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Building a company from the ground up takes impressive will, resilience, character, determination and knowing when to change course.

It also requires forming a team who can go above and beyond, building a company with people who are confident and can be trusted.

Sheila Benjamin McNeil had a front row seat and witnessed first hand how her big brother built the Guardsman Group into the foremost security company in Jamaica before extending its presence in the Caribbean.

She came to Jamaica when she was just seventeen. Back in Bombay, India where she lived with her family, she harboured aspirations to study art and pursue a career in that field but was told in no uncertain terms that art was not a profession.

So she began studying psychology, expressing her misgivings and unhappiness to her brother Kenneth, affectionately known in Jamaica as “Kenny”.

Already making his way in Jamaica, Kenny told his younger sister that if she did well at her studies, she could come to Jamaica, where the Edna Manley College offered art courses.

This lit a spark

Sheila came to Jamaica on vacation and never went back, much to the chagrin of her parents. Right here, one sees the determination and bravery in seizing upon an opportunity and making the most of it. As a teenager in Jamaica, she was under the care and supervision of her big brother.

She attended art school, nurturing those innate sensibilities. After classes, a driver would pick her up and take her to Guardsman’s HQ compound then on South Camp Road in Kingston. There she would observe and get to know the guards and the team. She was a dutiful “baby sis” serving food and helping out around the place.

On completing art school, she went to work at Lindo FCB as a graphic designer, all the while watching the security company her brother started grow. Her time at Lindo FCB gave her the confidence to begin freelancing thus being able to offer her services to her own clients.

Kenny Benjamin was keenly taking in his sister’s academic and professional development. He also stood guard over a young girl becoming a woman. He identified Sheila’s abilities, noting they could be developed and utilised at Guardsman. He convinced her, somewhere around 1985 to join Guardsman and work with him. 

She made the move working under the supervision of Valerie Juggan Brown.

Sheila reflected: “Valerie and I worked closely, but it got to a point where there was a bit of push and pull. I got an offer from Pat Ramsey, who ran the Mutual Life Art Gallery. Pat was impressive and I relished the opportunity to work with her. Everyone in Jamaica knew her reputation.

“I thought it would be healthier for Guardsman, Kenny and Valerie if I left but  Kenny wasn’t having any of it and reminded me what last name is. He insisted I was going nowhere.”

The Guardsman boss didn’t throw his sister into the deep end, particularly with the security industry being such a masculine, testosterone-driven arena. His acumen and foresight was already apparent in the early years of his burgeoning company. 

By then, he had also formed what today is known as “ Nature’s Paradise” at 107 Old Hope Road, which provides landscaping and garden maintenance services. There was also a farm. Kenny Benjamin placed Sheila in this part of his operations where she reported directly to himself as  Chairman. She is grateful for the advice and guidance she received from Valerie Juggan Brown at that time.

“I was appointed to all the Boards and attended the meetings. I knew what was happening in the core businesses but was managing the small subsidiary companies. We moved forward, and I was happy.

“Kenny was ahead of his time when it came to gender in the workplace. I don’t think he looked at people and judged them on their gender. He has always been more concerned about capability, leadership qualities, and integrity. When you think about it, back then, there was practically no room for female managers in the male world of security services, yet Kenny appointed Valerie (Juggan Brown) as Guardsman’s first Managing Director, and she excelled at that position. In fact, all our senior executives who are women are standing on Valerie’s shoulders, including me. She taught me a lot.

Sheila Benjamin McNeil started doing graphic design for the Group, served as a manager in the non-core entities and worked her way up to become Guardsman Group’s Advertising and Marketing Director.  She also put in time at Marksman, a sister company to Guardsman. 

In her first few years in Jamaica, Kenny gave her a Korean restaurant that he had acquired in New Kingston to run. She knew nothing about catering or the restaurant business and had to find her way.

She is a dynamo. Forthright, earnest, intuitive, a humane woman with a sense of humour. Sheila is thoroughly good company and can be taken at her word. She is perhaps reticent about her connection to the Guardsman Group and would be aghast at those quick to point a finger and say  “ nepotism”. 

But that does Sheila Benjamin McNeil a disservice and relegates her to being unseen. She has played a vital role in the growth of the Guardsman Group, helping to mould its culture. Her artistic nature dovetails with Kenny’s aesthetic disposition and that can be seen across the organisation. One only has to take in the decor and art work at Guardsman’s headquarters. 

Sheila Benjamin McNeil’s journey from a young girl from Bombay, India  to becoming a director and senior executive at the Caribbean’s leading security company is one of growth and development. She is integral to Guardsman because just as Kenny watched over her in her formative years, she has watched over Guardsman, seeing it become the leader in its field and a major employer across Jamaica. 

 How has Sheila’s life evolved and what stands out looking back? 

“Women are still expected to take care of the traditional role like look after the kids, mind the home, take care of the man’s needs. There are a lot more professional women today who live multi-dimensional lives. I am seeing more men stepping up these days and helping with the load. As for me, I need to be doing something; I have to remain active. I would go crazy just sitting down all day with nothing to do!”

Guardsman does not have different marketing divisions for all its operations. It has marketing managers that function from a centralised unit that sees Sheila overseeing and heading advertising and marketing campaigns. The Group has recently rolled out a new campaign reacquainting people with the Guardsman brand.  Sheila has conceived and implemented an advertising strategy that places Guardsman first regardless of the services offered.  Everything is now prefixed with “ Guardsman”. 

“Kenny encouraged healthy competition between the companies in the Group but now we have to face-off against other security firms that have come onto the scene. More often than not they are advertising as a single company showcasing a brand as opposed to disparate arms of their business. So if we have 40 billboards, it almost seems like we have just 10 because there is Guardsman, Marksman and all our other subsidiaries. Our competitors were getting a bigger bite of advertising budgets because they positioned as a single company.

“Right now, we are advertising under one umbrella. Our tag line is “ Comprehensive security from a single source. We brought in Benjamin Bailey from the U.S. and he helped us put together this whole new campaign, which is resonating in all our markets,” said Sheila, explaining the Group’s marketing and advertising pivot. 

Next year, Guardsman will be celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. It has gone on to become part of the national fabric. It’s a brand people trust, one that has stood the test of time.

Guardsman has now made a move into the world of AI and cybersecurity. That will be the way of the future and the next level in the evolution of the Guardsman Group. 

Sheila continued: “We brought in Vinay Walia as Group Managing Director to help us navigate through this new technological phase of our business. I think Kenny was convinced by others that Valerie was not of that time and had no understanding of AI, cyber and the modern ways of security. Some might say that was the case, but Valerie was a superb manager, and her management skills were unsurpassed. Truth be told, I’d take management skills over knowing a thing or two about technology any day. Valerie went on to head Hope Zoo and has done a fantastic job there. She turned it into the best zoo in the Caribbean. 

“Guardsman entered a phase where all the businesses were placed in separate silos. We were no longer integrated, and it caused confusion in people’s minds. There was iProtect, Guardsman Alarms, Beryllium …. The legacy was diminished, and the name “Guardsman” holds so much respect.

“We are now working on a restructuring exercise and have brought in new management personnel. Guardsman will vigorously be putting in place new corporate governance stipulations and will be streamlining its operations. So what does the future look like for Guardsman?  Well, we are working on strengthening the brand’s presence, overhauling the Group’s operations, embracing new technologies and will continue to go into other countries. Ghana has come up on the radar.

“Guardsman’s success has been born from Kenny’s leadership and the management team he assembled  He trusted Valerie completely and she took advice from him. He was the visionary and Valerie brought his visions to life.

Given Sheila’s artistic nature and her penchant for design, what does that contribute to her management style and the way she goes about her work?

“I think people who have an artistic nature are a little more aware, emotionally intelligent, more observant, and empathetic. Their intuitive sensors are more attuned. I do think this helps with understanding people and finding ways to accommodate them.”

So how does she see the marketing and advertising industry in Jamaica today. There are so many companies springing up offering all sorts of services and relying on social media.

“I would say Jamaica is more about networking than actually the fundamentals of advertising and marketing. What carries weight here is how you interact with people and reciprocity  around the companies that pay you. The skills sets and expectations are so much higher in both the United States and Europe.”

Sheila Benjamin McNeil has been with Guardsman for around 40 years of its close to 50 years of existence. That constancy counts.  Her longevity and ability to adapt to changing times is reminiscent of the marketing and advertising work done by Melanie Graham of Palace Amusements. Both ladies are stalwarts whose imprumatur remains at longstanding companies.