Those were the days… A selection of my past endeavors.
As I invested in various concepts around the cannabis industry since 2014, I’ve realized that the producers of marijuana infused products (MIPs) and brands are missing a critical factor. So many industries, increasing throughout 2020 and accelorating more recently, are focused on the entire value system of their goods. People lump this into “sustainability” or corporate social responsibility (CSR). More often than not, companies are trying to right historic wrongs within their supply chain or practices. The newness of the cannabis industry allows for a proper foundation from [nearly] the beginning.
So many vertically integrated companies, nearly all, have conjured a tincture, a chocolate bar, a gummy, a lozenge, maybe all of the above. Sometimes, these internal brands really take off. All of a sudden, entities who think themselves a cannabis company suddenly realize that they are, or have a subsidiary that is, a confectionary company. Truth is, the sweetness of confectionaries often wanes when learning about the supply chain of the materials that made this delectable morsel. Sugar, cocoa, coffee, flavorings all come from some place, and accessed by someone. Those people are almost exclusively not paid fairly.
Farefixing represents the intersection of all I learned teaching journalism and photography around the world with what I am watching happen in the cannabis industry. Companies are focused on growth and margin. This focus inherently encourages operators to purchase the lowest cost goods that match target flavor profiles. The less a purchaser knows about the industry, and the more they’re focused on Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), the greater the likelihood of harming someone unintentionally when consuming confectionaries, cannabis or otherwise.
We are now building the company’s sourcing partnerships and relationships to bring transparency into the non-cannabis commodity purchasing process within the cannabis industry. It is fascinating and an honor to connect with suppliers who have solved this problem for other industries, yet do not know how to come into cannabis. Equally encouraging is working with cannabis brands and vertically integrated operators who want a better way, but don’t know where to start or how to engage efficiently with communities across the globe who supply what makes their products stand out and stand up.
RevClinics
After my eco-tourism concept in Sierra Leone was stalled by the Ebola crisis, I became involved with RevClinics at the beginning as a vehicle to create jobs in Fitchburg, Massachusetts after searching for two years for an industry to help the efforts of Fitchburg’s leadership to revitalize the city. After exploring light manufacturing, hospital outposts, vertical farming, optical equipment assembly, tech-enabled warehouse space, and beyond, it was clear that medical and now adult-use cannabis could be a driving force behind jobs and innovation. Now, with 350+ people working with RevClinics, my greatest point of pride in this project is the experience of not being able to find a parking spot in the lot. The cannabis industry is more complex than any other I have encountered with layers of competing interests. Yet, the momentum remains strong to build greatness, leading with team building and integrity.
Family Office Association
I was a member of FOA long before I became President in 2013. I did so because I felt the organization was in a prime position to help softly influence family offices to become more holistic in their thinking about operating, investing, and philanthropy. It always seemed counter-intuitive to me that investors would create damaging circumstances in one area of their lives, in order to so often donate money to their chosen causes soon before dying. That was backward to me in many ways, yet I did not feel joining a major bank as a philanthropic consultant would maximize my ability to assist. Instead, I became President of FOA to offer guidance, advice, and connectivity to true thought-leaders to shift wealthy families into thoughtful strategies across multiple generations.
It’s at FOA that I became sure of a guiding principal of mine in life that you can accomplish much more in the background, without getting paid for thoughts, and without ego attached.
Nearly a decade after my involvement, FOA was purchased in 2023 by Mike Packman to see the brand into a productive future. By my read, he and the team are performing marvelously in delivering content and connectivity between highly capable, and well intended family offices and HNWIs.
EPHAS: Every Person Has a Story
EPHAS began as a film production company in the early days of the internet. Non-profits across the globe each required short films depicting their work, beyond a customary trifold brochure. Further, philanthropists increasingly requested more consistent content and connectivity with beneficiaries of the organizations. EPHAS v1. worked with Boys and Girls Club of America, Vietnam Veterans of American Foundation, Veterans International, Medicin Sans Frontier, Sao Sary Foundation, Stay Focused, and many more.
In 2008, EPHAS changed its model to optimize for continuity and authenticity, turning the cameras and technology over to participants in schools, orphanages, and medical facilities in under-exposed areas of evolving nations. At its height, prior to user-generated content becoming easily shared through the invention of cloud storage, EPHAS had operations in 13 countries, each with multiple sites therein. Documented circumstances ranged from Haiti’s rebuilding post-earthquake, South Sudan’s independence and reemerging civil war, landmine eradication and post-genocide rebuilding in Cambodia, to comparative life lessons between countries including programs in schools in the United States.
The Clarity Project
The Clarity Project was a company I co-founded whose mission it was to create the most socially and environmentally ethical diamond mining practices in West Africa. We inspected pre-and-post mining agricultural uses of the land, proper financing methods of the mining teams, safety equipment — often voted against locally as old habits are hard to break (see the preferred sandals over boots we provided). My vision, prior to the Ebola crisis disallowing this business model to prevail, was to bring tourists to mine their own diamonds and sign a check into a development fund instead of a retail store. Meanwhile, the nature of cutting out many middlemen from the transaction allowed for localized pay to increase and philanthropic capital to recycle through the organization.
Eventually, I will restart The Clarity Project as the only (that I know of) lab-grown diamond distributor with zero profit motive. I want customers to choose their price above cost, where the incremental revenue is purely philanthropic. Consumers still connect monetary value to sentiment. Therefore, we will create systems to encourage greater spending, but direct all excess capital to anti-human trafficking efforts, as that is the only reason to purchase a diamond, in my opinion. After all, they are not rare, not hard to find, plummet in price further than driving a new car off the lot, and have no nutritional value. Therefore, we should ensure if they continue to represent love on a spouse’s finger or earlobes, that they were made with integrity and excess cashflow is allocated thoughtfully. Clarity will live again soon.
WEF Global Shapers
While far from a leadership role at WEF, I am including my role as Vice Curator and Curator of the Boston Chapter of WEF Global Shapers because I am a firm believer in democratized networks of thinkers convening for the betterment of our communities. It was a joy to participate in forums worldwide both as a member of the Shaper community as well as other sub-groups surrounding WEF. Klaus Schwab, founder of World Economic Forum said it best, “The best answer to extremists is to build a better world.” Between that notion and stealing Benjamin Franklin’s practice of exploring each morning What good will I do today, I strive to create a portfolio of activities that contribute to a full day of progressive work. Every day.
Why the helmeted photo up top?
Very good question. I’m no dirt biker and don’t pretend to be one. That’s a photo of one of the top three times in my life that I knew, and was overjoyed, to be alive. That was taken near the border between Sierra Leone and Liberia at approximately 3:00 in the morning. I had been inspecting diamond mines for a number of grueling days. Our intended driver for the journey around southern Sierra Leone had appointed his unlicensed nephew to perform the duty. He got in a car accident. We were brought to the local jail. I spent many hours navigating bribery attempts. Upon release, we continued the journey. Following many meetings with chiefdoms regarding kaizen tweaks to mining strategies to allow for agriculture to prosper following mining out areas, our car broke down in the middle of the jungle.
We walked from 11:00 pm – 2:00 am until we found a wonderful group of three women washing bits of gold for a small Lebanese owned operation. I gave them a Boston Strong t-shirt in exchange for them to call a cousin who had a motorbike to drive me back to Koidu area through the night. Unsure exactly where, we were stopped at a makeshift checkpoint by a group of young men with AK-47s and alcohol bottles. Someday I’ll post the whole story, which is more funny than scary even though it included a gun to my face. But driving away from that scene, I took the selfie in 2012 and look back at it when I feel beaten up by life. Better than the alternative.