The power of their presence, the appeal of their personality, the effect of their doings and the depth of the footprints they leave defy indifference.
Kent Joseph has been described by many adjectives over the years. Ambitious, energetic, personable, selfless, philanthropist but lately it seems the word Phoenix must be added to this list because if ever a person has risen from the ashes of seeming destruction is has been this remarkable individual. Well yes he has been the man behind Phoenix brand cigarettes in Grenada for many years too.
You see the essence of a person cannot only be judged by how much they have achieved for themselves, the size of the empire they have built or the number of competitors they have outmaneuvered. More importantly it must be judged by the effect they have had on people they have come into contact with along the way.

Kent Joseph has not only been able to build an empire through dedication, innovation and a rare level of foresight and discipline but has also managed to earn the respect, love and admiration of practically all the people he has had to interact with on a business or personal level.

After suffering what to most people would have amounted to hopelessness, destruction and despair at the hands of Hurricane Ivan the ability to shake this tragedy aside and launch himself almost fanatically into looking after the welfare and safety of others bespeaks a person of unusual human qualities.

In awarding Kent Joseph for his superhuman efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan the Grenada Chamber of Industry and Commerce calls this rare individual “a man of action, determination and stamina.”

And why not? It certainly took a lot of all of those qualities to do what this man did even as his whole life’s work, many years of planning and sacrifice laid in shambles all around.

The morning after the hurricane, Kent found himself, like most Grenadians with his home destroyed along with those of most of his close relatives. Further investigation revealed that his business premises had also been destroyed.

Although Kent only became aware of the extent of his losses after, so busy he was looking after his family, relatives and staff it turned out that the seven properties under his care had suffered. These included residences and businesses scattered over Beaulieu, Tempe, Grand Anse and at St George. The roof of Body Image Gym at the Excel Plaza was gone along with the roof of many of his tenants.

On the Carenage, the cigarette factory, the largest income earner suffered extensive damage to the building and equipment. The looting of the factory, office, Homemade Bakery and the excel Plaza made it worse. The damage went into millions of dollars.

Despite this personal catastrophe, , the first two days after Ivan found caring Kent trying to locate firstly, his relatives then his 63 staff members. The home of 59 of his 63 staff members had either been destroyed or had lost their roofs.

Everyone looked to Kent for leadership, support and assistance. His family, relatives and staff and he was not about to let them down.
He noticed how hopeless they all looked and realized that a lot depended on him. He took up the challenge and set about making arrangements to house firstly, his relatives and then his staff. The results were that 14 members of his family and relatives were able to stay in a twobedroom apartment and his home gym.

True to Kent’s character things were not to be done by halves and therefore he did not see his responsibility as stopping with the provision of shelter. There was the matter of food and water for his family and his 63 staff members. He was assisted in this by a prominent local company as well as relatives in St. Lucia. Even in the face of his personal loss Kent ensured that his staff members were paid their full month’s salary for September and kept all of them on ? month salary for the first six months after the hurricane. Of course, long before this most other business had declared that they could not pay staff and had released them.

KEN JOSEPH (RIGHT), A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS WITH MIN. OF FINANCE THE HON. ANTHONY BOATSWAIN.