Dal Zemp, a BYU-Hawaii alumnus and member of the BYUH/Polynesian Cultural Center Presidents' Leadership Council who describes himself as an entrepreneurial philanthropist, told School of Business students on February 21, 2008, how he built several successful enterprises so he can pursue his love of special education and helping others.
"I love coming to the islands and I love this university," said Zemp, who was a student here in 1984 and now lives in Cardston, Alberta, Canada. "When I arrived here I think for the first time in my life I really felt I was part of a family. I know what this institution does, but back then I didn't know what an impact it would have on me personally and in the life of my family. It's taken me 20 years to fully appreciate the value of the time I spent here."
Zemp, who went on to graduate and earn a master's degree from BYU in Provo, explained his interest in special education started when his nephew was born with Down's Syndrome. "As he grew up, I started to realize I was intrigued by how he learned and his challenges. It gave me a real desire to go into special education."
While still an undergraduate, Zemp got involved with Special Olympics, "and decided, I wanted to do this the rest of my life," he said, adding he soon realized it was also a business. "We would raise two or three million dollars a year in Utah, and every year I would sit down with executives... I would make financial presentations and they would donate. I started managing the sponsorship programs."
To supplement his income, Zemp recalled how he and two young partners pooled $100 each to start a business selling used Levi's® in Europe through a contact one of them had. "Over a period of three or four months, we had a company that was worth $100,000."
About that time he sold out to join the World Special Olympics Games organization, which hosts approximately 12,000 people from 178 nations. "Within a year I was the number-two guy and in charge of the whole games," Zemp continued. "Through all of these experiences I found I was doing something I loved...and more opportunities just became available to me."
When his three-year contract ran out, however, two venture partners financed Zemp to start his own used Levi's® sales business in Germany. After three months, he bought out his former partners, and within a short time "I was doing almost $10 million worth of used Levi's®. We were shipping 30,000 a month," he said, noting he bought the product for $5-$10, but sold them for about $100 each. "I was young. We had three kids. I bought a big van and we tooled all over Europe selling these Levi's®... For a period of about six years, we couldn't do anything wrong. We thought business was easy."
While on vacation back in Utah one day, Zemp noticed "no kids were wearing 501™ jeans anymore." He immediately told his partners the market was over, and they sold out their company at the peak.
"One thing I learned from Special Olympics," he said of dealing with corporate executives, "I realized all of these guys were nothing different from me. I was a farm boy from Raymond, Alberta, Canada... That's when I decided it was time to do something different. Fortunately, the Lord opened a lot of doors for us."
Zemp has since started over a dozen companies in the U.S. and Canada, saying he felt inspired to move back to his homeland. He soon bought a golf course in Lethbridge that was in receivership for $6 million, that is very successful today; and then a log business that was building about 30 homes a year.
"I said that's just not enough. I wanted to build a thousand a year," he continued, adding he figured a way to turn the logs into prefabricated siding which lowered the cost and opened the market wider. He's currently building about 500 units a year, and spun off a rock adornment materials business as well. That was seven years ago.
"The whole point of all of this is, 24 years ago when I was sitting where you are...I wanted to be a special ed teacher. I didn't care about money. It's not about money. All of it's about opportunity; it's about experiences."
"Because of what I've done, I've been able to travel the world," Zemp said. "The Lord has done so much more with my life than I could ever imagine. If it would have been up to me, I would be a school teacher in Cardston, and I would have impacted significantly the lives of eight or 10 kids a year. Now, because of what we do, we impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Right now I have about 500 employees that are the single breadwinners for their families — almost all Latter-day Saints."
"The Lord knows where He wants you to go, and where He wants you to be," he continued. "If you'll just go with it, you're going to find out the Lord will do so many more things with you than you ever dreamed of doing for yourselves, if you do the right things and make right choices."