A Saskatchewan grain company executive has won Ernst & Young’s Prairie Entrepreneur of the Year award.
Murad Al-Katib, president of AGT Food and Ingredients, will now compete against the winners in the Ontario, Quebec, Atlantic and Pacific regions for the national title in Toronto Nov. 22.
The national winner will then compete against more than 50 other country winners for the world title in Monaco in June.
“Al-Katib’s realization of how well lentils grow in Saskatchewan was well-timed with changes in the agriculture industry,” Rob Jolley, prairie program director for EY Entrepreneur of the Year, said in a news release.
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“He had the business savvy, experience in the market and impeccable timing. That winning combination has made him an incredibly successful entrepreneur.”
AGT’s revenues have grown by about $300 million per year for the past five years. Some investment analysts that follow the company are forecasting $2 billion in revenues for 2016.
What began as a lentil splitting plant in Regina in 2002 is now the world’s largest pulse processor, handling about one-quarter of the global supply.
Al-Katib said the award is an opportunity to showcase some of the exciting developments in agriculture.
“We were able to truly promote the Saskatchewan agriculture success story to a very high level business audience in Calgary,” he said.
“We’re almost sometimes viewed as a sector that is supported, not a sector that is really booming and contributing.”
Al-Katib said the award is an opportunity to remind Canadians that agriculture is an integral and thriving part of the resource sector.
“We’re in the human energy business. Human energy is protein,” he said. “We’re truly feeding the world.”
