By Frederick Halley
PRESIDENT and owner of Atlas Cargo, Canadian Customs Brokers Inc., and Central Global Cargo North America, Kanhai Ken Singh, who rose from humble beginnings to a position of prominence in Canadian society, was last week conferred with the Honorary Doctorate by the University of Guyana.
The honour was bestowed on Singh, who the University of Guyana considered to be “of the highest calibre of human and an exemplar in the field of international business and innovation” according to an invitation from the Office of Vice-Chancellor.

In delivering the citation on Singh, Al Creighton of the Faculty of Education and Humanities noted that, “We are in the presence of a gentleman of talent, honour and nobility, who is frightfully successful in international business but retains a gentle humility tutored by the circumscribed conditions of his growing up in rural British Guiana. A well-trained learned professional who places a very high value on education, and who is universalist with the experience of working around the globe.”

In his address, Singh reminded the graduates that the occasion is not about him but rather another learning experience.
“Don’t follow the path necessarily, for if you have to plough the fields of the forest to make it to where you want, this is your first grand step. This is not about me; it is about my experience to share it with you so that you don’t have to go and create the wheel all over again. Use the wheel. Take this as your first towards success,” he said.

Singh told the more than 3,500 graduates, “Don’t worry about people telling you that money is a bad thing. Work and make money everywhere you go. Be the best at what you’re doing. Do not take on the whole world. Look at the area that you want to specialise in; for me, it’s transportation and I can assure you I can answer most of the questions and solve most of them in that area.”
To share his outstanding scholastic prowess, Singh is a guest speaker across Canada and internationally on transportation, security, customs and trade issues. For over 40 years, he has been actively involved in providing humanitarian and charitable relief worldwide. He was Chairman of the Advisory Council at York University and was on the Humber College Advisory Council Degree Programme in International help to implement the Trade and Logistics.

For several years, Singh served on the Advisory Board of the Indo-Canadian Chambers of Commerce and over the years, he has conducted lectures worldwide on transportation, security, customs and trade issues.
In 2005, Singh received the 2005 Businessman of the Year Award in Ottawa, Canada and also received numerous awards and recognitions for his significant contribution to industry, trade and charitable organisations.

Among the other awards are a Service Award from Singapore for chairman 1996-2000, a Service Award from CICA and a Service Award from CPPS Mission Projects, Tanzania. He also received a Seal to the State of Florida.
Singh was born in Strangroen, East Coast Demerara in Guyana. He attended De Hoop Canadian Mission School and was keen to pursue higher education at an early age.

When he migrated to Canada in 1977, Singh realised that he wanted to make a better life; he knew that education matters. As a new immigrant, Singh felt a Canadian degree would give him an advantage. With this zeal, he started studying at York University, Toronto.
In 1979, he earned a BA in Sociology and in 1981, he earned a BA in Business Administration.

With this deep pursuit of higher achievement, Singh did not stop at having achieved these two degrees at York University. He continued to embark on further professional studies.
In 1982, he graduated from the Canadian Institute of Traffic and Transportation (CITT). He studied cargo insurance in Scotland, claims and legal liability in New York, project management, negotiation techniques, sales and marketing management and many more training courses in Canada and overseas.