MJ Unpacked Partners with Minority Cannabis Business Association and Our Academy

MJ Unpacked is the first cannabis THC CPG trade event designed to both drive commerce and integrate access to capital.

MJ Unpacked MCBA and Our Academy partnership to create an actionable path to social equity.

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Oct 05, 2021, 08:38 ET

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MJ Unpacked, the first cannabis CPG trade event designed to both drive commerce and integrate access to capital, announced today its partnership with Our Academy, a social equity and BIPOC-owned business accelerator and the Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA). MCBA will be hosting their State Policy Summit on-site during MJ Unpacked.

"There is overwhelming verbal support in our industry to create restorative justice in cannabis and help support BIPOC-owned business, but the reality is that when you ask what is one of the biggest challenges, the answer is always the same: access to capital," said George Jage, co-founder of Jage Media. "This event can significantly level the playing field to create open access to the money investing in licensed operators."

MJ Unpacked, is the first-of-its kind event that is exclusively for cannabis CPG brand and retail executives and accredited investors actively investing in cannabis. MJ Unpacked premieres October 21 - 22 in Las Vegas 9am - 5pm, at The South Seas Convention Center at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. The one-of-a-kind event places passionate cannabis retailers and THC CPG brands and investors at the center of it all, with unparalleled and much needed opportunities to connect and collaborate.

"According to the Porter Novelli Purpose Study in 2018, less than 4% of cannabis companies are led by BIPOC founders despite BIPOC consumers accounting for 80% of cannabis sales," said Hilary L. Yu, co-founder of Our Academy. "This is partially due to not having access to traditional financing like a friends and family round and for many social equity applicants who have found investors, deal structures have proven to be predatory. We're incredibly grateful that MJ Unpacked is giving our mentees a platform to share their stories and the incredible opportunities they're offering investors."

Despite cannabis being one of the largest generational wealth opportunities of our time, capital has not flowed to diverse founders or the communities most harmed by the War on Drugs.

MCBA will be hosting their State Policy Summit on-site, pre-show, October 20, 10am - 4pm at MJ Unpacked. This invitation-only event will bring together social equity stakeholders and some of the top policy minds in cannabis to draft an updated version of MCBA's model state policy bill. Past policy summits hosted by MCBA have yielded legislative language and policy proposals that have made their way into federal bills as well as been implemented at the state and local level.

"We are thrilled about the opportunity to bring together equity stakeholders and policy minds from around the country at MJ Unpacked to craft the gold standard of state level cannabis legislation that centers principles of economic and social justice and repairs the harm continuing to be done to Black and brown communities by marijuana prohibition," said Kaliko Castille, President of MCBA.

MCBA is a mission-driven organization that creates equal access for cannabis businesses and promotes economic empowerment for communities of color by creating policy considerations, social programming, and outreach initiatives to achieve equity for the communities most affected by the War on Drugs.

Our Academy provides the ground support for aspiring BIPOC entrepreneurs to take their dream to an actionable business plan, pitch deck, and go to market strategy.

"We created Our Academy as a non-profit precelerator to support BIPOC cannabis entrepreneurs to actualize their dreams and the results are jaw dropping. In less than a year, our mentees have received licenses, launched brands, some in multiple states through supply chain agreements with Our Academy partners, but the compliant cannabis industry is an expensive space to be in and none of that velocity of growth matters if we don't have a pipeline of investors to back these businesses," said Yu.

Register for MJ Unpacked Now

Attendance to MJ Unpacked is exclusive to cannabis retail and brand executives with the title manager and above and accredited investors. To register for MJ Unpacked, please visit: https://mjunpackedregister.com

For a full list of conference programming, please visit: https://mjunpacked.com/conference

About MJ Unpacked
All it takes is a spark. Premiering October 21 & 22 2021, MJ Unpacked is the first cannabis event of its kind that places passionate cannabis retailers and THC CPG brands at the center of it all, with unique opportunities to connect, collaborate and access capital. In a newly imagined format, executives are free to learn from fellow professionals, explore expansion opportunities and prepare to be competitive in a national market. MJ Unpacked is produced by Jage Media, Inc. For more information, please visit: https://mjunpacked.com.

About Jage Media
Founded by George Jage, former president of MJBizDaily/MJBizCon and CEO of Dope Media, and Kim Jage, former EVP & CMO of World Tea Media, Jage Media launched in early 2020 with a veteran team of cannabis investors. The company is poised to fill the critical gap where brands and retailers convene to drive the future of the industry, capture the next stage of market growth and deliver a true return on investment and objectives. https://www.jagemedia.com

Media Contact:
Zoe Wilder
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SOURCE MJ Unpacked