Professional and financial services
Stanford Orme Asher S.O. Asher Consultants Ltd
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any parents may have cringed when their 16-year-old son announced he was quitting school to earn money in the workforce. But S. Orme Asher’s dad knew his son better than that. He had three words for him: “Go for it” – and he did. After more than a decade of work experience and honed interpersonal skills, Asher embarked on his first entrepreneurial venture. Within six months of starting Asher Real Estate Brokers, he grew from a three-person operation to selling more listings than any other brokerage in his native Saskatoon. From there, he built a successful river cruise business that stimulated Saskatoon’s tourism industry. But it was his next venture that defined his career as an entrepreneur. “I come from a family whose achievements were earned through honest hard work. I can be described as somewhat of a dreamer,” he says. “I had a unique idea, believed in it and was determined to succeed.” That idea was the Hospital Home Lottery. What is now a household term began as a radical new concept in 1978 when Asher developed the first ‘$100 ticket Home Lottery’ as a fundraiser for the Kinsmen Club of Saskatoon. The unprecedented success of the first Kinsmen Home Lotteries caught the attention of the Royal University Hospital. Asher then applied his successful business model when he designed the Hospital Home Lottery, and the program sold out in a matter of days. S.O. Asher Consultants Ltd. was formed and today operates with 22 employees (including his wife and son) in 10 major cities across Canada and in Australia. “Together we have raised net proceeds of more than $650 million for our clients,” says Asher. “And we will continue to find innovative ways to deliver increased net profits to our existing valued clients.”
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2013
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