Rami Ranger, Baron Ranger

Raminder Singh Ranger MBE
File:Rami Ranger.jpg
Born	1947
Other names	Rami Ranger
Occupation	Company Directory

Raminder Singh Ranger MBE is a successful entrepreneur and social and political reformer. His business interests span from his principal company, Sun Mark Ltd, which is an international marketing and distribution company, but he also has companies and business interests in diverse fields ranging from shipping to beverage manufacturing to property development. His company, Sun Mark, is the only company ever to have been awarded the Queens Award for Enterprise for five years running and he has now been honoured by Her Majesty the Queen on seven occasions, six times for business and once for community service. He is also the Chairman and Managing Director of Sea Air and Land Forwarding Ltd, also a Queens Award for Export winner. This is actually where Ranger started his business career

Early life

Rami Ranger was born posthumously in July 1947 in Gujranwala (now in Pakistan) – two months after the assassination of his father. The son of a patriot and martyr, Shaheed Nanak Singh of Multan (now in Pakistan) with seven brothers and a sister. Shaheed Nanak Singh was fiercely against India’s partition and advocated that all should consider themselves to be Indians first and then only go for choosing the religion of their liking for peace of mind. He was assassinated by separatist fanatics while trying to save the lives of 600 students of DAV School, Multan (now in Pakistan) who had become caught up in religious riots. Though he could not save his own life, the students were saved as a result of his sacrifice for the sake of Hindu-Muslim unity in India. Inheriting the principles of his father, Ranger constantly puts his efforts to unite the Indians and Pakistanis living in the UK as he feels that the internecine effects of their enmity has been adversely impacting their cordiality so vital for their mutual benefits and peace between India and Pakistan and their new homeland, Britain.

Since the family had migrated to Patiala in the Punjab state of India during India’s historic partition, Ranger was given admission in Modern School Patiala. After the completion of his school education, he went to Mohindra College, Patiala and then obtained a B.A. degree from the Govt. College Chandigarh. He was brought up by his mother, a courageous and hard working lady who was a teacher and had to struggle hard to take care of her family and ensure good education for her children and get them married in good families. Thus, for all practical purposes, she became the bedrock of Ranger’s success. However, it was quite an arduous task for her to pull on such a large family by fulfilling all their necessities and that’s why there came a moment when Ranger had to discontinue his studies after reaching the UK where he had gone to study Bar at Law in May 1971. Ranger acquaints: “Due to unfavorable financial condition I could not complete my education and decided to take up job to earn money so that I can complete my studies. Regrettably, I could not fulfill my dream until today”.

Business Philosophy & Achievements

Ranger started his first business in 1987 with just £2 capital from a shed. Ranger’s first business was of shipping cargo by sea, air and land. Now he owns two huge companies which are doing enormous business under his dynamic leadership. Today Ranger is the Chairman of Sun Mark Ltd and Sea Air & Land Forwarding Ltd, two of Britain's fastest growing companies with a combined turnover of over GBP £150 million. Both of his companies received the most prestigious Awards from Her Majesty the Queen, the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement 1999 and the Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2009,2010,2011 & 2012. When Ranger was asked about his business ethics that made him such a successful biz titan, he answered: “My work ethics are simple. I only succeed when my customers succeed. I work hard for the success of my customers which ultimately becomes my own success”.

Sun Mark entered the prestigious Sunday Times Profit Track 100 and placing 33rd in 2011 and 25 in 2012.

Sun Mark was added to the Sunday Times International Track league table in position 102.

Sun Mark was made a National Champion by the European Business Awards for 2012/2013.

Sun Mark was recently listed for a third consecutive year in the Sunday Times Profit Track league table for 2013. [1]

Sun Mark was awarded a 5th Queen's Award for Enterprise in International Trade. This is the 5th consecutive such award won by Sun Mark and is a unique achievement. [2]

Dr Rami Ranger was awarded the IOD Director of the Year award 2012 - large company for London and South East region. [3]

Sun Mark was nominated to be a finalist at the National Business Awards in 2012 in the category 3i International Growth Business of the Year [4]

Sun Mark was ranked 50th in the Investec Real Business Hot 100 businesses in the UK for 2012. [5]

Sun Mark was ranked 32nd in the Investec Real Business hote 100 in the UK for 2013, an improvement on 2012.Sun Mark was also recognised for its international performance and presented with the Hot 100 International Performance Award 2013. [6]

Social and political work

Ranger was one of the founder members of the British Asian Conservative Link to make Asians more publicly and politically spirited and to encourage them to take part in the decision making process in Britain. Due to work done by the BACL, the Conservative Party, which previously had no Asian representation in Parliament, now has five MPs of Asian origin. Ranger, along with the other founder member, organised hundreds of high profile events to bring Tory leaders face to face with the Asians and the Asians face to face with the Tory leaders so that their perception of each other could be corrected. The Asian perception was that the Conservative Party was the party of the rich and elite and many in the Conservative party were under the impression that Asians were still a struggling community. It was essential to bring home a stark message that in a democracy there is one man one vote regardless of their colour, race or religion. A vote to the other party was a loss of two to us. Besides when a bad employer does not look after his staff, then the staff works for the competition and works against the bad employer. As a result of the work, I am proud to say that the Conservative Party has become stronger and Britain richer.

Ranger is the founder member of the Hindu Forum Britain which was set up to unite all the different Hindu Organizations in Britain under one umbrella so that they could project a cohesive voice in British government departments. He felt that it was essential for the public to know about the Hindu religion otherwise they would continue to depict Hindu deities in derogatory ways such as on carrier bags, shoes, T-Shirts etc. This would also damage the self-esteem of Hindus. He organized the first ever prestigious Hindu Ball at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane, London to celebrate Hindu culture and its contribution in enriching British society. The Ball helped the local population understand more about Hinduism and also stopped people from using images of Hindu Gods frivolously.

Ranger is the Chairman of the British Sikh Association which promotes interfaith dialogue. This was set up to stop the extremist Sikh organizations from representing the Sikh point of view in Britain. He has vigorously argued with these extremist organizations that the Sikhs were created to defend the unity, integrity and the basic human rights of every Indian and not to break her up. When Sikh Gurus never claimed a separate kingdom for themselves, then why should their followers demand a kingdom for themselves?

Ranger set up the Pakistan, India & UK Friendship Forum soon after the 7/7 and 21/7 bombings of the London Underground by British citizens of Pakistani origin. He realised that we have to make a conscious effort to build bridges with the Muslim community which was feeling isolated and dejected. He realised that Britain could not move forward by leaving any section of her population behind. Ranger recruited prominent Pakistanis in Britain and launched the Pakistan, India & UK Friendship Forum. The Forum proved to be an instant success and thousands of Pakistanis and Indians are now celebrating what unites us in Britain. He organized for the first time ever anywhere in the world the joint Independence day celebrations of India and Pakistan in London and in the process made history. It proved a watershed in the relationship between the people of India and Pakistan and now they are openly talking about peace between the two countries which they have not experienced since their Independence in 1947. His message is, we now have one country and Queen and as a result have become one.

Education, charity and helping the underprivileged

in November 2012, Rami Ranger was asked to join the Princes Trust Enterprise Fellowship. The Fellowship is a collective of the UK’s leading entrepreneurs which works to enable The Prince’s Trust to reach young people and to pass on their experience and expertise to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Ranger is already a patron of the Princes Trust and not only helps financially but takes out time to deliver talks to children and youths from underprivileged backgrounds to share with them his story and experiences. He explains how he rose from being a refugee with no father and only an honest and noble spirited mother to raise him and seven siblings in a society where there was no welfare system and you could only succeed if you worked hard. His message is one of hope and accomplishment through honest means and that if you have the right approach to work and life then anyone can succeed.

Ranger also delivers lectures to MBA students to help inspire them and has received considerable appreciation for his honest approach and has himself been described as a "scholar of good sense". He recently lectured at Herfordshire University and was recently asked to present degree awards to graduates for 2012.

Ranger set up the Shaheed Nanak Singh Foundation with the mission statement of "To work in unity with all communities within the United Kingdom whilst respecting their cultural ethnicity and religious beliefs in order to overcome barriers, promote greater social cohesion and responsibility, and create wealth for the improvement of everyone and the objectives of: Promote a fuller participation in our social, political and economic life so that there is a recognised connection with, and a stake in the United Kingdom; Support, honour and acknowledge all those who work for inter faith tolerance and community cohesion; Use trade to overcome barriers between communities, promote mutual respect, trust and interdependency.

The foundation also holds an annual lecture in India promoting peace, acceptance of different cultures and religion so that varying communities may live side by side in harmony. The first lecture was held at the Punjabi University, Patiali, India in 2008.

As part of the Annual Memorial Lecture the foundation recognizes people who have supported peace and inter community harmony for India. The recipient of the "Soul of India" award for 2013 was the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shri Salman Kurshid ji.

Additional achievements, positions and honours

In the Queen's Birthday Honours 2005 Ranger was appointed as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for services to British Business and the Asian Community.

References

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