Business View Magazine - April 2024

association’s membership grew from 206 in 2019 to over 340, today. “During the pandemic, fertilizer production needed to continue – that’s potash,” Anderson explains. “Uranium is fuel for nuclear power and the power grid had to keep running. We also helped with the production of oil and gas, helium, lithium, etc., so those had to continue, and we also provided goods and services to maintain things like the industrial links to the power grid itself, so we kept doing that.” At the same time, SIMSA had to adapt to the constrictions imposed by the pandemic, so by necessity, it evolved by becoming digital. One of the things we did early on during COVID was to teach our members how to be successful in the digital world – how to hold a ZOOM meeting and how to create digital marketing and communication tools,” Anderson recounts. “We also became a hub of information with constant meetings with the federal and provincial governments on supply chain issues. So, we became invaluable to the members that we serve.” VIRTUAL MEETINGS AND LIVE EVENTS FOSTER SUCCESS Now that SIMSA has achieved a level of digital proficiency, it has added virtual meetings to its roster of in-person events. “We found that virtual events have a wonderful place in the world; especially when they’re shorter and quicker, and you want to keep costs down and pass along some information,” says Anderson. “We use them a lot; they’re a great asset, especially in Saskatchewan. It’s a big province and it takes a lot of time to get from one place to another.” The association’s traditional live events generally occur when a major resource company sends a complement of its top purchasing agents to meet with SIMSA members. “They’ll talk about what they need, what they’re going to buy, how they’re going to do it, and then we’ll set aside time for one-on-one conversations between the procurement executive and the supply chain,” Anderson relates. “We also run forums and trade shows. We’ll have 380 trade show booths with a couple of thousand delegates to keep a focus on buyers and sellers, fact- to-face. They’re very successful events.” SIMSA’s success across the board was legitimized by a study it commissioned from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the professional services firm that quantified that there is four-times as much economic impact for the province when companies buy goods and services from local suppliers rather than from those outside 92 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 11, ISSUE 04