Josef Gueta: He minds your business
May 30, 2005 | 12:00am
He probably looks like any other tie and crisp suit-wearing, dyed-in-the-wool corporate guy. But the six-footer and 187-pounder Josef Gueta is really more than the boardroom type of businessman. Fact is, he’d gladly trade the air-conditioned comforts of the office for the rugged countryside to which his job often takes him.
Josef Gueta is the brains, nay, soul behind Business Profiles Inc. that has over 10 years of experience in the Philippines and a reputation for providing world-class consulting and solutions to a broad range of security issues facing corporate and industrial organizations and individuals. It was voted by GQ magazine as the best service provider of security in risky countries.
Just how risky is Josef Gueta’s job?
Gueta’s team is there to offer doable solutions to help bust potential and actual threats, ranging from damages to losses or terrorist actions caused by sabotage, conflict of interests, abuse of authority, lack of social acceptance, and industrial espionage.
Gueta had a client, a multinational company, who was losing millions in inventories due to pilferage/connivance.
"I assess the physical structure of the company, the staff, the executives; monitor the systems and policies to find out where the employees can steal," Gueta describes a typical day at work.
"Companies should really start thinking of investing in security precautions and not just wait for the problem, which could have been prevented," he adds.
With its corporate sleuthing savvy, Business Profiles was able to recover for a client some P70 million in losses.
Call his team an anti-business terrorism squad.
Yes, Josef – "some call me Yosi, like how you call your cigarette, while others call me Josh" – is on call 24 hours a day. During the Oakwood mutiny, they woke him up to negotiate for the release of some of his clients. "We were able to evacuate our clients from their hotels as well as warn those who were still coming in from the airport," relates Josef.
Born in Israel and having trained in the Israeli army, Josef Gueta was in Europe when he got an offer from PCIB to come to the Philippines and do consultancy/security planning work for the bank 15 years ago. "I remember that time, there were a lot of kidnappings and bank robberies, and I was asked by this big bank to put up a system and train their people to ward off holdups," he recalls.
Josef fell in love with the Philippines, married a Filipina – beauteous designer Lulu Tan-Gan – and has never left since, except for vacations in Israel.
"I know the culture, I feel connected to the people," declares Josef. "I eat a lot of Filipino food. I can’t name any one favorite because if I go to Pampanga, I eat Pampanga food, and if I go to Cebu, I eat the Cebu lechon. I love the desserts a lot, especially the halo-halo."
And if he goes to a mining town in South Cotabato, where he often goes, he eats at the carinderia there. "The food is so good, I really enjoy it," Josef gushes.
Josef is out of town at least once a week. "I’m out for two to three days at a time, but I try to be here on Saturdays," he says. "I’m in and out, I run three companies."
Having covered some 80 percent of the country, Josef probably knows the Philippines more than most Filipinos. Josef’s travels have taken him from up north like Kalinga Apayao to down south like Zamboanga. "I spent 12 days in Kalinga Apayao, an area where there were head hunters."
"In our 15 years here, we have concentrated on the Philippines," he asserts. "I think I’m more familiar with the country, the local life, the geography than any of my competitors."
Certainly, his long list of clients will not dispute that claim. They include clients, a lot of them multinationals, in manufacturing and distribution, power and energy, mining and oil, banking and finance, transportation and logistics, hotels and real estate, education. Business Profiles also has government and celebrity clients, like Michael Jackson when he did his 1996 concert tour and Kobe Bryant when he came for the 1998 Philippine tour through Adidas Philippines.
Business Profiles did the NAIA airport security training in 1992. "Yes, security is good at the NAIA," says Josef. "People are starting to understand the concept behind security."
Last year, Josef had some 70 projects and over a hundred individual cases.
Count on Josef to be very hands-on when it comes to his job. When an investor client comes and wants to invest in a place, Josef goes there and spends time learning about the place: Are there enough people to employ there? Are there terrorists?
"You have to customize your system to the corporate culture when you design security," he points out.
Josef’s team does a background check on the job applicants, too.
"We try to give our client peace of mind to work and not have to worry about anything else," says Josef.
Speaking of background checks, Josef’s team can also do that for couples before getting married.
Business Profiles’ wide portfolio of services includes: risk management, intellectual property protection, business intelligence, investigation, asset protection, and corporate security.
"We respond to our clients 24 hours daily," says Josef. This Business Profiles is able to do via its wide network. "Our trade secret is that as part of our business, we have a 911, a 24-hour response team. So when a client calls up and says he got a flat tire in Batangas, we can immediately send somebody to help him. We have a big network of local people."
Sadly, Business Profiles has lost some people. "Some of my people got assassinated in Mindanao," says Josef.
Minus the hazards of the job, Josef’s employees get travel privileges, free cars, free housing, and hospitalization. "We take care of them and care about them," he says.
Business Profiles gets a lot of calls and referrals. "Sometimes, we’re 90 percent successful, but it’s the 10 percent that’s more important," says Josef.
No stranger to danger, Josef thrives on challenge. "I leave the house before 7 a.m. I have to be the first to arrive at the office and the last to leave."
Josef keeps his fighting form by going to the gym four to five times a week. He does weights and runs a lot.
Josef is trained in Krav Maga (Hebrew for "contact combat"), the martial art developed for the Israeli army. In this version of street fighting, there are no rules, except to defeat one’s attackers by targeting the most vulnerable parts of the body. "You don’t have to carry a gun," says Josef. "The gun should only be the last resort. I used to teach Krav Maga – by using your body, even if you’re small, you can inflict damage on a big opponent."
He also notes, "Today, everyone is offering sniffer dogs. Did you know that they can be close-in protectors like bodyguards? It’s expensive to buy a dog, but dogs are cheaper to maintain than security guards. Besides, dogs are more loyal, more sensitive, and can react faster than anyone – and they don’t sleep on the job."
He hastens to add, "A bodyguard is only a bodyguard. It’s the driver who’s more important. The close-in security is more important. It’s also crucial where you sit in a place, where you will move, and how you will walk to the door. And when something happens to you, do you have your blood type and medical requirements?"
No doubt about it, Josef Gueta makes it his business to know everything there is to know about his clients. Because your business is his pleasure.
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