Ludhiana-born dreamer created SkyLink Group of Companies in Canada
By Gurmukh Singh
TORONTO: He was not even 21, but by then he had already straddled three continents – from Asia to Africa to Europe.
A driven and clear-sighted young man, he had just one dream when he landed in London from Nairobi in the very early 1970s to pursue his studies. And that dream was to be his own man. He wanted to build his own business empire one day.
To pay his fees and expenses, the young man happened to join a travel agency as an apprentice, working even up to 80 hours a week.
There he found his calling. Travel was soon to become his business.
Within a couple of years, he partnered with a senior manager of another agency and founded their travel business under the name of SkyLink in London, expanded it to five offices and then moved to North America, building up a diverse travel and aviation business over three and a half decades.
Meet Surjit Babra.
Sitting in his classy office at the Markhan Business Centre in the Toronto suburb, the mild-mannered Sikh looks across the years and says, “Well, it has been an incredible journey. God has been kind.’’
Indeed, he is modest to a fault despite his huge success in life.
In this free-wheeling interview, Babra talks about his life and business journey from Ludhiana to Nairobi to London and then North America.
Q: Tell us about your family background. Where were you born?
Our family originally comes from West Punjab (Sialkot). My grandfather had gone to East Africa for the construction of railways probably in 1905 or 1906. He went to Moshi in Tanzania. Later, he built several sawmills in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro. My father went to join him in his business. My parents shuttled back and forth between Kenya and India. I was born in Ludhiana. I was less than two years old when my mother went back to Nairobi. I grew up and studied in both Nairobi and Ludhiana
Q: Then you went to London for your studies, right?
Yes. I was 21 when I went to London from Nairobi for my further studies. To pay my expenses, I was lucky to get a part-time job as an apprentice with a travel agency by the name of Kang Travel. I used to earn 30-pence hourly wages and shared accommodation with someone, paying weekly rent of five pounds.
Q: How was life as a young man in London?
Life was very tough. Sometimes I had to work 80 hours a week. But 60-70 hours a week was the routine. I had no time for anything else.
I got my grounding in that job. It taught me reservation, customer service, how to write insurance cover notes and a little bit of book-keeping.
Q: What happened next?
I always wanted to go into business. Even at that age, I knew that rewards are big in business than a salaried job. I wanted to pursue that goal.
So after one year of part-time job in the travel agency, I joined hands with someone who was already running a travel agency and we became partners. It was a one-room operation. I used to work in the office and my partner used to work elsewhere. It was 1973.
I worked very hard and within three months we hired our first employees. By the end of our first year, we had five employees. Even my partner who was working somewhere else also joined us.
In our second year, we became wholesalers, starting with Korean Airlines. Then we started selling for Japan, South Africa and the Far East as almost all major airlines were with us.
Within five years by 1979, we had offices in Birmingham, Leicester and Amsterdam, apart from our office in London. It was then I decided to move to Canada.
Q: Why did you move to Canada?
I was selling lots of tourist traffic to Canada from the UK and we thought that we should increase our service in Canada.
Since I was doing strategic thinking for our business, I came to Toronto in 1979 to set up our office. We got two rooms on King Street. But being a foreign business, it took us six months to get the requisite permission from the Canadian government. Once we started in Toronto, SkyLink Travel was growing very fast.
Q: How did SkyLink Travel become big in North America?
One year after we started our Toronto office, I expanded into America and opened an office in New York. Since it was recession in Canada in 1981 and my job was not to sit in office but expand, I moved to New York. After that, we kept expanding and opened offices in Vancouver, Montreal, Mississauga, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Germany and India. We were in an expansion mode till 2008.
Q: From wholesalers, when did SkyLink branch into aviation?
I branched into aviation when I was in LA in 1986. I started marketing chartered flights from Ontario (California) to Baja (Mexico). I also got into a partnership for chartered flights from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon. We used to lease 9-seater Cessna 402 planes. In fact, we ended up leasing up to 14 planes.
Then in early 1987, Walter Arbib, a Libyan-born Jew from Israel, joined me in our Canadian travel organization. SkyLink Aviation was formed in Toronto in 1988.
Leasing bigger planes, we started working with the United Nations to fly men, equipment and relief materials to the world’s trouble spots. At that time, there were crises around the world – Cambodia, Namibia, Angola, Rwanda, Sudan, Western Sahara, Iraq, Slovenia, etc. Once we had up to 100 aircraft flying on missions. We used lots of Russian equipment, mostly planes and helicopters.
Q: What was the third business that you added to SkyLink?
In December 1993, we bought master rights of Dollar Rent A Car for Canada. We trained people and expanded this business from two outlets to 32 outlets across Canada. After 10 years of tremendous growth, we sold this business back to Dollar Rent A Car at a very good price.
Q: Your inter-faith, inter-cultural partnership with Walter Arbib is legendary. You are a Sikh, and Walter is Jewish. How did this partnership work?
We both have different skills but the same mission. He is good in sales and negotiations. I am more detail-oriented, structured person. Our complementary strengths helped. We used to do a lot of brain-storming. This was the rare inter-faith, inter-cultural partnership. We are still together in some businesses.
Because of our association and our humanitarian work, the Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada honoured both of us with the Award of Merit in 2006. I was also given the Mother Teresa Humanitarian of the Year Award by Friends of Indio-American Community (FOIAC) and the City of Los Angeles in 2005.
Q: Any other business that you added to SkyLink Group?
We saw the growth of the Internet and the next day delivery of small parcels. So, 1996 we teamed up with Dan Rocheleau and established SkyLink Express. It has become Canada’s largest regional courier feeder network and we fly small parcels for major courier companies. We started out with one small aircraft, and today we have 22 aircraft and we own most of these planes. I am its chairman.
Q: What business do you own under SkyLink today?
In 2008, I sold SkyLink Aviation to Apollo Capital – a New York-based equity firm. We were at our peak and got a good price. With that capital, I started SkyLink Capital Corp.
In 2011, I sold SkyLink Travel Group to GTCR – a private equity firm from Chicago but I stayed back as the CEO for three years.
In 2014, the American food processing giant Heinz was closing its plant at Leamington in Ontario. I partnered with four persons to form an investor group called Highbury Canco Corp and we bought this plant. At the time of purchase we had 250 employees, and today we have about 480 employees. Today, I just concentrate on SkyLink Capital Corp and its investments and the Highbury Canco Corp.
Q: Who have been your role models?
Many. As a child, I was impressed by John F. Kennedy. I heard his speeches and I was absolutely impressed by him.
My father was also my great role model. He taught me the value of hard work and sincerity. He was very complimenting about when I did well in anything. I also learnt from him the value of listening to what others say.
My mother was also a role model for me. She guided us into spiritualism. She taught us the importance of doing paath (scripture reading) and seva (religious service) at gurdwara. I had great parents.
Q: How many brothers and sisters do you have?
Two brothers and four sisters. I also have one rakhi sister.
Q: Who is that rakhi sister?
She was my first employee in London (laughs). Actually, on brother-sister day at that time in London, I was tying my own rakhi as I had no sister around. She saw me and offered to tie it on my wrist. She tied the rakhi, and she has been my rakhi sister since then. We are like one family now.
Q: Speaking about your wife Kanwaljit, did you guys have a love marriage or an arranged marriage?Q
Well, we got married in Toronto in 1982. I wasn’t into dating or things like that because I was too busy with my business expansion at that time.
I first met Kanwaljit at a beauty contest in Toronto in which my sister was participating. I think it was Miss Delhi or something. She was my sister’s friend and her nickname was Remy. I liked her. And then I found out that she was working at a travel agency.
After that, when my sister Kiran got married, she invited Remy. We got to know each other better. After that, she and I met several times. One thing led to another. Then one day I proposed to her and she said `yes’. That’s how we got married in Sept 1982.
Since I used to live in New York at that time, she moved with me there.
Q: How do you look back on 35 years of your marriage?
Wonderful. She has been a great wife. All credit to her for our wonderful family. She made lots of sacrifices and raised the kids as I was busy with the business.
Though she used to help me once in a while, I never wanted her to get involved in my business.
Q: What about your children?
I have two daughters and a son. None of them has joined me in my business, but they may some time in the future.
My eldest daughter Gagandeep has done her master of public health administration degree from Columbia University in New York and she is working with the government.
My younger daughter Manpreet did a 2-year course from the Vancouver Film School after her graduation. She is into film pre and post production. She says she wants to become an executive producer.
As my son wants to join the police, he is doing his police foundation course.
They all three are free to pursue what they want. They will be successful so long they have passion for what they do. Q: Are you religious?
I am spiritual. And I am thankful for all that I have in life today.
Q: List five things that led to your success in life.
1: Burning passion to succeed
2: Hard work
3: Planning and focus
4: Integrity
5: I love people
Q: What is one single ingredient for your success in life?
Fire in your belly to succeed.
Q: If you were not a successful businessman, what else would you be today?
The question of not being successful does not arise. You do your best and a little bit more and leave the rest to God. However, if I were not a businessman, I would love to be a doctor or a pilot. In fact, my childhood dream was to become a doctor.
Q: Do you think you are happy because you have the money?
I am happy but not because of money because I have the mindset to be happy.. All money does is to give you the freedom of choice. But happiness is a state of mind. Aren’t there so many people in this world who have pots of money but still they are very unhappy?
Q: Any regrets in life?
I should have taken a little better care of my health.
Q: What has been the most satisfying moment of your life?
When SkyLink flew 149 new birs (copies) of the Guru Granth Sahib from the Sikh holy city of Amritsar to Canada. The local Sacha Sauda had approached me for bringing the holy books from India.
Since the holy Guru Granth Sahib is a living guru for us, SkyLink made arrangements so that each bir was seated on an individual seat.
Q: Are your superstitious?
No.
Sometimes I am over analytical to the extent of being a procrastinator.
I need to act fast sometimes.
Q: One thing that you dislike most about yourself?
Sometimes I am over-analytical to the extent of being a procrastinator.
I need to act fast sometimes.
Q: How do you relax after all the tensions of business?
I read. I do gardening. I watch movies. I go on vacations. Or I just go dining with family and friends.
But overall, I am a very balanced person. I can work hard, and enjoy also.
Q: Which is your best city in the world so that you can relax there?
Singapore. I don’t why, but I love it. It is so organized.
Q: You said you read to relax. What do you read?
Anything that improves me. My reading revolves around self-improvement. I also listen to audio books while driving.
I am a self-taught man and I have continuously learnt so that I could teach others. Only then could I become team leader in my companies.
Q: Any one book that has impressed you the most?
Dale Carnegie’s How To Make Friends and Influence People. Over the years, I have bought at least a hundred copies of this book and given to people, particular the youngsters. On my birthdays, I gift books to people.
In fact, gifting books is one of my passions. I am a constant learner, so I read books and anything that teaches me about leadership and motivation. I listen to Deepak Chopra.
Q: Talking about leadership, how did you learn it?
As I told you, I am a self-taught man. But I have also learnt leadership through many courses
that I have taken over the years.
I am a master graduate from Rapport Leadership International in Las Vegas. Now I want to spend my time to motivate the youth.
Q: Tell us about one business leader who has impressed you the most.
Richard Branson of Virgin has impressed me the most not only in aviation (my profession) but also as a marketing guru. Lee Iacocca is another idol of mine for turning around Chrysler.
But Branson is one person I admire the most. I personally met him and he made a great impression on me.
Q: When did you meet him?
I flew with Richard Branson from London to Toronto on Virgin’s inaugural flight. Now here is an interesting story. There was an inaugural cake on the Virgin flight, but Branson didn’t cut the cake. Instead he called the most junior engineer from the maintenance department to cut the cake.
I was very very impressed by his gesture. I realized why this guy is such a success. I am a quick learner from the clues and actions of others. He autographed his book for me. I would like to be a marketing guru like him.
Q: What kind of persons would you run away from?
A negative person. Negative people drain you. If I can fix a negative person, I would love to do that or just walk away (laughs).
Q: What one-sentence advice would you like to give to the youth?
Dream big and focus whole-heartedly on achieving it.
Q: Finally, what is life like after 65?
I have been planning for life after 65 for decades. I will keep working on projects that are stress-free and make me happy. I like to assist budding entrepreneurs. Work on my children’s charity to make the world a little better place for the next generations. Travel and admire God’s beautiful world.
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