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March 13, 2018

Sevens and the city: Where corporate meets community

As Chief Executive of Grosvenor Americas, Andrew Bibby has played a key role in backing the HSBC Canada Sevens since it first debuted in Vancouver.

Grosvenor has been a supporter of the event since its inception in 2016, joining as a Signature Partner and title sponsor of the tournament’s Club seating section. For Bibby however the Sevens’ arrival in Vancouver was just the latest chapter in a love affair with the sport that he can trace back over decades.

A former player himself, Bibby was on the roster of the first ever Canadian Sevens Team that competed in Hong Kong in 1980. It was a proud moment for a man for whom rugby had always been his sport, but as well as the action on the field it was the event’s impact off of it that really stuck with him.

“I remembered how great it was for Hong Kong,” Bibby says. “The whole city came together to enjoy the spectacle, there was a fantastic sense of community that built connections between players and spectators that still stand to this day.”

Sharing the Sevens with Vancouver

More than 35 years later those memories were still fresh in his mind when, in his capacity as CEO of Grosvenor Americas, Bibby decided to support the arrival of the HSBC Canada Sevens in Vancouver.

“I wanted to share my experience as a player in Hong Kong with the people here in Vancouver,” Bibby says. “The Sevens is such a fabulous spectacle, but there’s also a social side to the game, a community that springs up around the event and naturally spills into the city.”

This community is what attracted Bibby to combine his personal passion with his professional world.

Grosvenor work in more than 60 cities across the globe. But wherever they are the company is always guided by something they call their ‘Living Cities Philosophy,’ which is a commitment to the economic, social, and environmental wellbeing of the community they are part of. And that’s part of the reason why they are so proud of their involvement with the HSBC Canada Sevens.

Bringing the city together

“I’m absolutely convinced that the Sevens is a good thing for the city,” Bibby says. “You only need to look at the pageantry of the event, the excitement of the fans as they intermingle at BC Place to see that in action. It’s so accessible, you don’t need an esoteric understanding of the rules of the game to enjoy what’s being put on in front of you. That helps to bring the community together, with people from different backgrounds and different countries coming together to share their love of the sport.”

For a business committed to building a better Vancouver, helping to bring the community together through a sporting event like the HSBC Canada Sevens is an obvious fit. But Bibby believes the benefits for Grosvenor go far beyond mere association.

“In a very real sense the business of property is a business of relationships. What we do has a big impact on peoples’ lives so we need to consult with a wide variety of people in order to make progress.

“We have a box at the event and it provides a fantastic opportunity for us to bring these people together. Because it’s a weekend-long tournament we’re able to carve up the time to fit in a much bigger spectrum of people than we would at a one off event. Much as the event brings the whole city together, the HSBC Canada Sevens enables us to bring the many diverse natures of our corporate community together all under one roof.”

Starting conversations

Bibby admits to tearing up when he saw Canada take the field during the inaugural Vancouver event. However his enduring memory of 2016 wasn’t the weekend’s on field action, instead it was a passing conversation that he had with a colleague following the event.

“On the Monday morning following the game I was riding the elevator with a colleague that I don’t think I’d ever had a conversation about sport with, and she turned to me and said ‘Andrew, that was fantastic it was just the best, thank you so much for getting us involved’.

“It’s just one of hundreds of connections we’ve been able to build through our involvement in the event. It’s great for business, but more than that it’s great for Vancouver, and that’s why we’re committed to supporting the HSBC Canada Sevens for many more years to come.”