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Sukhpal Ahluwalia is one of the best-known figures in the automotive industry and one of the most prominent Indian entrepreneurs operating in the UK. Having built Euro Car Parts from a single London shop into Europe’s largest car parts distributor, today he serves as Executive Chairman of GSF Car Parts, the UK’s fastest-growing car parts retailer with more than 200 branches.
But as he looks towards his eventual retirement in India, the entrepreneur is also turning more of his attention towards championing social causes across the country.
He’s doing so through the Ahluwalia Family Foundation, an organization established by his family to support projects across India. The foundation has increased its outreach and charitable giving across the country in the first half of this year, building on years of support for projects spanning education, faith, enterprise, migration, and children’s and women’s rights.
The organization’s focus is driven, in large part, by Ahluwalia’s own personal experiences. His family were forced to flee Uganda under Idi Amin’s regime when he was just 13, arriving in Britain as refugees. The original plan was to go straight to India from Uganda, but delays meant they came to the UK instead.
“I’m so thankful to the UK for extending my family refuge in our time of need,” said Ahluwalia. “It was only supposed to be a temporary stop, and we always planned to return to India. It’s something that I spoke about a lot with my father while I was growing up. It was one of his personal ambitions to return to India and our ancestral homeland, but he sadly didn’t have the chance before he passed away. It was a personal promise that I made to him.”
India has remained a constant throughout his life. In 1983, Ahluwalia returned to the country, where he met his wife and the couple married in New Delhi in a Sikh ceremony. Thirty years later, in 2013, he undertook a holy pilgrimage to Amritsar, another experience that strengthened an already deep personal connection to his homeland.
For Ahluwalia, the foundation’s work is about opening opportunities for every child and young person. He says that “your start in life should not determine where you end up. I want to champion causes across India that mean anyone, regardless of where they come from, can follow the path they choose.”
He visits the country regularly to see this work in action, and on his most recent trips has focused on meeting the charity partners and community leaders making these projects a reality on the ground. Earlier this year, for example, he visited the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara Kalgidhar Sahib, a Sikh place of worship being built in Gurugram that the foundation has supported.
Once constructed, volunteers will offer free meals to all, regardless of background or religion, from the Gurdwara. Ahluwalia hopes it forms the “beating heart of the area and brings those from across its community together” and adds that “having the opportunity to see the progress in person and meet the incredible people putting this concept into practice was a real privilege.”
Alongside this funding, the charity has also bought land for a school in Faridabad which will provide free, multi-year education to children from impoverished backgrounds. The school is part of the Jagriti Sewa Trust, where Ahluwalia serves as Chairman, and builds on his longstanding support for the organization and its work to expand access to education.
Children’s rights are an important focus for Ahluwalia, who has previously supported the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation and its Justice for Every Child campaign, which works to improve access to legal and mental health support for child victims of abuse and their families. His involvement has also seen him visit projects supporting vulnerable children and young women in India.
This sits alongside his support for a wider range of causes and organizations in India and the UK, including Khalsa Aid and the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre Memorial.
More recently, the organization supported India Week, a 1,200-strong conference held this May in London. For Ahluwalia, this was an excellent fit because “a lot of what our foundation does is about turning ideas and relationships into meaningful action. It’s all about building bridges, including links between the UK and India, and India Week does exactly that.”
The event brings public and private sector leaders together to drive social and economic growth across the nation, hosting several events with diverse focuses, including literature and film as well as international franchising and social progress.
According to the entrepreneur, he has no plans to slow down this work. “I’ve always thought of India as my home, and I want to do more there over the coming years,” he says. “The foundation has already backed some amazing causes, but there are so many other opportunities where we can make even more of a difference.”
Ahluwalia also remains committed to his business interests in the UK, where he serves as Executive Chairman of GSF Car Parts and Non-Executive Chairman at Dominus, the UK-based property developer specializing across the hospitality and student sectors, which is now run by his sons.
But, over the next few years, India will occupy an increasingly important place in Ahluwalia’s life. He is spending more time in the country, exploring new causes for the foundation to support and looking towards the homecoming he has envisaged for much of his life.
Is there time for fun as well? Yes, he says. “I will never lose my love for cars, and I think it’s possible to blend my love of India, cars, and helping people all at once. I have a personal ambition to organize the first cross-country classic car rally in India. We could raise funds for important causes at the same time. That would be a triple whammy.”
Ahluwalia doesn’t seem short of ideas. For him, that makes the foundation’s growing work in India about more than philanthropy alone and a part of a much longer personal story shaped by family, faith, and an enduring connection to the country he has always regarded as home. And, as he puts it, “the foundation’s work is just getting started.”
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