My meeting with Rami Ranger at the offices of Sun Mark in London

On the morning of Saturday 22nd October, myself and my team of five went down to see Dr Raminder Singh Ranger commonly referred to as Rami Ranger at his offices & Distribution centre in London. Rami is genuinely a truly inspiring and a very down to earth person. We met for over 2 hours and discussed his participation at the Asian Apprenticeship Awards for the 10th November 2016 amongst many others. A video interview was shot where we discussed many a thing including his views on the economy and the future of entreprenuership.

Background to Rami:

Rami heads a business empire with an annual turnover of in excess of £200 million and operating in 130 countries.
Rami has a remarkable story of a man whose father was assassinated before he was born at the time of the partition of India.
Rami came to the UK in 1971 to study law expecting the ‘streets to be paved with gold’ but when he found that he could not take forward his ambition he took the only job available which was cleaning cars.
His philosophy with that job like, everything else he has done, was to make sure he did it well in order to ‘stand out from the rest.’

“If you cannot do a small job well then how can you be trusted with a big one,” said Rami.
Other jobs followed including working for Kentucky Fried Chicken, the electrical retailer Dixons and running a family convenience store, off licence and Post Office.
But the big change came in 1987 when based in a shed and armed with only a typewriter and £2 he started to help customers export electrical appliances.
A seconding marketing business ‘Sun Mark’ followed along with five consecutive Queen’s Awards for Enterprise as well as one for Exporting.
Still working hard and with no plans to retire, Rami Ranger spends more time on community based work including a leading role with the Princes Trust helping young people.
He is a Government Ambassador for Apprenticeships and also advises the Prime Minister on the subject that is close to his heart.
“I am not a believer is high flyers but want people who can learn and work their way up from the bottom growing with the business as it grows,” said Rami.
“Apprenticeships offer a great opportunity for people to earn and learn.”
But he believes that there is a huge job to be done ‘educating’ young people, their parents and employers about the value of apprentices.
In particular he wants to help to address the under representation of young Asians when it comes to apprenticeships.
“There is a view that apprentices only work in manufacturing and that it is in some way a second class qualification and this is totally wrong,” he said.
It is in order to help spread the word that Rami Ranger is supporting the Asian Apprenticeship Awards and coming to Birmingham to speak.
His story ‘From Nothing to Everything’ is truly inspirational and shows what can be achieved with qualities that include hard work, vision, empathy with others and a desire to work in partnership with suppliers, employees and customers.
“I work with my customers to help them succeed because if they are successful then I am successful,” he said.

Thank you Rami for your support and assistance.