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Tinel Timu biography
This Tinel Timu biography presents a personal testimony he gave before a jury. In his own words, Timu recounts his extraordinary journey from his humble beginnings as a political refugee in Quebec in 1977 to becoming a successful professional in Montreal.
The account in Tinel Timu’s biography offers an intimate view of the challenges overcome, opportunities seized, and values that guided his rise, painting a vivid portrait of determination and adaptability in his pursuit of success and contribution to his adoptive community.
Tinel Timu's origin
My name is Tinel, my last name is Timu. We came from Romania, my mother, my brother and I following my father who had requested political asylum here in Canada in 1971. So we came from a dictatorial country, if you will. I arrived in Quebec exactly on April 13, 1977..
Tinel Timu's life in Canada and education
I arrived like any immigrant. I started very, very low if you will. I worked as a helper at Boy Bakery. I dedicated, I dedicated, I dedicated myself completely to helping my father who at that time was the only worker. I worked in construction in Franco, I worked as a day labourer and so we had $250 per week to live on. I did everything I could afterwards, I took the French course offered by Immigration and shortly after, as we weren’t progressing very fast in those courses because there was a mix of all kinds of people in the class, me coming from a country as I just said, our education was a bit better than that of other people I had in the class. So I left school quite quickly and devoted myself to work. So as I just said, I worked at Bowman. I sold ice cream at Swans and shortly after I started doing renovations and earning money to bring home.
Tinel Timu's history in the real estate sector
I entered the real estate sector by chance. I met some Romanians who were in the real estate sector. In fact, he was a construction inspector and did real estate transactions, and I finally liked the real estate sector. We’re talking about a year after my arrival, a year and a half after my arrival, and we found the first building I bought with my father, and we made every effort to buy it. It was the building located at 13 to 23 via au coin d’Adam. It’s a six-apartment building without having a dollar because with $250 per week we had no savings. My father begged some friends who were in a better financial situation to endorse us to get $5000 from the Provincial Bank that was on the corner of Coin de Flory and Christophe Colomb. It was the Provincial Bank. And with those $5000, we bought the six-apartment property, and we were financed by the owner himself. That’s how the real estate adventure in Montreal began.
Tinel Timu's youth
I met other people who gave me the opportunity to manage their buildings. This, I’m talking about from 17 to 19 years old, so I did all kinds of work, whether it was sanding floors, painting, collecting rents. Whatever you want to call it, I was the handyman. And I really liked doing what I did.
Tinel Timu's marriage and his wife
Just to make a small parenthesis, in Romania I had my current wife, to whom I returned several times. So I managed to get married in the time of the dictators and after fighting against state security, I got married at 19. My wife was 18. So it was a big event in Romania because I had gotten married.
When I got approval, we were minors. In my mind, your honour, I wanted to have my wife, I wanted to have children, and I wanted to make a good life, and build something and succeed in our life. So I started with my family. I went to get my wife with whom I had been in primary school at 17. I entered my father-in-law’s house and told him I wanted to marry his daughter and he almost threw me out.
He said there were other girls. That his daughter was too young. I told him to trust me. That I was good. After that, with the marriage, she had the right to leave Romania. So the president’s seal was needed. So my wife immigrated to Canada on October 29, on my birthday, when she received her immigrant stamp in Champlain, New York coming with the Greyhound from New York, and we entered Canada on October 29, 1981. I still have the same wife. We have two grown children who work with us.
Her name is Otilia, back then Otilia Secosan. Now she is Otilia Timu.
Tinel Timu's trajectory
So I started working. I also had the opportunity to learn the automobile trade. Again by chance, I would say that someone who worked in it gave me the opportunity to follow him day and night. And that’s how I learned the trade. He did wholesale sales. And that allowed me, later, I’m talking about starting before I got married, and continuing after I got married, and that gave me the opportunity to accumulate enough money to be able to move forward and start buying buildings if you will.
I also learned, year after year, I learned a lot about the financing system and contrary to what happened in our countries where nobody asked for loans from a bank, where everyone worked with banks, here I gained the trust of several banks that helped me. I gained the trust of investors, private financial groups, among others, and another group of people of Jewish nationality who recognized me as a fighter. And who helped me from the beginning. And so I managed to rise, and rise, and rise.
Tinel Timu's professional life
Speaking of the Timu Group, we have several companies. I would say about thirty, if you will, that operate in the real estate sector, especially residential.
We, in 2003, acquired the Carrefour Multisports sports centres in Laval. And then we acquired the Carrefour Multisports in which we put a lot, a lot of time, a lot of love and rebuilt a community, if you will, that we call the family, the big family of Carrefour Multisports that brings together anywhere between 4500 to 6000 members annually.
Tinel Timu's family
Our children grew up in Carrefour Multisports. My eldest son, he took swimming lessons at 6 months with the same instructor we still have with us today, Mrs. Francine Ouellette. So Francine has been at Multisports for more than 40 years. Then, due to the love of tennis, our children grew up in the world of tennis and represented Canada from the age of 10 and were members of the national team until they were 18 when they went to school. Then we were more at Multisports than at home. My wife was a taxi driver every day from Vanier College which is in Saint-Vincent-Saint-Paul to Carrefour, my eldest son being an elite athlete.
So at one point, I got it into my head that we wanted to buy Carrefour Multisports. Carrefour Multisports was previously owned by the Mondo America Company, since our son was really a star in Canada, he had already won the trophies for best athlete in all sports.
Tinel Timu's professional career
My profession. I’ve been in business forever, I’d say. I’m an entrepreneur, I’m an administrator and I’ve been in the Timu Group from the beginning.
The inspirational Tinel Timu biography
The Tinel Timu biography in this account is a moving story of perseverance and success. From his humble beginnings as a refugee to becoming a respected businessman, his life exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit and determination. His legacy endures not only in the companies he founded, but also in the inspiration his story provides to future generations of immigrants and entrepreneurs. With the Tinel Timu biography, one can see that he left an indelible mark on the Montreal business community and Canadian society in general.
