Lotus Terminals recently won a Surrey business award.
The Cloverdale company took home the Business Excellence award (more than 41 employees) at the 2023 Surrey Business Excellence Awards held early in November.
“I never expected it to happen,” said Ricky Bal, COO for Lotus Terminals. “We are very honoured.”
Bal’s company is an asset-based transportation and freight management enterprise that has been operating on 10 acres in Cloverdale since 2015.
“I was very surprised when I heard our name called,” he added. “It’s always hard to gauge your business compared to others because you’re on the ground, you’re in the forest day-to-day, you don’t get the bird’s-eye view.”
He said it was a big deal just to be a finalist, and he was happy at that, as every business represented was worthy of winning.
The winners were all given a minute to do a speech, but as he wasn’t expecting to win, Ricky didn’t have anything prepared.
“I thought, ‘Oh, I guess I have to figure something out to say for a minute,’” he said with a laugh.
He added it means a lot to the company to be recognized with the award win.
“It’s a reflection, overall, of how our team is doing from a third-party perspective,” explained Ricky. “We are used to dealing with the day-to-day, facing each upcoming challenge, so it’s nice to be able to take a step back, enjoy some recognition, and say ‘thanks’ to all of our team members.”
He said the award win created quite the buzz around the office and everyone’s been talking about it.
“Our staff are very proud,” Ricky said. “And a lot of our business partners, customers and vendors, have reached out to say congratulations.”
Prab Bal, Lotus CEO, said he was also proud of the win.
“It’s great to be recognized,” he said. “It’s a testament to the team’s work here, an affirmation of how well we work together.”
Prab believes part of that recognition stems from the importance the company places on training.
“We are a customer-service oriented business,” he noted. “We focus on that. And we have a full-time trainer on staff to help bring that forward. We are people-oriented, so we try to make sure we get the right people, train them properly, and show them the appreciation they deserve.”
Ricky was quick to point out the biz award wasn’t his win or a management win, but a staff win.
“I was just the guy who was fortunate enough to be there to receive it,” Ricky added. “This is very much a team win, a reflection of our team mentality and our focus on training. That’s what stands out for me.”