An entrepreneur with integrity is how I would come to describe Colonel (retired) Pritpal Ranhotra. Rising through the ranks, with education and then through the military, his continuous belief in himself and hard work eventually saw him come to Canada and become an entrepreneur with two very active businesses. I had the pleasure of interviewing him as he shares with us his life lessons. This is his story.
Interview with Col. Pritpal Ranhotra (retired) by BizMum, Rebecca Cheng. He is an entrepreneur with very deep roots to self improvement and self growth all his life.
Entrepreneur Rising
Entrepreneur: A View From India (Mount Everest)
Typical of successful entrepreneurs, he took upon himself to make everything work and become, well, successful. Despite being only about one and a half years into his immigration business, Platinum Immigration Consultancy Services – website: http://platinumimmigration.com – he is surprisingly busy. If you noticed, there were a couple of knocks on his door during the interview – clients were waiting to get in to see him. This is a unique concept where the clients he consults with get a plan of action to make their journey to their new land in Canada a seamless process. They are qualified, find work, a place to live, and schooling for more re-qualifying if necessary. This is very much his desire to help families unite and be self supporting. Of course in the other business he has the services of a partner – Omni Exim – website: http://omniexim.com – which is an import export company.
Perseverance, perseverance, perseverance is his motto. And it shows. Coming to Canada about 6 years ago, he started anew and worked for the YMCA helping adults who have lost their means of employment. He gave them hope and demonstrated life’s possibilities with a display of his indomitable spirit by re-qualifying himself and starting new businesses.
Col. Pritpal has this to say to entrepreneurs, new entrepreneurs or those who are considering becoming one; keep persevering, never give up, keep your focus on the prize and you will very definitely succeed!
Every Disaster Is An Opportunity
His family lost everything during the separation between Pakistan and India. They all had to start anew in India as his father had to re-qualify himself get a new job without any financial aid from anyone or the government. This was the man whom he admired and looked upon as a life example of never giving up and doing it all again if necessary, was his inspiration. In fact, looking at the journey of the Colonel, one realizes that what could have been a disaster became the opportunity to become who he wanted to be.
From very humble beginnings he worked hard through government schools. Not being able to afford to attend university, he went to a polytechnic and did his university degree through correspondence. AT the end of 4 very determined years, A young man named Pritpal had his education which enabled him to enrol in the Indian army as an officer.
Many years later after a long and illustrious career in the army rising to the rank of Colonel, Pritpal had been educating himself. He now has a string of qualifications as long as his arm. But, he says they were necessary and worth every ounce of effort. Plus, he got 2 more certifications while in Canada…phew!
Canada and the YMCA
In 1992, Col. Pritpal was placed in charge to lead the Indo-Canadian Project where 50 boys and girls were brought to Canada for an educational and informational tour. He gave talks and met many new students in Canada and was rather inspired by their opinions. In fact, he felt so welcome he was determined to return. It was also his first introduction into true counselling, where before counselling soldiers felt like giving orders with little or no feedback.
His first job was at the YMCA as a Director integrating a pilot project to give hope and help people over 45 years old get back into the workforce or start a new career. These are times when the economy is not very friendly to the people who had been working for many years and then have suddenly no other way of earning an income. The project lasted three and a half years which was longer than expected as it gave fresh hope to so many people.
This is a man who walked the walk and talked the talk. But I much prefer to say I admire Colonel Pritpal’s commitment because he put his money where his mouth is. What he taught his YMCA clients to do, he “experimented” on himself first. Being a relative newcomer to Canada, this was his way of ensuring what he preached works. This is integrity.
