and rearing to have some fun. Comedy duo Apache Chief and Sarge, then took to the stage on the cue of the emcee and proceeded to entertain with witty banter which had the audience bowling over with laughter. Following this, dancehall boy band Voicemail gave an electrifying performance that had the crowd breaking out in all the latest dance moves. Some of the guests, even joined Voicemail on stage to show off their dancing prowess.
