Today is Father’s Day, and many children will be showing affection and love to their fathers. 

Equally many fathers will be reflecting on the joy their children bring into their lives and how they have helped to shape them as men.

Fathers should always play a pivotal role in their children’s development, but most importantly, they must be present in their lives-through the good and the bad. 

The Guardsman Group, which was founded by Kenny Benjamin almost fifty years ago, has become the leading provider of security services in Jamaica and has ventured into the Caribbean. It is a household name.

It must have been a tremendous feat to build the company from the ground up, first with a few dogs, into today, employing over 8,000 people across nine Caribbean countries. 

In 2024, the Executive Chairman, Kenny Benjamin, announced the appointment of his son, Nicholas Benjamin, as the Deputy Chairman of the Guardsman Group.

He then said: “ Nicholas knows the business and has proven himself over the last sixteen years. He is a people person and you have to be in business. I am now in my 70s, and it is time to slow down and hand the baton over. I will still be around and continue to make contributions when I can.

“The Guardsman Group is in expansion mode and will need younger people to lead the charge. We are in the digital age with AI technology set to change the way business is done and the way people live. Nicholas is up on all this new technology and how it will be utilised in our business. I will now have more time to hang out while Nicholas takes Guardsman to even greater heights!”

The decision to promote Nicholas wasn’t some whimsical fancy on Kenny Benjamin’s part. He would have assessed whether his son had the right stuff and would have monitored his progress at the Guardsman Group over the last sixteen years. He would have closely watched how he interacts with all lines of staff. Can he lead people while remaining humane and understanding? Can he keep a cool head in a crisis? Does he innately understand the DNA of the companies his father built?

All this would have been evaluated, and Nicholas was not found wanting.

As a boy, Nicholas would have watched his father, how he interacted with associates, clients and friends. His sociability, his ability to read the room. He would have noticed how people hold his father in high regard. He would have come to understand the role a big company plays in national life. As he became a man and was preparing to take his place in the business, Nicolas would have decided just what it would take to follow in his father’s footsteps.

Nicholas is a man of equanimity; he reads situations well and is intelligent. Like his father, he is gentle-spoken, not given to verbosity and flights of fancy. 

Kenny must be extremely proud of the man that Nicholas has become. His son is now a leader with a family of his own, stewarding a business built in another century. 

Sure, business acumen, the ability to read balance sheets, and leadership traits are all very well and good but Kenny would have concluded that alone doesn’t make a man fit to take the reins.

Last month, a fire went out of control at a garage facility located adjacent to the Beryllium compound on South Camp Road in Kingston. People were hurt and needed medical attention.

Both Kenny and Nicholas felt duty-bound to do all they could to help those affected. They didn’t take a passive approach and distance themselves from the pain the injured suffered. Father and son combined, working together selflessly to help the afflicted. It was notable and wonderful to see.

“The wellbeing, care and recovery of those afflicted remain the absolute priority of Beryllium Limited and the wider Guardsman Group. Since the incident, the company has been working closely with local and international professionals, emergency support teams and relevant authorities to ensure that all necessary medical, logistical and family support arrangements are in place for those affected.

“Professional counsellors have also been engaged to provide emotional support and trauma counselling to members of staff affected by the incident at the location,” read a statement about the approach that would be taken. Those words could have come from either Kenny or Nicholas but it was a joint missive.

Both Kenny and Nicholas were at the airport to fly the injured out of the country for international medical care. They engaged with the media. They were there for those in their time of need.

Here was a son proud of his father and a father proud of his son.

Happy Father’s Day.