Upjit Kaur Kansal

Business Development Officer, J D Factors Corporation

40 Under 40 Category: Business Development


Upjit Kaur Kansal is a business development officer with J D Factors Corporation. Upjit primarily represents the Canadian business with clients all over Canada. Her business development career began over 20 years ago in the telecommunications industry. Upon graduating from George Brown College in Toronto with  a BA in accounting, she focused on excelling in the financial business development industry. Her career in factoring came from being a VP-business development with Bibby Financing Services. She joined J D Factors Corporation in early 2019 and has already become the BDO of the year for North America in 2020. Upjit is a mother of two brilliant daughters and one amazing dog. She has been happily married for 19 years and feels really blessed to have her in-laws live with her. She is an avid traveler, wanting to explore new parts of this beautiful planet every year. She is also very involved in the community with every chance she gets like volunteering time or fund-raising events for a youth shelter home like Eva’s place, Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, Sikh day parades at her local Sikh temple, or Christmas gift wrapping fundraisers for Epilepsy Canada. She is a strong believer of “keep trying and you will succeed or learn something new.”

What is the best professional advice you have been given and how have you implemented it? 

The best advice I have been given is to “learn the best traits of others.”  

Implementing it in my professional life has allowed me to pick the best practices of my mentors, clients, colleagues, and introducers… like be positive, stay persistent and take a chance. In my opinion, it is the positive attitude you bring into a meeting, calls or events that influences the brilliant results. Persistent effort has helped me reach my goals even during the pandemic. The best way to achieve success was to keep my schedule, mindset and efforts consistent. Also, taking a chance has become a habit. In business development, you need to be fearless and push yourself to take that extra chance, to make that one extra call, ask that one more difficult question to learn the actual need or go for that one extra meeting for the best interactions. This advice has always resulted in extraordinary results and always guided me to see the best in others.    

When interviewing newcomers to the industry, what do you say to pique their interest on why they should accept a position in this industry?

Usually when I talk to newcomers in the industry, I focus on talking about the positive results that this form of financing brings to many business owners along with the amazing opportunity to learn about new products in the market and new ways to help others. I focus on telling them about how I meet so many business owners that are either new startups or are going through a growth period. They are very passionate about what they do, and what they want to achieve, so you get to listen to many dynamic stories. It is always the stories that will guide you to shape the best product for their needs. This industry is never boring; you will always have an interesting file on your table that encourages you to learn something new, find a different way and evolve with the changing times. 

What is your definition of success?

Success is defined in many ways, for me. Success is when I see my loved ones happy around me… it gives me a sense of satisfaction. I came to Canada as an immigrant 21 years ago; although life was not easy, I was blessed with lots of opportunities. There were days that I failed, and others where I was very close to the end result; however, I never gave up and that gave me a perfect sense of satisfaction. I also find successes in small achievements such as walking 10,000 steps a day or finishing my short-term to-do list. It is like my favorite past time of doing puzzles, it’s focusing on the smaller pieces that puts together the bigger picture. It is the persistent effort, and it’s always with the strength of my team behind me, whether they are working with me or cheering with me that I reach the strength point of my learning curve.