Spooky Halloween
20th anniversary SCBEX Awards recognizes Swift Current’s best
Ten winners were saluted during the 20th anniversary edition of the Spirit of Swift Current Swift Current Business Excellence Awards.
The annual Swift Current and District Chamber of Commerce awards were handed out on Friday night to honour the entrepreneurial spirit and impact of Swift Current’s diverse business scene.
Gerald Braaten, who was the Board President for the first SCBEX Awards in 1999, was impressed with the legacy of the awards over the past two decades.
“It’s great to see. I think the Chamber’s evolved, and it’s like everything else in the world you have to change and adapt. They’ve done some great things,” Braaten said at the conclusion of the awards evening.
“I was privileged to be the president 20 years ago when we launched it. The board at that time was excited. They’ve made a lot of changes over the years, and I think its continued to bring the business community together. I’m really pleased. Just being here tonight was a privilege again. You just see the continual camaraderie, and the networking and the enthusiasm that’s going on out there.”
Ten winners were saluted during the 20th anniversary edition of the Spirit of Swift Current Swift Current Business Excellence Awards.
The annual Swift Current and District Chamber of Commerce awards were handed out on Saturday night to honour the entrepreneurial spirit and impact of Swift Current’s diverse business scene.
Gerald Braaten, who was the Board President for the first SCBEX Awards in 1999, was impressed with the legacy of the awards over the past two decades.
“It’s great to see. I think the Chamber’s evolved, and it’s like everything else in the world you have to change and adapt. They’ve done some great things,” he said at the conclusion of the awards evening.
“I was privileged to be the president 20 years ago when we launched it. The board at that time was excited. They’ve made a lot of changes over the years, and I think its continued to bring the business community together. I’m really pleased. Just being here tonight was a privilege again. You just see the continual camaraderie, and the networking and the enthusiasm that’s going on out there.”
Ag Growth International claimed their first SCBEX Award by winning the Spirit of Swift Current Large Business of the Year.
AGI was launched back in 1996 by the local trio of Rob Stenson, Art Stenson and Gary Anderson. The company began as a modest agricultural equipment manufacturer, and they have grown over the years by acquiring other businesses and pursuing new ventures in the fertilizer, seed, feed and food sectors.
AGI Swift Current now boasts over 160 employees and they manufacture machinery which is used both locally and in markets overseas.
BATCO-REM General Manager Tom Firth said a growth agenda has been key to their success.
“Our company as a whole, AGI, is always looking for growth. I think it is essential to any business to grow. If you don’t have a growth plan your business will fail,” Firth explained shortly after receiving the award with his local management group.
“The investment that we have been able to pull into the City of Swift Current in our facility we’ve upgraded into machining centres of our own, we’ve upgraded a lot of our equipment within the building to become more competitive. And those are the things that are allowing us to operate at the peak performance that we do at our facility.”
He added that when the business came to a business crossroads a few years back, it was decided that Swift Current remained an ideal fit for their continued success.
“Back about five years ago AGI had to make a critical decision. They had outgrown the facility that they had in Swift Current. Of course at that point in time they could have said ‘you know what, what are our options to go to a larger centre. Maybe that would increase our staffing pool. Maybe we wouldn’t have to transfer goods quite as far.’ But in any of those decisions, what it really comes down to is what we refer to as tribal knowledge - and that’s your staff. When you move a business out of the community you lose that. And we’ve seen businesses try to move before and its been extremely unsuccessful. And so it was a matter of saying how do we survive and grow our business in a smaller community. And so whether or not that’s going externally, trying to help bring new people into the community, which we’ve done and very successfully as we’ve continued to grow. Also the amount of training we do with people in order to again facilitate the need to upgrade people to give us that opportunity to grow internationally. And those are the types of things that we still find are accessible within Swift Current, so its given us the opportunity to grow.”
Small Business SCBEX winner Garry Koebel from The Sputtergotch Toy Company spoke of the important relationship local businesses have with the community. These businesses provide a return to the communities they work in while facing competition from online and larger retail businesses.
“We get asked that a fair bit,” he admitted. “Regardless of what platform a business operates on, whether its on-line, whether its a mom and pop shop like ours, the relationship between a small business and the community really can’t be replicated. It’s a reciprocal type of thing. Businesses are dependent upon the local population to support them. But what the local population also needs to realize is that the quality of life that they have also depends on those businesses returning back.”
Koebel said it is important for people to realize this relationship just when they are entering the vital Christmas season for most retailers.
“Maybe you might be able to save a couple of bucks on-line,” he said. “But you also have to think of the support that is being lost for your community in conducting business that way. I think it’s very important for people to realize that, more than ever, shopping local is that much more important. And to support manufacturers and any other businesses that you can support within your community is paramount.”
“Non-profit organizations have an awful lot of very valuable projects to do. And those projects won’t come to fruition unless they get support. And a lot of that supports comes from the small business community.”
As a previous SCBEX winner in the New Business category, he was pleased to be recognized in the Small Business category where a record 22 businesses were nominated.
“It really kind of hits you the amount of talent, how entrepreneurial Swift Current is as a city. To be included in that group and to be singled out like this evening to win an award for it, it is kind of beyond what we ever thought when this crazy idea of ours came to fruition eight years ago.”
Another winner on Friday night was Olea Oil and Vinegar Tasting Room, owned by Amanda Leibel and Brigitte Price, who won the SCBEX for Start-up/new Business.
The opened their doors back on October 7, 2017 and their store boasts a selection of over 50 flavours of olive oils and balsamic vinegars.
“It’s such a speciality product. You are kind of going out on a limb starting something like that. But it’s been great. And now we’re adding more products, more Saskatchewan products, more Swift Current products that people are making. And people are really enjoying that,” Leibel said.
They also reflected on the challenges of a fledgling business in the community.
“When you run a business you always have your ups and your downs,” Price said. “You try to look at what your numbers were last year to this year and it’s very inconsistent. Your week to week is inconsistent. Your month to month is inconsistent. This Friday is good, last Friday was bad. It varies. There’s no rhyme or reason to retail. You just stick it out and away you go.”