Swift Current’s business chamber reveals SCBEX award finalists
The buildup to the Swift Current & District Chamber of Commerce annual business awards night reached a significant point in the final week of September when award recipients in two categories and finalists in nine other categories were announced.
The 25th anniversary of the Swift Current Business Excellence (SCBEX) Spirit of Swift Current awards is celebrated in 2023.
Chamber CEO Karla Wiens and several board members made surprise visits to two award recipients on Sept. 26 and the Big Reveal event took place at Great Plains College, Sept. 28.
It has become a recent tradition for the chamber to announce the Member Business of the Year and Hall of Fame inductee during personal visits.
Wiens noted that SCBEX season is always exciting and presenting recognitions in this manner is certainly part of it.
“They were clearly unsuspecting of what was going to happen today,” she said after the initial visit. “And the delight on their faces was easily readable. So it was very enjoyable.”
The first visit was to the office of W.W. Smith Insurance Ltd., the recipient of the 2023 Member Business of the Year award. There were similar expressions of surprise and happiness during the next visit to S3 Group Ltd., the 2023 SCBEX Hall of Fame inductee. The contribution and impact of these two companies on the community were significant considerations in their selection.
“A key part of what the Chamber does actually is bringing the business community together and being able to recognize businesses that have had this type of impact on our community is really special,” Chamber Board Chair Mark Clements said.
The award recipients in these two categories are selected directly by the Chamber board of directors, which differs from the format for the other nine categories.
“Potential recipients are put forward by different directors or other members put forward suggestions,” Wiens explained. “Then we compile those onto a ballot, give some summary information of notable or key contributions that those businesses or organizations have made, and then each director makes their choice individually and separately from each other.”
The recipient of the Member Business of the Year award must be a Chamber member for a minimum of two years. W.W. Smith Insurance had no trouble meeting that requirement, because it has been a Chamber member for 85 years, since 1938.
It was the Hall of Fame inductee in 2012, but this is actually the first time it is receiving the Member Business of the Year award. A key consideration is its status as a legacy business celebrating its 110th anniversary in Swift Current. It was started by William Wensley Smith in 1913. His great grandson William Smith is currently a partner in the business.
“It feels really great,” he said about the award. “The last number of years we really tried to do a lot for the community. And this was a special year for us, because we turned 110 years old. I happened to be fourth generation in this business and so this is a real special honour to get this year.”
W.W. Smith Insurance supports many local organizations through sponsorships and donations. The company’s annual golf tournament raised $12,886 this year, of which $6,443 was donated to the family of six-year-old Rustyn Paul, who is battling cancer, and the remainder was a donation to the Elmwood Golf Club.
Their 2022 nut ring fundraiser during the Christmas season resulted in a donation of $6,120 to the Swift Current Salvation Army food bank and community meal program, of which $3,060 was a matching amount by W.W. Smith Insurance.
The company also renewed a pledge this year to make a donation of $25,000 over five years to the Dr. Noble Irwin Regional Healthcare Foundation.
Chad Parenteau is another partner at W.W. Smith Insurance with a family connection to the business. His father joined the company as a partner in 1984.
“For me, when you say you’re a local business, it’s more than just having a door that people can walk through,” he mentioned. “It’s actually providing back to the city, it’s trying to support, make things grow, help people in need. It’s more than just being here and just operating. It has to be showing some heart back to the community.”
Smith said it is no secret to the company’s ability to continue for over a century, except for perseverance and hard work.
“The business has gone through ups and downs, like a lot of businesses,” he noted. “And there was a time where my dad and Chad’s dad were barely surviving, but they worked really hard. They found a way to rise above that and we’re here today, where we feel like things are going strong and we’re just happy to be part of it.”
The company has offices in Cabri and Swift Current and employs around 22 people. It is the largest private insurance brokerage in the city.
“Right now, our big focus is innovation,” Parenteau noted. “Trying to make sure that we keep up with the technology aspect of just everything that’s going on in the industry and making sure that we’re ahead of the curve on that, which we have been getting really good praise from our insurance companies on.”
A company must be in operation for 20 year or more and be a chamber member for 10 years or more to qualify for induction into the SCBEX Hall of Fame. S3 Group Ltd. has been in operation since 1966 and it won the SCBEX Member Business of the Year award in 2005, when it was still operating under its former name of REM Enterprises.
The company’s selection as a Hall of Fame inductee is a result of its operation as a North American wide company located in Swift Current, where it is a significant employer in the manufacturing sector. In addition, it contributes to the community through support for various projects and it offers bursaries, scholarships and sponsorships.
Last year it entered into a five-year naming rights sponsorship agreement with the City of Swift Current for Fairview Arena, now known as S3 Arenas. It made a donation of $50,000 to the Lyric Theatre in 2019, it sponsors the annual Great Plains College Carhartts and Caviar welding showcase, and it gifted the Janie and Helen Rempel Community Garden to the City in 2017.
It was a delightful surprise for S3 Group CEO Richelle Andreas to learn that the company is a Hall of Fame inductee. She noted the company contributes to the local economy as an industrial organization, but it sometimes feels as if it is not seen, because it is not a business on main street.
“I think is a credit to the Chamber for recognizing that business comes in all shapes and forms,” she said. “And an organization like a manufacturing organization provides a pretty high economic multiplier to the economic activity of the area.”
The company employs about 200 people in six manufacturing facilities, of which 150 are working in three facilities in Swift Current. There is also a facility in Ontario, another in Iowa and its latest expansion happened a few months ago when it purchased a facility in Medicine Hat.
“We’re actively hiring for that facility and we will be in active production sometime in October,” she said.
She added that the number of employees within S3 Group is increasing at its different locations.
“We’re actively hiring in all of our facilities,” she said. “We manufacture farm equipment and components of farm equipment predominantly, although we’re in other industries like mining and utilities, oil and gas.”
The company’s visibility in Swift Current has increased with the recent opening of a new head office location in the Wheatland Mall. This became necessary due to a lack of space at the Oman Drive manufacturing facility.
“We produce a tremendous amount of product in a very small physical footprint,” she said. “So it was time as the company grew to expand our footprint for offices.”
This change will also make it easier to accommodate hybrid work arrangements for office staff in the future.
“By separating our head office function from the day-to-day operations, we created a catalyst for all of the technology changes and all of the systems changes that are required to accommodate remote work,” she explained.
According to Andreas the agricultural manufacturing sector is undergoing rapid change. Farms are getting larger and equipment needs are changing. Farmers are also looking for more sustainable ways to manage resources and produce crops.
“That’s changing the nature of equipment that they require,” she said. “That a good thing for us, because we believe in sustainable farming initiatives. We believe in responsible manufacturing, and that’s offered up some opportunities for us to develop products.”
The 25th annual SCBEX awards gala will take place at the Living Sky Casino, Oct. 27. It all started with the nomination process for nine categories between July 1 and Aug. 31.
Wiens said a total of 104 nominations were received, which resulted in 76 individual nominations for SCBEX. This year’s nomination form was expanded with a requirement for a minimum number of words in support of a nomination. It resulted in well-written submissions for nominees.
“The selection committee had a really tough job whittling that down to the three finalists in each category,” she said.
The selection committee for the nine categories consists of last year’s SCBEX winners, which Clements felt is a useful format.
“It’s a really cool process in that it’s members of the business community, last year’s winners, who’ve had a chance to be part of the process and receive the recognition,” he said.
The final step after the announcement of the three finalists in each category will be a secret ballot at a meeting of the chamber’s board of directors. This process is entirely anonymous and the award winner in each category will not be known until the formal announcement at the SCBEX awards gala.
Some changes and additions were made to the award categories for 2023. The home-based business category was dropped, but those businesses could still be nominated in one of the existing categories. There is a new category called the emerging entrepreneur award as well as another new award category for employer of the year.
Below are the three finalists in each of the nine award categories that were announced at the Big Reveal Event, Sept. 28.
Start-up/new Business of the Year: Akhlut Automotive, Jeff Chambers Golf Academy, Sunny Side Up Stationery Co.
Small Business of the Year: Spoon & Bowl Bistro, Pedal Works, Brunswick Creek Psychology Services.
Medium Business of the Year: First Avenue Dental, Len’s Plumbing & Heating, Urban Roots Hair Studio.
Large Business of the Year: Full Line Ag, Redhead Equipment, S3 Group Ltd.
Not-for-profit of the Year: MCC Thrift Store, Southwest Youth Emergency Shelter (Dorie’s House), Swift Current Curling Club.
Employer of Person(s) Experiencing Disabilities: Canadian Tire, City of Swift Current, Home Inn & Suites.
Employer of the Year: First Avenue Dental, Stark & Marsh, Len’s Plumbing & Heating.
Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year: Dr. Jessy Eben & Dr. Amanda Franks (BITE Dental), Kai Haubrich (Haubie’s Landscaping & Yard Maintenance) Kelsey Grose (Farmer’s Daughter).
Community Impact Award: Devon Oman, Swift Current Kinettes, Plewis Automotive Group.