Rami Ranger makes British business history

Dr. Rami Ranger, managing director of Sun Mark Limited, made British business history last week by being honoured by the Queen – not once, but six times.

For the fifth consecutive year, Ranger’s international exporting company received the coveted Queen’s Award for Enterprise, and in 2005 he was personally honoured for services to British business and the British Asian community.

On October 23, Ranger added another accolade to his long list: Export Champion of Britain Award for 2013 by the Growing Business Awards.

This prestigious annual award, given by lobbying organization CBI and entrepreneurial media initiative RealBusiness, recognizes cutting-edge British companies. In their citation the judges remarked:

“The judges felt that the winner of this award demonstrated true leadership, sharing their enthusiasm with their staff, rewarding success and driving growth through a strong customer centric approach. They also felt the winner had an inspirational ethical outlook on his business.”

Sun Mark Ltd., a leading exporter of self-produced as well as top brands such as Nestle, Kraft, Heinz, and PepsiCo, received the award at a ceremony at the Marriot London hosted by former BBC TV news chief political correspondent, John Sergeant. In a rare occurrence, the prize was shared with Oliver Valves energy manufacturing company.

The story of this family-owned enterprise and its founder is one of inspiring entrepreneurship and hard-earned success.

Ranger was born on the cusp of India’s 1947 Partition, in an area that is now Pakistan. His patriotic father rebelled against the separation and was assassinated by extremists two months before his son’s birth.

After his schooling in Pakistan, Ranger migrated to the UK in 1971 to study law. In 1987, with only 2 pounds, he started a business that has turned into an enterprise with an annual turnover of 150 million pounds.

Sun Mark Ltd. is now one of the most successful international distributors of supermarket products, exporting to 110 countries worldwide.

In addition to his business success, Ranger is heavily involved in interfaith and multicultural social initiatives. He is the founder of the British Asian Conservative Link, Hindu Forum Britain, Pakistan, India, and UK Friendship Forum, and chairman of the British Sikh Association which promotes interfaith dialogue for peaceful coexistence.

In the business and social worlds, Ranger said the key to his success is his 100 employees, which include his wife, daughter and son-in-law. He also attributed his explosive prosperity – building a start-up business to a world class company in less than 20 years – to Britain’s entrepreneurial culture.

In his acceptance speech he upheld this entrepreneurship as key to Britain’s future. Through enterprise, he said, Britain could regain its place in the world.

Mallory Moench