Despite efforts to repair the damage of the War on Drugs and its disproportionate impact on BIPOC communities, less than 10% of cannabis business owners are BIPOC. The People’s Group (TPG) led by Christine De La Rosa, one of the most influential women in cannabis, aims to change that with its $50 million nationwide fund. The fund will invest in BIPOC- and women-led cannabis businesses with the goal of breaking the pattern of oppression and creating a representative future for the growing industry.
The group is fueled by a powerhouse of sought-after industry experts with diverse backgrounds. TPG is led, directed and advised by BIPOC women, queer people, the disabled, veterans and people with chronic illness as a catalyst for community empowerment. The fund will draw attention to the lack of social equity, capital and investment opportunities within the field. It also will work toward eliminating the barriers of prosperity and unlocking efficient pathways to profitability. The fund’s mission is to deploy its total capital by 2024. This allows for advisory, management services and enhanced technology to be distributed across diverse and competitive companies over the course of the next 10 years.
“The cannabis market is projected to be a $70 billion industry by 2028, and BIPOC continues to struggle to benefit from this lucrative field,” explains De La Rosa. “Recently, initiatives have been established to contribute to minority-owned cannabis business growth. However, many programs have failed due to the lack of access to capital, business spaces and technical support provided to this demographic. Through this fund, our objective is to break this cycle by supplying minority-owned cannabis companies with the capital they need to bring their companies to probability and the mentorship required to contribute to a more diverse cannabis industry. Our social equity initiatives will also shed light on unjust laws that have been disproportionately affecting minority communities.”
TPG has additional strategies to take advantage of immediate market opportunities via new product and license investments through proven models, offering growth capital and debt facilities to expedite the transition to profitability, acquisition of off-market assets that need a cash infusion to become profitable and to provide an abundance of job opportunities.
“For over 50 years, lives have been taken, time has been lost, and communities have been devastated due to the disparate enforcement of policies attached to the war on drugs. Use of the term ‘social equity’ must be more than a cliché,” says Frederika Easley, the director of strategic initiatives at The People’s Ecosystem. “We are committed to advocating for the creation and implementation of policies and practices that hold systems of power accountable and support the repairing of harm to individuals and communities.”
De La Rosa founded The People’s Group to address the lack of support for minorities that she experienced first-hand when starting her own business in the industry in 2016. She saw the endless potential in a type of fund that understands how to value and support such founders and their teams in an ample amount of beneficial and meaningful ways.
For more details and updates on The People’s Group, please visit https://thepeoplesgroup.fund/. For bios and images, please request the media kit.
