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- March 19, 2007
A 'far off' idea travels a long way
Immigrant launched his business from
a garage, and it now employs 500 people
by Nicholas Keung
Immigration/Diversity Reporter
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At
12, after reaching the legal age to work in Trinidad, Bruce Poon
Tip started a newspaper delivery business by subcontracting the
work to still younger kids.
At 15, he recruited his peers to make his trademark Weather Worm
bookmarks for sale at drugstore counters, while breeding rare
Dutch rabbits in his parents' backyard.
Now, at 39, Poon Tip owns the G.A.P. Adventures travel
companies, which offer small group expeditions and safaris on
every continent, employing 500 people and ringing in $100
million in revenue each year.
He has a long list of awards for business acumen to his credit,
including being named one of Profit Magazine's Top 10 Canadian
Entrepreneurs, and 2006 Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year. But
Poon Tip says nothing quite compares to being this year's winner
of the New Pioneers Entrepreneurship Award.
"This is very unique," he says. "The Pioneers award is a
celebration of my folks, who made huge sacrifices, who took more
risks moving to a new country from Trinidad with seven children.
They're the ones who gave me the opportunities that I've had in
this country."
Born and raised in Port of Spain, Poon Tip came to Canada in
1970, the last to join his siblings and parents here. The family
experienced its share of prejudice, finding difficulty in
getting everything from jobs to daycare space.
In high school, Poon Tip said, he was the lone visible-minority
member of the class, making him an easy target for bullies.
Despite the rich entrepreneurial experience he'd gained at a
young age, at 16 he decided to go to work like other teens at a
fast-food restaurant. He was fired after a couple of weeks, he
recalls, criticized for having a "bad attitude" because he
"wasn't afraid to make suggestions."
At 22, he moved to Toronto to complete a diploma in business but
ended up launching a travel business from his Roncesvalles Ave.
garage apartment.
"I arrived in Toronto on Jan. 1, 1990, with $1,000 in my
pocket," he muses. "I went to the banks but was told I was too
young, too inexperienced, and my idea was too far off. I started
my company on a $10,000 loan on my credit card."
Spotting a new generation of young travellers with open minds
but limited budgets, Poon Tip began visiting university and
college campuses to advertise his adventure tours. Six young
professionals in their early 30s joined G.A.P.'s first tour, in
February 1991, to Ecuador.
His big break came in 1993, when he started selling tours
overseas, signing up with local companies in Europe, Australia
and New Zealand to offer exotic destinations in South America
and Africa. Now the company's business is 17 per cent Canadian,
83 per cent international.
"While all my friends were having fun, partying, all I did in
those years was work. You have to be filled by passion and drive
in order to do that," explains Poon Tip, who has invited his
parents, Elsworth, 80, and Lelia, 76, from Calgary to join him
at the awards gala.
"It's never about money. The accomplishment is only a small part
of it," he adds. "For me, the satisfaction of being an
entrepreneur comes from the fact that you're able to bring an
idea to reality, by making things happen. And in the process,
you bring new concepts to people and change people's minds."
In 2003, G.A.P. launched a non-profit foundation, Planeterra, to
support international community projects.
