MJBizMag October 2020 - 91

businesses perennially complain about
a talent shortage. Securing high-level
managers and growers can take up to
a year or more in some cases because
of increasing competition within
agriculture and other industries.
DIVERSITY IN HEMP
In the agriculturally focused hemp
space, Jackson Garth, CEO of Atlantabased
hemp and CBD company Verde
Leaf Group, said he had to build his
own vertically integrated seed-to-store
company and related ancillary firms
to have the opportunities he wanted to
achieve as a Black businessman who
didn't grow up on a farm. He's now
working to develop a diverse workforce
within his own company as well as
connecting people of color-whether
farmers or executives-with other
companies in the industry.
For people of color, it's all about access,
Garth said.
" Black people and Latinos are
qualified, but if you don't give us a shot,
then how do you see how we perform? "
Garth said. " Let me in the door and let
me show you what I can do. "
Limiting workforce diversity also
limits the company's view and potential
profit centers, according to Garth.
" It's like trying to get to a store, "
Garth said. " When you have a diverse
workforce, it's kind of like having all
these different streets to get to your end
goal-and that's invaluable because
you're going to hit so many different
roadblocks. "
BENEFIT FOR BUSINESS
Companies need to take a
macroeconomics-type view toward
the end result, according to Andrei
McQuillan, vice president of sales and
marketing for EcoGen Laboratories,
a vertically integrated hemp and CBD
company based in Grand Junction,
Colorado.
" The only way any company in
America is going to truly embrace
diversity to the core is when it has a
" Black people and Latinos are
qualified, but if you don't give us
a shot, then how do you see how
we perform? Let me in the door
and show you what I can do. "
- Jackson Garth,
Verde Leaf Group
positive impact on their revenue and
their finances and the economics of the
business, " McQuillan said.
Diversification can have geographical
limitations as well-especially in an
agriculturally based industry such as
hemp. Attracting people of color to rural
areas might seem challenging when
hemp businesses are competing with
more diverse industries in urban centers.
If hemp companies are serious about
wanting to recruit people of color,
they might need to employ creative
recruitment strategies, said Ru Johnson,
a board member with the Minority
Cannabis Business Association and
executive producer at Denver-based
Roux Black Consulting.
" This is where people really have to get
outside of their comfort zones, " Johnson
said. " The onus is on the company to
create a stronger, more diverse look
and feel for their company. And it has
to do with education, with marketing
of their company, with more inclusive
Andrei
McQuillan
information and with more inclusive
images on their website. "
Hemp companies can also solve
geographical personnel recruitment
issues by accommodating flexible
schedules and remote work-especially
for those in executive roles-and
recruiting from adjacent consumer
packaged goods industries, according
to McQuillan, who joined EcoGen
with a background in the spirits and
entertainment industries.
Beyond traditional college recruiting
centers, hemp companies should also
consider visiting historically Black
colleges and universities, several of
which are agriculturally focused. It
also helps to have people of color in
leadership positions who can help
recruit, McQuillan said.
Jeff Gray of SC Labs in Santa Cruz,
California, said his company works
with the Society for Advancement
of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native
Americans in Science (SACNAS) and
the University of California, Santa Cruz
to recruit minority students with STEM
majors into the cannabis industry.
Ultimately, becoming more inclusive
in hiring and retaining a diverse
workforce has to be authentic-and that
starts at the top, Gray said.
" Keep diversity and inclusion as an
ongoing priority and find allies, " Gray
said. " Recruiting for the best talent is always
difficult, and this is no different. So
create a plan, assess your practices and
maintain this as a priority. "
October 2020 | mjbizdaily.com 91
http://www.mjbizdaily.com
MJBizMag October 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of MJBizMag October 2020
