canoe.ca
Wednesday, April 21, 1999
Horsing around on the Internet
From the prairies to the New York stock market
By ANIKA VAN WYK, Sun Country Editor
AIRDRIE -- When Becker Ranch's Denny Becker gets up in the
morning, he's faced with a dilemma: What does he do first -- check his
stock or check the outside stock?
Becker not only has to keep track of the horses on his ranch where,
among other things, they train and board horses, but the Alberta
rancher and his wife Karen are co-founders of one of North America's
premier agriculture web sites, www.agrimall.com, which is now trading
on a New York stock exchange.
When asked which stock takes priority in the morning, the quietly
charismatic Denny tilts his black cowboy hat and laughs: "It depends
on what time I get up."
On a more serious note, he adds: "I go feed my stock, then go watch
my stock."
That grassroots Alberta attitude is part of the reason the Beckers have
been able to cut the path on the trail into the virtual agriculture world.
While visiting the Beckers just outside Airdrie, we joke that it may be
easier to list the businesses that this pair are not involved with, rather
than try to cover all their activities. One venture worth talking about is
the fascinating journey from the prairies to Wall Street.
"It all started with us building our arena in 1990," says Karen. "It was
the most gruelling endeavour we've ever done in our lifetime."
In 1994, they started galloping into the technical world of computers,
then the Internet.
Andy McKinnon, a horse trader with an aptitude for computers, visited
the Becker ranch and, after a few incognito visits, approached the
Beckers with an idea to market horses with the technology of
computers.
The trio all knew that there had to be a better way to buy and sell
horses.
"It would be so frustrating to drive hundreds of miles just on the say-so
of what a horse was," sighs Denny.
Listing the horses on laptop computers, complete with a series of
photos, and having an agent take that around to potential buyers, was
much more efficient.
"We eliminated frustration both ways," says Karen.
Brian Murrell, manager at Becker Ranch, started out as a laptop-toting
agent.
"People kept asking me, 'Hey, can I sell my tractor through you?' "
says Murrell of expanding the venture to include cattle and farm
equipment.
And to ensure speedy service, McKinnon also created an original
compression technology which is one of the reasons MBTI
(McKinnon, Brokerage Technologies International Inc.) -- the
company that runs the computer service -- climbed so fast.
The self-contained system then moved on to the Internet. Last year,
they developed a virtual supermall for the agricultural community. Their
web site includes other companies, ranging from farm equipment to
western apparel, who purchase store fronts.
MBTI acquired Horsenet.com. It now holds auctions on-line.
"Andy is out there working with the suits, as we call them, and we're
here working with the horses," explains Denny.
That personal touch is what's helping them as MBTI trades on
NASDAQ.
"If we lose the focus on the grassroots, it doesn't seem to work," says
Karen.
Some said it couldn't be done, but others were supportive and even
bought stock -- and they're laughing all the way to the bank. |
