With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1173482
BCBUSINESS.CA San Group developed its vertically integrated approach, which it calls Harvest to Home, over decades of growth and innovation. The company adds value at every step as its products travel from B.C. forests to homebuild- ers in 25 countries. For decades, the rest of the industry has cut pro- cessing plants and jobs while increasing raw log exports. The Sangheras always blazed a separate path, to which they owe their success. "We are always going against the grain," says Kamal, the elder brother by two years. "Right now, the market is going down. We are growing. Every- body is curtailing. We are adding extra shifts." That contrarian attitude began in childhood. The brothers worked in their father's remanufacturing business as teenagers and took over running it in the 1980s, while most kids their age played sports or hung out with friends after school. They employed a crew of 10 at the begin- ning, but that number grew as they added more remanufacturing plants, sawmills to feed them and sales teams to stoke global demand. Today, the Sangheras' team includes 1,100 employees and subcontractors in B.C. and internationally. "We are growing 100 percent this year," Kamal says. "And we are growing 100 percent next year." —D.H. R U N N E R - U P Todd Nicklin P R E S I D E N T A N D C E O , E N E X E N E R G Y C O R P . n Todd Nicklin never figured he'd have any part in the fuel- and-lubrication distribution company his father started in the 1970s. "I joke with my friends and family that I did everything I could to not be involved in this business," he says with a laugh. Nicklin earned his UVic economics degree in 1986, became an accountant, and worked in real estate and then software. Now he leads Enex Energy Corp., which he grew from the four- person predecessor he and his brother bought from their dad in 2003. Today, Burnaby-based Enex employs 125 people to serve 5,000 custom- ers throughout Western Canada, including Air Canada and WestJet Airlines. The company grew organically and through five acquisitions and three merg- ers. Nicklin says Enex's people set it apart in an industry where demand is inelastic and competitors sell a similar commodity. "Diesel is diesel," he explains. "The thing that defines us is how we service our customers." –D.H. n Atlantic Gold Corp. co- founder, chair and CEO Steven Dean accomplished more while on sabbatical than most people do in their careers. The Perth, Australia, transplant retired from leading Teck Resources as its president in 2002 and started his break by co-founding Vancouver- based copper miner Amerigo Resources–which earned his first EOY nomination in 2003. In 2014, with gold prices plummeting and the industry starved of funding, Dean ended his 12-year semi-retirement to co-found Atlantic. Maryse Belanger–a geological engineer- ing graduate of Université du Québec à Chicoutimi and former senior VP at Goldcorp–joined him as president and COO. The pub- licly traded mining firm started with $30 million to buy, con- solidate and develop four sites in Nova Scotia. This summer, it was acquired by Australia's St Barbara for $800 million, after producing $128 million in net revenue in 2018. By mining standards, that's a spectacular, speedy return on minimal investment. "Our approach is develop it in three or four years and drill off its potential with cash flow, rather than with seed capital at the beginning," Dean says. "It's novel here in the industry." Atlantic plans to add 500 staff to its 280 in Vancouver and Nova Scotia. –D.H. R U N N E R S - U P Steven Dean + Maryse Belanger C H A I R A N D C E O + P R E S I D E N T A N D C O O , A T L A N T I C G O L D C O R P . FINISH THIS SENTENCE FOR US: "ENTREPRENEURS NEED A LOT MORE…" Compassion and empathy. My focus is my coworkers and these young folks I am working with to enable them to become our next group of leaders –Todd Nicklin OCTOBER 2019 BCBUSINESS 49