As curiosity of CBD grows and the market continually expands, a key group of people are left out of benefiting from the market. Minorities and people of color have faced tons of barriers to entry into established positions of ownership and stake-holding positions in the past. Some of these barriers include lack of access to capital, as well as things like the history of systemic economic racism that has blocked them out of blooming and growing industries like the cannabis industry.
A 2017 survey found that only a staggering 4.3% of people involved in cannabis companies at a stakeholder or ownership position were people of color. This proves the gap in equity, and marginalization people of color have experienced in this industry, but there are people fighting to change that nationwide as entrepreneurs of color file for licenses and grow their footprint in the cannabis economy.
Meet The Owners
Floretta Gogo and Xavier Carter know that struggle very well, and are doing their part to bring more diversity to an industry they feel can bring people back to more herbal ways of medicine. They are the CEO and COO of InnoMedicinals, a health centric, modern and zen CBD shop located in the Grant Park section of Atlanta, Georgia. Floretta moved to America from Nigeria in 1981 to attend college at Tuskegee University, and Xavier graduated from Atlanta College of Art (Now SCAD). Floretta chose a path that led her from Tuskegee to Mercer University where she got her degree in accounting. Some time later, Floretta and Xavier crossed paths. After dating for a while, and eventually having a child they decided to separate. However, that didn’t stop them from becoming dynamic business partners or hinder their relationship to any extent.
Intro to Inno
Floretta and Xavier have known each other for over 15 years, and have both had past experiences that ultimately led to the birth of Inno Medicinals. Xavier once graduated traveled for a living doing technical work and first had an interaction with CBD topical product in Colorado. After trying the product he quickly told Floretta about it and they began talking about the possibility of opening a CBD store, which they soon did called Inno Medicinals. The name of the store comes from stressing how medicinals can possibly help those who are in need of them. So before starting Inno Medicinals, they emphasized the quality of products, making sure they could test these products to give consumers real feedback from actual usage. As they continued to test and see how much it worked for them, they wanted to spread that message to others. All of this led to Inno Medicinals opening in Atlanta’s Grant Park section in July of 2019, where they hit the round running increasing sales 100% in the first two months of operation.
Company Mission
To its community of Grant Park, Inno Medicinals is a staple in the CBD community after serving them for the past 2 years. However, it's a reason that Inno Medicinals resonates with its community and that is hidden in their company mission. Their company mission is to represent health and bring awareness to how people can use herbal ways of medicine and more homeopathic ways of healing. They also put a huge emphasis on the educational aspect of CBD to help inform users with everything they'll need to understand the product as a whole and how it may help. This of course created a natural pairing with companies like CannaGo who also aim to empower the end consumer with information and education to make wise consumption decisions.
CannaGo x Inno Medicinals
Now you may ask yourself how did Inno Medicinals and CannaGo come together, or better yet why did they choose a platform like CannaGo? The answer is much simpler than it may seem, an alignment of vision and goal to empower and educate the end consumer about CBD, plus give them access to these products. By doing this, CannaGo and Inno Medicinals are growing wealth in the space, raising awareness throughout the Atlanta area and are allowing other local small businesses to bloom in the space alongside.