Story by David Killick
Ayna Amina, of Auckland’s Angel Transport, has plenty to say about the industry that has been a big part of her life for 20 years.
“I founded Angel Transport in 2005 with my dad. Right now, I am the general manager. I manage the day-to-day running of the business,” she says.
“We have about 25 staff right now. The highest number of staff I had under me was about 65 – this was straight after Covid when things went overboard for the transport industry. Right now, the industry has quietened down quite a lot so it’s gone down to 25 staff.
“We are based in Auckland, and 90 per cent of our work is Auckland metro-based. We do a lot of work out of Auckland as well for our clients. That’s in the North Island, because we are urgent door-to-door service, but we go to the South Island and we have been down to as far as Queenstown and Bluff when they needed the stuff in the next couple of days.
“We have 85 trucks in our fleet. They are all owned by the company, we don’t have owner-drivers. We’ve got all the specialist trucks, four wheelers, six-wheelers, Hiab, semi-trailers, truck and trailers, you name it.
“We’ve also started working for a medical institute as well. This is a new business that we started a couple of years ago. We are doing their sterilisation equipment service. There’s nothing in the transport industry that we haven’t done.”
The road transport industry was not Ayna’s first choice of career, however. Having arrived from Fiji at age 12, she did well at school and got good grades. She was accepted into a nursing course and started on a Bachelor of Science degree straight away without needing to complete foundation studies first. She had just finished one semester when her dad asked her if she wanted to be part of a new venture.
“My dad has always been a business-minded person, and he owned a business back in Fiji as well. When he came here, he did do some work for a good friend for people like Aeromax FastWays and TransAuck. Then he decided he wanted to build a different niche in Auckland because there was nothing like Angel Transport was doing – and that is solely a third-party business where would give out trucks on hire with our own drivers to the transport industry, which was struggling to deliver their freight.
“He said he wanted me to be a face of the business. I thought why me, because I am one of four siblings. I said, give me some time to think because this is a big change for me. It just took me a night because I am my daddy’s daughter, and I said yes to him. I resigned from my course and in 2005 in October. I stepped into the transporting industry with my dad, with three trucks in Auckland.”
A hard start
Starting off was no easy thing, Ayna says.
“To be honest, when I first started, being 19 years old, I didn’t enjoy anything. I was thrown in with a truck driver because this is the way my dad thought I would learn about trucks – going with a driver out on the road and just learning how things are done.”
But it turned out her driver was also a rookie driver.
“So we went out together and we were learning together – how to open the truck, how to open the tail lift, and at that age it was really easy. But I was a fast learner.”
Then it was back to the office to learn about the business side – the most challenging part. This included the law, tax, and employment regulations. On top of that was promoting the business.
Being a woman from a diverse background was especially challenging in a male- dominated industry.
“I would say that was the biggest challenge because this brown Indian girl cold calling all these big tycoons, trying to sell her service – hey, we are a third-party business, we’ve got trucks available if you are stuck, call us and we will get you some trucks on hire.
“Sometimes I would cry myself to sleep because nobody would listen, or someone would have said really mean things to me. I would have left a message for a call back – no call back, email, no reply, and that was really heart-breaking that night.
“Obviously, people thought, what sort of skills does this Indian girl have in the transport industry? And one day I was really upset where I was told off, like we don’t want to do business with a brown Indian girl. That was really awful, that was really bad.”
Ayna’s dad provided the reassurance she needed.
“When I was really upset that day, my dad was like: ‘It doesn’t really matter, Ayna, what anyone says, you do what you do and you do the best.’
“So then it was waking up the next day and giving it a shot again. So it was a lot of hard work and a lot of effort just telling myself that I can’t let this get to me because I need to go somewhere, I need to be somewhere one day.
“It was very hard. But after that hard work, and building your trust and reputation in the industry, that has helped me to be what I am right now, so I think everyone in the Auckland transport industry knows Ayna.
“It was a matter of proving to them that, hey, I am here, on a mission to prove myself.
““I have been through the hard yards, know how to open a curtain, tail lift, pallet jack, or operate a hand trolley. So that’s how I’ve learnt.
“I knew that the service was required in the industry, that people did want to have a back-up trusted third-party, and I’ve proved to them that this is the third-party that they can have, where they could trust the professionalism.”
Health and safety are crucial.
“Public safety, the driver’s safety, the truck’s safety, so many safety aspects we have to cover, and right now if a driver is going to be driving one of our trucks, he’ll be going through all this training before he is selected to drive one of our trucks.”
Winning the Outstanding Contribution by a Woman in the Road Transport Industry award in 2019, was a turning point.
“When I was won that award, that’s the day that I realised hey, all that hard work, and the effort that I’ve put into my business had actually paid off.”
This year, Ayna is celebrating her 20th year in the industry with Angel Transport. It is also her 39th birthday this year.
“It is hard work. It is gruelling. It’s just proving to everybody that you mean business. You know what you’re doing. And you have to put your head up every day and know what you’re talking about.
“Now I deal with major transport companies, and we are there as the only trusted third-party operator… Anyone can beat my cost, but nobody can beat the service that Angel Transport provides for them.”
As well as the transport business, her family keeps her busy. Ayna has two daughters, aged 17 and 15, and two sons, aged 12 and 11. (She is also one of four siblings, two boys and two girls.)
“I always wanted to have three babies. God blessed me with four, which is a good thing!”
It could mean a good supply of drivers for a few years.
“It’s so hard to get good drivers, and who better than your own kids in your own business?”
Though Ayna says it’s entirely up to her children what they decide to do.
“I would love it if my kids took over my legacy, and my dad’s, obviously that’s the third generation, but I don’t know, they might have other plans, and Angel Transport will keep on rolling with or without the third generation. That is just my personal opinion, and I would love to have them here, but if they have other plans, so be it.”
With such a full-on schedule, what does she do to relax?
“I travel a lot. Even if it is four days to Fiji, with my husband, no kids, no work, no laptop, no phone – or a trip up north or down south. I’ll just turn my phone off, everything off, be myself.”
She also likes driving performance cars. “I own a GTR, and a GMC, what I do is I just take it out on a long drive, park up, and just look at some nice view. I love doing that. I’m not really into a lot of reading, but do like reading things off my phone, for relaxing.
“And I pray. The best mediation in the world is praying. You to your Lord … just speak up and say to him how you are feeling. It’s just a great relief, so that’s what I do.”
For more information, see: https://angeltransport.co.nz/.
[This story first appeared in the June issue of Transporting News.]
