Joe Issa Amused at Sir Richard’s Photobomb of Employee Napping on the Job

A colleague of Sir Richard Branson Joe Issa, whose Cool Group business model has been likened to Sir Richard’s Virgin Group, was humoured by a photo of Branson posing with an employee sleeping on the job.

Joseph “Joey” Issa Founder Cool Group of Companies

“This is funny! I was so amused when I saw the photo; it’s a great sense of humour displayed by Sir Richard, and the poor employee didn’t have a clue of what was going on as Sir Richard took pleasure in photo-bombing his sleep, much to the amusement of the air hostess in the background,” Issa recalls.

Issa, who has entertained Sir Richard, among a long list of celebrities, says “the best part of the joke is when Sir Richard woke him up, and when he looked and saw him, thought he was dreaming and went right back to sleep. I would like to see a video of that part,” says Issa, who is a mentor at the Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship – the Caribbean based in Montego Bay.

According to a Yahoo article, “It is never a good time to be caught napping by your boss – especially when that boss is the head of the entire company, which is just what happened to an unfortunate Virgin Australia worker who decided to take a nap on the job.

Richard Branson photobombs his employee sleeping on the job

However, Branson is said to have seen the funny side and rather than shouting decided instead to grab a photo with him, much to the amusement of Flight attendants in the background.

“I popped into the office and the airport to say hello and check in to see what the teams are up to. This guy was not up to much at all. I caught him sleeping on the job! Wow, did he get a shock when I woke him up? He must have thought he was dreaming because he went straight back to sleep,” Branson is said to have later written on the company blog, adding, “To be fair, he was on standby, getting some much-needed rest. At least he was not asleep on the plane – that might have been less amusing.”

 

Joseph Issa Urges Businesses to Maintain Optimism, Confidence in Jamaican Economy.

As the latest survey among the business sector reveals much optimism and confidence in the economy, executive chairman of Cool Group Joe Issa, is urging the industry to trust in its belief that better will come.

Joseph “Joey” Issa

“This is excellent news for the prospects of the Jamaican economy. I would like to encourage businesses to maintain their current level of optimism and confidence and to start reinvesting,” said Issa.

He noted that not too long ago people were predicting doom and gloom – that nothing more could be expected of an economy being strangled by IMF commitments and the business sector would not respond to calls to invest in the current dispensation.

“So I am happy to know that the sector is more optimistic than was thought,” says Issa, who has called for support for the government, which wants to embark on some growth policies in partnership with civil society and the opposition.

According to the survey, the business sector in Jamaica has not been as optimistic about the economy ever since the announcement of a package of economic policies by the JLP leading to the general election.

That is the conclusion reached by Market Research Services headed by pollster Don Anderson. The survey found that optimism reached a 15-year high in the first quarter of 2016.

Sponsored by the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC), the report which was published in the Business Observer, noted an increase of 17.6 percent in optimism for the first quarter of 2016, compared with the last quarter of 2015. This quarter’s performance is said to have been led by the economic policies announced by the Government during the campaign in the previous general election.

At the same time, the business confidence index is said to have surged to 144.6 for the period January – April, compared with 123.0 in the fourth quarter and 131.9 in the first quarter of 2015. “It marked a 15-year high in optimism for Jamaican businesses,” said the report.

The JCC said that “while the first quarter gains were widespread across firms, the largest gain was in how firms judged prospects for the Jamaican economy – surging 57 percent from last quarter to result in the 15-year peak.” The report noted that “new peaks were also recorded in profit expectations as well as investment intentions.”

“The unusual reaction of businesses to the new economic policies is every politician’s dream since it means that all oars will be pulling in the same direction toward economic growth.

“Just as importantly, governments now understand that the wise implementation of economic policies enables consistent economic progress over time among all stakeholders,” the JCC is quoted as saying, while warning that promises without performance, “will quickly turn dreams into nightmares, for the government, as well as for firms.”

 

New US Tariff on Aluminum, Steel Imports Could Hurt Jamaica – Joe Issa

Jamaica’s most significant indigenous distributor of petroleum products Joe Issa has said that United States President Donald Trump’s signed proclamation to impose a 10% and 25% tariff on imported aluminium and steel, respectively, could hurt the Jamaican economy, even though the island does not export the metals to the US.

United States President Donald Trump

In an interview, first on the significance of the move by the US to protect its local aluminium industry, Issa clarified that Jamaica is an exporter of alumina, not aluminium or aluminium as the US spells it.

“At the beginning, we used just to ship the bauxite, but now we have some five processing plants to add value to it by producing alumina which we export to the United States where it is processed into pure aluminium. So, since we do not produce aluminium here and, therefore, do not export it, any tariff on imported aluminium into the US will not affect our alumina exports to the US.

“There’s even an outside chance that Jamaica could benefit from the new tax on aluminium imports into the US if it discourages imports and instead encourages more local production, which could increase the demand for Jamaica’s alumina.

“The other scenario is, given that the new tariff will feed into the production cost of aluminium products made in the US, firms may find it more profitable to produce the products outside the US and then export them without attracting the import tax on landing in the US.

“This scenario could be the real deal for Jamaica, in light of the proposed construction of a $6-billion Industrial Park and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) around the alumina plant in Nain, St Elizabeth which aims to move Jamaica from exporting raw materials to developing value-added manufacturing and fabrication industries.

“That deal could be even sweeter if we could produce aluminium here, but that has long been ruled out as unfeasible because of the vast amount of electrical energy needed to power a smelting plant.

“Notwithstanding, since Jamaica imports many goods that are made out of aluminium, as well as those in which some aluminium is used, we can expect to see an increase in the price of these imported goods from the US when they land in Jamaica; so we here will be indirectly impacted through higher cost of imports.

“But countries which produce aluminium for export to the US would positively be affected directly, as the new import tax will make their aluminium more expensive when it lands there, which could reduce the demand for their aluminium and cause them to take countermeasures, in a possible trade war which could ensue.

“In the US, the Trump tariff proposal could be seen as a blow to its local industries, which the President was so eager to protect when he offered the recent tax break, as well as a blow to its European and other allies which export aluminium to the US,” Issa said.

Issa, who is an economics major from the London School of Economics (LSE) in the United Kingdom, added: “At least the possible trade war will not include the US’ closest neighbours – Canada and Mexico – as they have been excluded from the tariff on both aluminium and steel.

Regarding the impact on Jamaica, as far as the tariff on imported steel is concerned, Issa said, “Our construction industry could be impacted through higher cost of imported steel from the US…the business community as well as individuals will pay more to build.

However, Issa is not alone on the impact of Trump’s tariff proposal on US firms. Here’s what Yahoo News wrote: In a rare break with the White House, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan came out Monday against President Trump’s proposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. Ryan’s office warned that the punitive measures could spark a “trade war” that undermines benefits from the GOP’s recent tax overhaul.

It quoted Ryan’s spokeswoman AshLee Strong as saying, “We are extremely worried about the consequences of a trade war and are urging the White House to not advance with this plan…The new tax reform law has boosted the economy, and we certainly don’t want to jeopardise those gains.”

It cited a GOP source who said that Republican congressional leaders “won’t rule out potential action down the line.” It said the source declined to flesh out what kind of response could be in the making, saying, “We are focused on convincing him not to do the tariffs in the first place.”

Apparently, Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution gives Congress the power to “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations” and “to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.” However, in practice, lawmakers have granted the president broad powers to manage the trade. It is unclear whether the political appetite exists in Congress to take any meaningful action, said Yahoo News.