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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 10 ,2 02 2 | 18 Anil Shah had a successful business in India helping other companies source metal products, but he wanted to grow his business to be the one trading the metals. He knew he would not be able to do that in India, so in 1990, he moved his family to Canada, set- tling in Mississauga and later moving to Oakville. He started Ni- Met Metals out of his basement. Within a year, he had three em- ployees and was doing $12 million dollars in business. Today, the company has 23 employees with of- fices around the world and does $140-150 million of business annu- ally. Knowing the challenges of mov- ing to a new country -- "failure is not an option" he says -- Shah makes a point of hiring immi- grants. For more than 80 per cent of his employees, their first job in Canada was working for his com- pany. Shah has also made a point of giving back. He began his charita- ble work with the Trillium Health Partners Foundation and later co- founded the Canada India Founda- tion. He has also worked with the Indo-Canada Chamber of Com- merce. Shah was recently named one of the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award winners. Q: Why did you choose to move to Canada? A: India in 1990, there were a tremendous amount of problems with foreign exchange. Even if I had $100,000, I couldn't write a $1 cheque (in another currency). I wanted to grow. I couldn't do the buying for products outside in the U.K. and Europe and pay the (sup- pliers). Canada and Australia were my choices. Canada was more of an unexplored territory. Business with Canada at that time in my country was very small, especially in the kind of products I do. Since there was not much competition, not many Indians here in my busi- ness, I would be able to be able to bridge for Canadian companies to sell the materials, through me, to India. Q: When did you realize you could succeed in Canada? A: Day 1. I never thought that I could not succeed in this country. I was very fortunate. My wife took over the responsibility for the chil- dren. She left me to do my work and build my business. Q: What advice would you give to people immigrating to a new country? A: Never give up. Decide what it is you want to do and pursue that. Failure will come, success is never easy, and it will take time. Contin- ue to do what you have decided to do. Make it work, make it happen. People are there who can support you. And don't take no for an an- swer. Q: Why is charitable work so important to you? A: Canada has given me a lot. I've had the good fortune to be suc- cessful and make some money, and I felt an obligation, personally, to give back. I started in India, that was my original thought, but then I said, 'I live here, I should do some- thing here.' I got involved with Trillium Hospital. A couple of doctors of In- dian origin, myself and a two or three other Indian businesspeople, we started the Diwali Gala 21 years ago. The first year we raised $75,000, and over the past 20 years, I think we've raised over $15 million. There was nothing that con- nected India and Canada in the po- litical or business. So a few like- minded people, we got together and formed Canada India Founda- tion. One thing that's unique, we started a global Indian award. It gives a cash prize, but it doesn't go to the person who wins, but to the charity of his or her choice. Now, we're raising more money to build a fund that would benefit the children of fallen soldiers in In- dia. If they want to come to Canada for an education, we would finance that. 'CANADA HAS GIVEN ME A LOT' Anil Shah was recently named one of the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award winners. Graham Paine/Metroland HERB GARBUTT hgarbutt@metroland.com NEWS LOCAL BUSINESSMAN NAMED ONE OF CANADA'S TOP 25 IMMIGRANTS Some students want their schooling to be more challenging, and a board wants to provide that op- portunity. The Halton Catholic Dis- trict Board (HCDSB) of trustees unanimously vot- ed in favour of a motion that aims to increase awareness of the International Bacca- laureate (IB) and Advanced Placement (AP) programs. The increasingly popu- lar programs provide addi- tional academic challenges, and are favourites with uni- versities across the world. According to Anthony Cordeiro, a superintendent of education at the HCDSB, both IB and AP programs have seen a steady rise in student interest after sever- al recent changes to how students enter the pro- grams. Two years ago, 71 stu- dents entered the IB pro- gram at HCDSB at the Grade 9 level. That number has more than doubled in 2021 with 180 applicants for the program. "We're opening up the doors as much as we can to students who don't even recognize their own talents and who may lack the confi- dence to want to get into AP or IB," said Cordeiro. "We are encouraging them in our classroom con- versations among teachers and fellow students to take that leap of faith in them- selves." Trustees wanted to know whether the pro- grams positively represent traditionally marginalized students. Cordeiro says he doesn't have exact data on the en- rolment rate of marginal- ized communities, but that the programs' demograph- ics tend to reflect the com- munity's demographics. He also believes there is an underrepresentation of Indigenous students in IB and AP. "Anecdotally, that's much tougher to make a statement on," said Cordei- ro about Indigenous stu- dents in the programs. "In my experience, we would be under-represented defi- nitely in IB less so in AP, but that would be anecdotal." Tim O'Brien, Burlington trustee, said he wonders if the motion could potential- ly help bring under-re- presented groups into the programs. A staff report that will include suggestions of ways to increase awareness of the programs is expected to go before trustees in Febru- ary. CATHOLIC BOARD LOOKS TO BOOST AWARENESS OF ADVANCED PROGRAMS ROLAND CILLIERS rcilliers@metroland.com