Sam Johal (4th from L) receiving the Road Today Excellence Award from Ms Harinder Malhi MPP Brampton Springdale.
Sulakhan ‘Sam’ Johal, CEO of Pride Group Enterprises was awarded the prestigious ‘Road Today Entrepreneur of the Year Award’ during the 8th Annual Road Today Show held in Brampton on May 28th.
The Road Today Excellence Awards selection committee was unanimous in recognizing Sam Johal for his professional service, commitment, vision, dedication and accomplishments in the trucking industry. The recognition package comprising of a congratulatory plaque, world class Hoselton sculptured trophy and a special certificate on behalf of the province of Ontario was presented by Ms. Harinder Malhi, Member Provincial Parliament from Brampton Springdale in the presence of industry peers.
Sam grew up in a small village in Punjab, India and learned early on in his life the value of a day’s work. When not at work in the field, his time was devoted to his studies. In early 1993 at the age of 26, he emigrated to Canada with his wife, arriving in North America with little more than the clothes on their backs and with no family or financial support behind them. To survive, Sam started distributing newspaper flyers in local neighborhoods. This was his first ever real job. He also worked as a machine operator, shift supervisor, taxi driver, blow moulding manufacturing business owner and eventually made great inroads as a successful developer of hotels.
As the hotel development business continued to thrive, Sam saw a great potential in trucking and transportation sector. And thus he founded Pride Truck Sales in 2010. During the next three years while selling heavy-duty trucks, Pride Truck Sales also acted as a broker in arranging financing for its customers through various leasing companies. Throughout this time, the company mastered the complete leasing process from beginning to end. In 2013, TPine Leasing Capital Corporation was started and the company began to do in-house leases. In 2014 a loyal customer of the company was looking to exit the freight business and Sam felt it was the perfect opportunity to get into the logistics business.
(L to R) – Sam Johal, Vik Gupta and Aman Johal
Pride Group Enterprises based in Mississauga within a short span of 5 years has now transformed itself as a one stop trucking partner for success providing turnkey solutions for equipment sales, leasing, logistics, driver support, factoring and equipment finance.
Sam continues to inspire and motivate his workforce towards achieving larger goals and at the same time plays significant part in supporting needy families, social groups and causes dear to his heart.
Sgt. Kerry Schmidt from Ontario Provincial Police and Joey Gagne from Abrams Towing were also recognized during the awards ceremony for their immense contributions.