Husband-and-wife co-founders Eddie and Sherra Armstrong want to help make medical cannabis profitable for people of color. The couple recently launched Cannabis Capital Group, a consulting firm that assists marijuana-based companies with the education, advocacy, and investment needed to compete in the space.
“We want to be seen as public advocates for responsibility around cannabis: how you use it; how police officers treat it when they interact with people; and how you use it as medicine for your grandparents or if you’re an individual who’s received a medical cannabis card in the state of Illinois,” Armstrong said in a statement to The Network Journal. “We want to be able to provide that education channel with organizations such as Chicago NORML and the National Cannabis Industry Association that are already providing those tools to communities. More importantly, we want to serve minority communities that might not be able to get the same education or go online and find the same information that other people can readily find.”
The market is projected to be an $80 billion business by 2030 according to the site, yet, blacks own less than 4% of the companies created in comparison to the 81% of cannabis businesses owned by whites, according to Marijuana Business Daily.
The Armstrongs also plan to roll out a crowdfunding platform to allow investors to get involved. “Think of a product maker, for example, who creates a product used for the treatment of seizures,” Armstrong continued. “As these new companies start up and bring products to the marketplace, Cannabis Capital Group plans to be the conduit between the startup business and investors who might not regularly invest in these types of opportunities.” These investors will include physicians, pharmacists, nutritionists, and veterinarians with whom they have already built relationships.
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