School Dropout Who Couldn't Speak English, Lived in Car Builds R740 Million Supermarket Business
- Narinder Singh turned his life around from a humble young man who worked menial jobs to a successful entrepreneur with a supermarket chain
- For many years, he slept in his car while saving money to start a business, a dream he stuck to through thick and thin
- His decision to start stocking quality foods that weren't sold in the big supermarkets catapulted QE Quality Foods into a business worth R740 million
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Narinder Singh was born and raised into a difficult life in Punjabi India, an area torn apart by religious genocide, one that made many sink into hopelessness and abject squalor.
Source: UGC
In 1987, while he was aged 13, his family led by their father Amrik and mother Jaswinder had to flee from home and seek asylum as immigrants in New Zealand.
Daily Mail reports that at the time, Narinder couldn't speak English, but he was armed with hope and the dream of starting a business.
He took lessons in English and mastered the language quickly but was unable to complete secondary school and dropped out to become a picker in a kiwi fruit orchard.
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All along, Narinder was saving most of his meagre earnings through which he relocated from New Zealand to Australia at the age of 19.
Worked small jobs to eke a living
Given his humble background and the fact that he was a school dropout, the only opportunities the Sikh kid could get were in menial labour.
In Australia, he worked as a labourer at a petrol station, on a South Australian farm before landing the job of loading the conveyor belt at an electronics factory.
As he slept in his Holden Camira to save money, his dreams were on starting a business either in carpet cleaning, a restaurant, a convenience store, or a small supermarket.
His age, inexperience, immigrant status, and meagre earnings made it difficult to find a landlord who would trust him to run a business and manage the rent.
Struggled with business
In 2001, Narinder found a rundown shop in Darlinghurst which was owned by Bill Anton, a young immigrant from Greece who was willing to rent it out to him.
He opened the food store and despite working tirelessly for 16-hour days and seven days a week, he was exhausted but barely making any meaningful profit
Support came from his parents back in New Zealand when they sold their house to raise $180,000 that was invested in Narinder's business.
"One Wednesday evening when the street outside was busy and our store was only making enough to keep our heads above water, I felt so depressed, I was ready to give it all away," he revealed.
The eureka moment
That, as it turned out, would be the proverbial darkest hour before dawn, for it made Narinder realise something else was missing.
Desperate and tired, he took a few days off the business and had the eureka moment when he considered stocking not only the essentials but also quality foods that weren't sold in the big supermarkets.
"I know I was naive but I believed I could give shoppers something the bigger chains couldn't offer," he explained.
Operating under the motto of "quality food shopping made easy," his new business model bore fruits as customers started streaming in and they haven't stopped since.
20 years later
Two decades later, Narinder's fortunes have changed tenfold as he now runs QE Quality Foods, a business empire he built that is currently valued at $50 million (KSh 5.6 billion) in annual revenue.
He recently opened his 11th store of QE Food Stores chain and has his sights set on having 50 shops across Sydney by 2030.
His loyal client base has been attributed to the fact that he is in the habit of always stocking the items the customer requests.
Kenyan tycoons with little education
In a recent story, Briefly News featured some of Kenya's tycoons whose education ended at primary school, among them Jackson Kibor, Andrew Ngirici and Narendra Raval.
Andrew Ngirici, the husband to Kiriyaga woman rep Purity Ngirici, reportedly dropped out of school while in Class Four at Kirigo Primary School.
On the other hand, controversial Uasin Gishu tycoon Jackson Kibor has accumulated wealth worth over KSh 6 billion despite his little educational background.
Source: Briefly News
Denika Herbst (Editor) Denika Herbst is a Human Interest writer at Briefly News. She is also an Industrial Sociologist with a master's degree in Industrial Organisational and Labour Studies from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, which she completed in 2020. She is now a PhD candidate at UKZN. Denika has over five years of experience writing for Briefly News (joined in 2018), and a short time writing for The South African. You can reach her via: denika.herbst@briefly.co.za.
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
