Committed to woman empowerment, this second South Asian Peel Police officer-turned-entrepreneur supports numerous charitable causes, students and needy people
The Canadian Bazaar
MISSISSAUGA: Sukhdeep Kang’s Facebook posts sum her up.
The CEO of Armour Insurance Brokers Ltd lives by four principles: pluck, pursuit of excellence, service to humanity and women empowerment.
Indeed, her pluck and pursuit of excellence have catapulted Armour into the top league – with thousands of clients and a diverse portfolio of $70 million!
And the word Armour in her company’s name holds a little clue about her upbringing.
“Being the daughter of an army officer in India, I grew up admiring the uniform. I love law enforcement and the word Armour is an expression of this love,” says Sukhdeep who was the first Indian-origin woman to start an insurance brokerage in North America in 2010.
“Growing up as a little girl, I had a dream to become a police officer and being determined I fulfilled my dream in Canada by becoming the second South Asian female officer with Peel Regional Police Service prior to becoming an entrepreneur.”
En route to creating a multimillion-dollar insurance business, Sukhdeep has always emphasized on recruiting women and youth to give them opportunities to excel.
“Women make up 90 percent of my staff and I am a firm believer in women empowerment,” says Sukhdeep, sitting in her swanky office on Topflight Drive in Mississauga.
As her business has grown over the years, she has never forgotten the Sikh tenets of sharing one’s good fortune with others.
Sukhdeep says she believes that God has been very kind to her and it is her duty to give back to the less privileged.
Examples of her generosity include sponsoring trips of elderly couples to visit their homeland, taking care of their air fare and other travel expense or sponsoring trips of senior citizens to visit places in Canada such as trip to parliament or Niagara Falls. Or buying laptops or computers or books for students.
Landing in Toronto with her family with a few hundred dollars in her pocket in August 2000, Sukhdeep started her new life in Canada with odd jobs.
“I never give up and I was determined to succeed. While doing odd jobs, I also focused on learning about Canadian culture and values to assimilate in it.”
While doing survival jobs, Sukhdeep also joined full-time Police Foundation diploma course. That diploma landed her a job with Peel Police in September 2003.
“I was the second South Asian woman to join Peel Police,” she says.
It was a dream job for someone who loved the uniform. “But I was shocked by what I experienced because I was a woman of colour with an accent. I never failed in my life but felt like a complete failure. It was such a distressing experience that I still get goosebumps.”
From Peel Police, Sukhdeep went on to serve as a board member on the Criminal Injury Compensation Board in November 2006, where she had the opportunity to work with victims of Crime and to help them monetary as well guide them to get help to live normal life.
Being people’s person, she decided in 2007 to pursue her goal of being an entrepreneur to enjoy greater opportunity to serve and give back to the community.
And she settled on insurance business as a vehicle to fulfill her desire to help others.
“Since South Asian community was really underrepresented in the insurance Industry and I saw people struggling to get insurance especially in commercial space, so I decided to be people’s voice to help them with the right choices.”
Following her RIBO course, she joined Austen and Nobel Insurance Brokers Ltd in Milton in July 2007.
“Their mentoring helped me grow and I created a portfolio of $10 million in gross premiums. Two and a half years later, I quit to start my own brokerage.”
And Armour was born.
“I started in March 2010 from our Brampton office. As I already had connections, all I had to do was to add two more people and our business had a brisk start.”
Sukhdeep says she cannot thank her community enough for their support in building her business.
“People respect me because I am very firm about what I say. And I say what I mean. With me, yes is yes and no is no. This principle has helped me built our reputation and business.”
Armour grew exponentially and Sukhdeep went on to open offices in Mississauga, Kingston and Oakville.
“We moved here in this (Mississauga) office in 2017 and we have 30 employees and six agents.”
Her background in electronics and telecommunication from Punjab Technical University has helped her foster digital culture at her workplace.
“We are a paperless brokerage and we were one of the first to create a self-serve mobile app in 2017 for our clients to allow them access to policy documents. We also have a call centre for service efficiency.”
Transport insurance is her core business.
“We have a mixed portfolio of transport, commercial, manufacturing, personal and life insurance. But since we are the largest transport community in Ontario, transport is my niche area. We feel blessed to be very well connected and respected within the transport industry.
“Our attitude is always to help our trucking clients to secure proper coverage and save money in insurance because of the nature of exposure they carry.”
Not surprisingly, she serves as the director of the local Women’s Trucking Association. “It has over a hundred strong-minded women as its members. They consider me their friend and mentor.”
Sukhdeep says she couldn’t be happier about the growth graph of her business except for one thing that riles her no end.
Discrimination.
“It is still a white male-dominated business. There are no equal opportunities for people of colour. There are still many insurers who do trucking insurance but would not give access to minority brokers and always make excuses to avoid working with us. . I have been always vocal about it and continue pursuing to bring the change but it is still not there,” she says, sadly
Even as her fight for equality continues, the resourceful CEO has found a way to help her business through Captive Solution by setting up an off shore insurance company to better serve her clients.
“To have a tailor-made solution, we have started our own Great Atlantic Insurance Company in Barbados.”
For a CEO, Sukhdeep is a very different person. Very quiet. Nothing flashy. No airs.
“I am a simple person…and nothing excites me more than my work
“I am at peace with myself…splashy things, diamionds don’t fascinate me. My only excitement is how to tackle a challenge head-on,” says Sukhdeep who was honoured by the Indo-Canada Chamber Commerce with the Professional of the Year Award (Is it correct?) in 2019.
Away from work, she says, all her time is taken up by community activities.
“I do this because I came to Canada with nothing,” she says in a serious tone.
“First, I got involved in seniors’ welfare when I was with Peel Police. I came to know that there is so much crime against them that goes unreported. That’s why I always help anonymously – buying someone an airline ticket or in some other ways.”
She also supports young men and women by sponsoring sports clubs.
She sits on Board of William Osler foundation as board member . She also is an ambassador Peel Crime Stopper.
“Currently, Armour is sponsoring eight sports clubs – hockey, soccer, kabaddi…we are the main sponsor of the Kabaddi World Cup here.”
Sukhdeep has also started her own non-profit called Women and Youth Employment Services.
“Women empowerment is very dear to me. As I said, 90 percent of my employees are women. I mentor them and give equal opportunities. Someone has to show understanding and give them encouragement. I have brought back girls who were on the wrong path by simple encouragement.”
Sukhdeep says she donates 10 percent of her income to this non-profit. “Through this non-profit, I also fund one full tuition fee for a student. Mostly, it is for law school.”
She is also a board member at the William Osler Foundation and has committed to donating $500,000 to it. “We donate $100,000 each year. I believe in making money and not holding it.”
So does she have any hobby for diversion from her busy professional and community life?
“My only hobby is to keep fit and work for people,” she smiles.
Any regrets in life?
“Why I wasn’t born a man,” she laughs, quickly adding, “Successful women face lots of challenges in life. Breaking barriers always creates problems for women.”
Does she miss anything in life?
“Nothing.”
And is there anything about herself that she detests?
“I am absolutely okay with myself,” she says, rolling her eyes.
And God?
“Yes, I believe in a super power…you can call it whatever you want.”
Looking to the future, Sukhdeep says, “Armour is set to continue creating leaders for generations to come and is a self-sustaining business and My team members who have been working with me for years are my successor to continue this legacy.”
Any short-term targets?
“We hope to reach the $100 million-mark by 2023,” she signs off.
READ NEXT: Sultan’s Fine Fabrics is top place in Toronto for men’s clothing
