REGINA — The Fraser Institute has announced it will award the Semple family its highest honour later next month.
It will hold a dinner event to honour the Semple family in Regina on June 18, which the institute says will be a first for it in Saskatchewan.
At that time, it will present the Semples with the Founders’ Award, named after founders T. Patrick Boyle and Michael A. Walker. It is an annual award presented to individuals “in recognition of their exceptional entrepreneurial achievements, generous philanthropic endeavours, and dedication to competitive markets,” according to their news release Wednesday morning.
The Fraser Institute is pointing in particular to the Semple family’s building of Brandt Group of Companies, which it points out is now Saskatchewan’s largest privately held company, with more than 6,000 employees and interests in manufacturing, dealerships, finance, real estate, and sports and entertainment in multiple countries.
Shaun Semple, CEO of Brandt, said his family feels “honoured to be asked to receive that honour from the Fraser Institute. It's kind of the first time that they're doing this dinner in Saskatchewan.”
“Obviously, our employees that run the company are the heroes in it. It is a feather in the cap for Saskatchewan as well. We've been fortunate to live here. We're fortunate to have a good business that's been built here that does business around the world. We're humbled by being given the award for sure.”
As for why he thought the Fraser Institute selected his family for the honour, Semple thought it was due to a few things.
“We've been fairly fortunate and successful here from Saskatchewan and so on,” he said.
“I've come from fairly humble beginnings. Obviously, my dad [Gavin Semple] back in 1972 was a door-to-door salesman and my mum was a waitress. I don't think a lot of people really understand that fully. When my dad joined Brandt, he saw an ad in the paper here and applied for the sales position and got it. It covered southwest Saskatchewan. The company was $1 million in sales at the time and 25 employees. I came along in 1984, over 12 years later. The company had grown. My dad had moved up and had bought into the company. When I came along, it was about 60 employees and about $5 million in sales. Over the years, we've been very fortunate and got a little lucky here and there. I was fortunate to get some really good people that work for Brandt and really great customers that have honoured us with their business.”
He pointed out that today Brandt has “about 170 locations worldwide. We do about $5 billion in sales with 6,000 employees in the company.”
“I think we don't really have anything special in the Semple family. It's just a proof case that anybody can do it, I would say, is the story behind it.”
The other part of the story, he said, is that “you can do it right here from Saskatchewan.”
He pointed out only about five per cent of their sales comes from Saskatchewan, but 95 per cent is outside of the province. Semple also pointed to how other businesses had moved away in the 1980s and 1990s to do business closer to where their markets are.
“We chose to stay home and do our business from Saskatchewan. It's worked out quite well. I think that's the other real story of Saskatchewan. There are a lot of great people that work here. We've been fortunate to have a lot of them work for us.”
Semple believes his family’s success will be inspirational for other people looking to build a company based in Saskatchewan.
“I think it is. I hope that's what inspires other people to take risks and to stay here, build a business, build a family here, and help build a community here. That's the thing about businesses and about businesses that are based in your home city. It really helps create opportunity for other people, helps build the communities that we need, and we need more of that here in Saskatchewan and specifically here in Regina.”
The Fraser Institute said it is honouring the Semples for their “extraordinary business achievement” and lasting contribution to prosperity in Saskatchewan and across Canada.
“Every year, the Fraser Institute celebrates the stories of Canada’s most influential and successful entrepreneurs and innovators who have fundamentally changed the landscape in their respective sectors,” said Niels Veldhuis, president of the Fraser Institute, in a statement.
“The Semple family’s success has created thousands of jobs, generated billions in economic activity, and strengthened Canada’s position in global industrial markets and we are very proud to honour the family this year.”
The Fraser Institute also points to the Semple family’s commitment to community through Brandt’s Thanks a Billion program, which has invested $28 billion in supports for health care, youth development, accessibility and community infrastructure.
“Over more than five decades, the Semple family has demonstrated what is possible when entrepreneurial vision, disciplined execution and community responsibility work together,” Veldhuis said.
Semple said a good chunk of money raised from the Thanks a Billion program went “right here in Regina, but it was spread out to more than about 5,000 communities around Canada, primarily in western Canada and specifically Saskatchewan, Regina, Saskatoon."
“We got a lot of it, but part of our philosophy was that Dad told me that true success comes when all those around you are having success while you're having success. That is one of our philosophies, that we've done well. There's a lot of need out there in the community for different things. We try to do our part. It's obviously more need than we can do, but to be a good corporate citizen and to give back, that's what we're doing.”
He said it is partly why they are also doing the REAL District expansion in Regina, with the city signing off on their acquisition of a number of REAL assets, including the Brandt Centre, home of the franchise they own — the Regina Pats.
Semple said part of this philosophy is “really trying to help Regina regenerate its sports and entertainment business and restaurants and so on. Regina has taken a little bit of a hit in this area.”
“To me, when you look at trying to build culture within a city, it's like a family. The more you gather, the more you stay together, right? I think having events, concerts, venues, restaurants, bars, all that kind of stuff allows you to get out, meet people and really build community. We saw a lot of need here. We obviously had a vested interest for the last 20 years with the naming rights here at the Brandt Centre and the Pats for the last 12. We've decided to sell everything we could from a family standpoint and from a brand standpoint to try and help do it. It's not an easy business. It's a hard business. There's just a lot of pent-up need here on the REAL property from a facility standpoint.”
All in all, Semple remains humble about the honour from the Fraser Institute.
“We're honoured that it's in our name. I do believe that every Brandt employee that helped contribute to our success deserves that honour as well.
“What I really hope it means for everybody in Saskatchewan is just for all the business owners out there that there's nothing special about the Semples. Anybody could do this. We took some chances. They were calculated and we've just continued to invest. I think if other people do that, we'll build a strong, vibrant economy here in Saskatchewan and you can do business around the world from here.”
