Thanks to Curio Wellness, women, minorities, and even military veterans, now have a shot to obtain capital for opening their own cannabis dispensary. Last year, the Maryland-based cannabis company jumpstarted a 30 million dollar fundraising campaign to make the industry more accessible to people who usually don’t have the resources and funding to start a business in that lucrative trade.
The family-owned company was founded in 2014 and now leads the cannabis market in Maryland. It’s unlike other dispensaries because it focuses not only on their customers’ health through cannabis-based products but by using a holistic approach to their overall wellness. Even if you’re not a medical marijuana cardholder, Curio Wellness offers a myriad of other products, services, and education to the entire community. Each dispensary acts under a pharmacist-led model so it can cater to all of its customers’ needs.
Curio Wellness has 200 employees. Many of them are women and minorities, and close to half are in leadership positions. According to Tech Crunch, Jerel Registre, the Fund Managing Director of Curio, wants to open the door to disenfranchised entrepreneurs, giving them the funds and continuing training needed to be successful as business owners. And by following Curio’s Standard Operating Procedure, an individual could ideally have 100% ownership of the franchise within three years.
Through its WMBE funds, the company hopes to provide at least 50 women, minorities, and veterans a pathway to entrepreneurial success in the near future. The fundraising closed last year, and it started accepting applications at the beginning of 2021.
