Murad Al-Katib

Murad Al-Katib was born in Davidson, Saskatchewan, Canada in 1972. His parents immigrated to Saskatchewan from Turkey in 1969. In addition to developing a family farm, his father, Fatih Al-Katib, was the local doctor. His mother, Feyhan Al-Katib, learned English by watching Sesame Street with her children. She eventually became a municipal councilor and town mayor.{{Cite web |last=Al-Katib |first=Murad |date=12 April 2024 |title=Murad Al-Katib: 'The world needs a little more Canada' |url=https://ppforum.ca/policy-speaking/murad-al-katib-the-world-needs-a-little-more-canada/ |access-date=16 November 2024 |website=Public Policy Forum |language=en}}

Murad Al-Katib attended Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan, earning his Bachelor of Commerce in 1994. He then attended the Thunderbird School of Global Management, earning his Masters of Business Administration. After graduation, he worked at the Canadian embassy in Washington, D.C.

After writing a letter to Roy Romanow, then premier of Saskatchewan, outlining his ideas for emerging markets and continuous crop rotation of cereals and legumes, Al-Katib was hired to work with the Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP) program. Pulse crops such as lentils, peas, beans and chickpeas work as "nitrogen-fixers", adding nutrients back into soil that is depleted by the planting of cereal crops and the use of nitrogen fertilizers. By alternating planting of protein-rich pulses with oilseed and cereal crops, farmers were able to improve soil quality without relying on the use of nitrogen fertilizers and the practice of leaving fields fallow during intervening years.

In 2001, Al-Katib left his position with STEP to establish his own pulse-processing company in Regina, Saskatchewan. His first plant opened under the name SaskCan two years later. He received funding from the Arslan family of Turkey, owners of the Arbel group, a Turkish pulse-processing company.{{Cite news|url=https://leaderpost.com/business/agriculture/a-tale-of-two-pulse-processors|author-first= Ashley |author-last=Robinson |title=The Power of Pulses: A tale of two pulse processors|date=19 August 2016|work=Regina Leader-Post|access-date=2 January 2018|language=en-US}} Al-Katib has continued a pattern of research and expansion, eventually developing a vertically-integrated supply chain for pulses, and making plant-based proteins a major Saskatchewan export.{{cite news |last1=Spence |first1=Rick |title=Canadian takes his dream from basement to $2B, wins World Entrepreneur of the Year |url=https://financialpost.com/entrepreneur/canadian-takes-his-dream-from-basement-to-2b-wins-world-entrepreneur-of-the-year |work=Financial Post |date=13 June 2017}}

As of 2014, his company was renamed AGT Food and Ingredients Inc. AGT now has more than 46 facilities for manufacturing and processing lentils, peas, beans and chickpeas, on five continents. 22 of its facilities are in Western Canada. AGT has become the largest agricultural container shipper in the world, sending food to more than 120 countries worldwide.{{cite web |last1=Page |first1=Shelley |title=Murad Al-Katib - 2024 Testimonial Dinner Award Honouree |url=https://ppforum.ca/policy-speaking/murad-al-katib/ |website=Public Policy Forum|date=21 November 2023 |access-date=16 November 2024 |language=en}} As of 2017, Canada produced 65% of the world's lentils.

Al-Katib works with the University of Saskatchewan{{’}}s Crop Development Centre. He has chaired the Small and Medium Enterprise Advisory Council (2004-2012) and the National Agri-Food Strategy Roundtable (2017-2020). He was the lead adviser reviewing the Canada Transportation Act in 2016. In 2021, he served on the Industry Strategy Council to develop Canada's post-COVID industrial strategy. He encourages diversity in business startups and the engagement of entrepreneurs in social change and innovation. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of Saskatchewan's Golden Opportunities Fund in 2018.{{Cite web |date=9 February 2018 |title=Golden Opportunities Appoints Business Leader Murad Al-Katib to the Fund's Board of Directors |url=https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/golden-opportunities-appoints-business-leader-murad-al-katib-to-the-fund-s-board-of-directors-1015227735 |access-date=17 November 2024 |website=Markets Insider |language=en}}

== Community involvement ==

Al-Katib has been the team president of the Regina Thunder Football Club. He supports community programs in mental health and amateur sports through the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation.{{cite web |last1= |title=Murad Al-Katib (BComm'94) |url=https://alumni.usask.ca/get-involved/achieve/2024/al-katib.php |website= University of Saskatchewan Alumni Association |access-date=16 November 2024|date=2024 |language=en}}

Al-Katib has worked with international organizations such as the International Red Cross, the United Nations World Food Programme, and the Red Crescent Movement to provide nutritious food to people in conflict zones. He provided 700 million meals of Saskatchewan-grown chickpeas, lentils and wheat to a United Nations program for Syrian refugees. In 2017, he won the Oslo Business for Peace Award for this work.

• 2016, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year for Canada
• 2017, Changing the Pulse of the Province, documentary film, NSBA Saskatoon Business Association{{cite news |last1=Ryk |first1=Tara de |title=Al-Katib featured in pulsating picture |url=https://leaderonline.ca/al-katib-featured-in-pulsating-picture/ |access-date=17 November 2024 |work=The Davidson Leader |date=12 September 2017}}{{cite web |title=Changing the Pulse of the Province |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGj_0KfXPec&ab_channel=NSBA-Saskatoon%27sBusinessAssociation |website=Youtube |publisher=NSBA |access-date=17 November 2024 |date=31 August 2017}}
• 2017, EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year{{Cite web |title=Murad Al-Katib - EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Class of 2017, Canada |url=https://www.ey.com/en_gl/weoy/past-winners/murad-al-katib |access-date=8 November 2024 |website=www.ey.com |language=en}}
• 2017, Saskatchewan Order of Merit, Province of Saskatchewan{{cite web |title=Murad Al-Katib |url=https://www.asiapacific.ca/networks/ablac/murad-al-katib |website=Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada |access-date=17 November 2024 |language=en}}
• 2017, Oslo Business for Peace Award{{cite news |last1=Katchuk |first1=Natasha |title=Al-Katib honoured with international peace award |url=https://news.usask.ca/articles/people/2017/al-katib-honoured-with-international-peace-award.php |access-date=4 November 2024 |work=U of S News |date=31 March 2017 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Honouree Profile Murad Al-Katib |url=https://businessforpeace.org/honouree-profile-murad-al-katib/ |website=Business for Peace Foundation |access-date=16 November 2024}}
• 2019, Honorary diploma, Saskatchewan Polytechnic{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Murad Al-Katib receives honorary diploma at Regina Convocation |url=https://saskpolytech.ca/news/posts/2019/murad-al-katib-honorary-diploma.aspx |access-date=17 November 2024 |website=Saskatchewan Polytechnic |language=en}}
• 2020, one of Canada's top five CEOs and Innovator of the Year, Globe and Mail, "Awarded to a CEO whose vision and guidance has been instrumental in the successful creation and commercialization of a truly disruptive product or service, and/or who has pioneered a groundbreaking way of doing business."{{Cite web |date=5 November 2024 |title=The Globe and Mail Report on Business announces Canada's Top Five CEOs of 2020 |url=https://pr.theglobeandmail.com/oct-1-2020 |access-date=17 November 2024 |website=The Globe and Mail |language=en-US}}
• 2024, Testimonial Dinner Award, Public Policy Forum
• 2024, Lifetime Achievement Award, University of Saskatchewan Alumni Association

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{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage= | video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNZ2yJiTMF0&ab_channel=UniversityofSaskatchewan “Murad Al-Katib - Lifetime Achievement Award”], University of Saskatchewan, 2024. }}

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Category:1972 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century Canadian businesspeople

Category:Businesspeople from Saskatchewan

Category:Canadian food industry businesspeople

Category:Canadian people of Turkish descent

Category:People from Davidson, Saskatchewan

Category:Thunderbird School of Global Management alumni

Category:University of Saskatchewan alumni