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Transforming Lives for
Better Future
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
A Good Habit Matters
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.
Gurpreet “Garry” Sangha
(Born January 1978) is an Indo-Canadian entrepreneur, philanthropist and community activist based in the city of Surrey, British Columbia. He is the CEO of the Crystal Consulting Inc. Group of Companies, which undertake construction and real estate development related work all over Canada, especially in the Lower Mainland.
Motivation Speaker, Entrepreneur , Real Estate
Early life
Gurpreet Sangha was born in the hamlet of Chahalpur, located in the district of Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India to Ajit Singh Sangha and Sukhwinder Kaur. The younger of two children, Sangha has an elder sister named Sandeep.
Like any other kid growing up in rural Punjab, Gurpreet’s days were filled with school, running around green fields, helping out on the family’s farm and plenty of sports, especially football (soccer). Gurpreet was a keen soccer player and made a name for himself in local competitions.
After graduating high school, Gurpreet secured admission in liberal arts at the nearby Sikh National College in Banga, Punjab. College, like it does to almost everyone, challenged Gurpreet to explore and see the world differently. New thoughts and philosophies started making their impression on a young Gurpreet’s mind, and the happy-go-lucky teenager gradually started growing up.
Never afraid of speaking his mind, especially against social evils, and having grown up in a deeply political and community-centric family, it is no surprise that Gurpreet felt attracted to the idealistic world of student activism. And it is here that he had his first brush with leadership, getting elected as President of the Students Union of the college only a few months after admission.
Had life continued in the same vein, a very different life story might have unfolded for Gurpreet. However, around the same time he was setting on a journey of self-discovery and exploring life in college, Gurpreet’s parents were face to face with a critical reckoning. Agriculture had been on the decline since the previous decade, and the return on investment kept shrinking every year. While still strong and able, Ajit Singh Sangha and Sukhwinder Kaur were getting on in years, and with the future of the Indian farm sector looking bleaker than ever, they took the decision to immigrate to Canada for better opportunities.
Thus, in the year 1996, at the age of 18, Gurpreet was forced to drop out of college along side with the dream of playing football for his country and accompany his family to Vancouver, Canada.
Starting out in Canada
Once in Canada, eager to continue his studies and with a wider range of options now available, Gurpreet enrolled in the prestigious British Columbia Institute of Technology with a view of pursuing a degree in Engineering after upgrading to Canadian High school graduation through night school. However, he would be thwarted yet again in his efforts to gain a college education, this time due to active financial considerations.
Like most immigrants, Gurpreet’s parents had secured whatever employment they could find in Canada. Similarly, he too had started working part-time in construction. However, given his parents’ advanced age and hence their limitation on the number of hours they could put in, Gurpreet took the fateful decision to drop out of BCIT and start working full time in construction. What he did not know then was that construction was where he would make his mark.
Gurpreet started off as a labourer on a construction site. Back in late 90’s, the construction industry in Canada, unlike today, was quite different and much less diverse. There were very few people of colour and Gurpreet, like numerous other non-white immigrants, had to face instances of racism. A strong work ethic and the vigour of a 19-year-old, however, helped him rapidly climb the ladder and soon, Gurpreet was leading his own team on-site as a supervisor. Having faced discrimination himself and learnt how badly it can vitiate the work environment, he made a conscious effort to be inclusive and fair as a supervisor, while learning valuable lessons in people management and leadership, something that would prove critical later in his story. It is also during his formative years in construction, that Gurpreet Sangha became Garry Sangha, a name that his colleagues in construction found it easier to say, and one which the rest of the construction industry in Canada would come to know.
Starting a Family and Becoming an Entrepreneur
In May of 1997, Garry met Kiran. They would get married in 2003, while Garry was still a construction supervisor. Now properly settled in Canada, and having welcomed new realities in his life, Garry felt that the time was ripe to take the next big step. He had spent a considerable time in the construction sector and had learnt the nitty-gritties of the business. It was time to strike out on his own.
Garry’s elder sister, Sandeep, had married Kuldeep Singh Chohan and immigrated to Canada before Garry and the rest of the family did. Kuldeep himself worked in construction, and more specifically in Drywalling. Kuldeep’s brother Avtar owned a Drywall business and Kuldeep had joined his brother there initially. By the early 2000’s, the Chohan brothers had managed to establish a successful business as drywalling contractors and sub-contractors. Around the time, Garry had started contemplating starting his own business, Kuldeep too wanted to take his drywalling expertise and experience and create something bigger and more substantial. And so it was, in 2005, that the two family members came together and proposed the idea of forming their own Division 9 contracting firm to Garry and Sandeep’s father, Ajit Singh Sangha.
In late 2005, Crystal Consulting Inc. came into being, with Ajit, Garry and Kuldeep partnering. CCI, as the company would come to be recognized, was thus formed entirely by family members and since family had played such a key role behind Garry and Kuldeep’s lives thus, family values became the primary guiding principles of this company.
From “Crystal Consulting Inc.” to “The CCI Group of Companies”
CCI initially started as a drywalling contractor. Since Kuldeep and Garry had already been part of the construction industry, the new company was able to bid and win contracts almost immediately, thanks to the goodwill that the names of the partners evoked. With time, as more and more projects were successfully delivered, the brand CCI itself became valuable and known enough to inspire trust in almost all major developers and constructions companies in British Columbia and Alberta.
Having found success as a drywalling and Division 9 sub-contractor across British Columbia, the CCI Group would create more divisions like Kanin Construction Management (KCM), CCI Waterproofing and CCI Masonry. In 2020, Garry would go on to form Allure Ventures, the real estate development arm of the CCI Group. With this, the CCI Group has become one of the only handful of construction companies that are capable of and engaged in 360-degree construction services. The CCI Group is currently one of the largest construction brands in British Columbia and has extensive operations in other Canadian provinces and neighboring United States.
Integrity
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Hardwork
Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
Lifestyle
Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
A Good Habit Matters
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
Garry grew up in a community focused family. Garry’s father Ajit had been the Sarpanch (elected headman) of Chahalpur, in Punjab, India and had served the people of Chahalpur for a decade. The family had been heavily involved in their local community and were seen as community leaders. After immigrating, the Sangha family embraced their new community with gusto and would never miss a chance to do their bit for the greater good.
While Garry had not been able to make substantial financial contributions during his formative years in Canada, he did not let that temper his zeal to help the community. A believer in the adage that one can serve not just through money, but also through time, Garry poured hundreds of hours into different community programs, a practice he has maintained to this day.
A good example of his community service and activism through investment of time is his stint as a coach and administrator of the Central City Breakers Football Club in Surrey, BC. CCBC was Surrey’s oldest club but had run into extremely tough times. An avid soccer enthusiast, and as someone who had regularly played the game growing up, Garry was one of the people central to the turning around of the club’s fortunes. He also helped in implementing the Surrey Mayor’s Cup, one of the largest not-for-profit tournaments in Canada.
Once he had established himself in BC’s Construction Industry as one of it’s leaders and had also acquired the financial wherewithal to make significant contributions, Garry turned into a serial philanthropist. After mental health issues led to a tragic death in Garry’s family, Garry became devoted towards mental health causes, regularly donating to BC organizations working in mental health and actively participating in campaigns, mostly through the CCI Group Mental Health Society. To date, the CCI Group has donated millions of dollars to various charities and organizations in support of mental health and other causes.
Of late, Garry has been vocal about the state of healthcare in the city of Surrey, BC, which lacks advanced medical facilities, despite being one of the fastest growing cities in Canada. He has also started a campaign to sensitize young voters in Canada on the importance of voting during elections, an issue that seriously plagues Canada, where less and less young people are interested in participating in electing the government. To this end, he has launched his own podcast and blogs and regularly airs his views on this and other pertinent social issues.
Personal Life
Garry lives in Surrey, BC and is a very visible and active member of the community. He is married to Kiran Sangha, and has two children, Harlene and Taranvir. He is related to former Indian National Football Team Manager, Sukhwinder Singh.
