BALRAM Vaswani’s new position as chief ganja officer (CGO) at the US-based Ganja Inc and associated companies puts him at the centre of a high-growth industry.
Vaswani moved from Kingston to cash in on coffee in Denver, Colorado last year, but soon segued into ganja, which is legal in that US state.
“My main focus this year in Denver has been developing and working on a few core businesses that all complement each other from the seed-to-smoke model,” stated Vaswani in an e-mailed response to the Jamaica Observer about his CGO position at Ganja Inc, The Herbal Cure (THC), and Optional Premise Cultivation (OPC).
Vaswani recently joined these companies which were set up in 2009 at the start of the medical marijuana industry in Denver. Attempts to contact Brandon Burnham, president and chief executive officer (CEO), proved futile up to press time as calls to the THC head office went unanswered.
Vaswani stepped down as CEO of Marley Coffee Limited in Jamaica, now headed by Jason Sharp.
“The directors of Marley Coffee are not currently a part of this venture,” he said. “But I continue to work closely with the Marley family on other projects.”
THC provides medical and recreational marijuana facilities within Colorado by taking advantage of the legalisation movement. OPC provides indoor cultivation of more than 145 marijuana strains; while Ganja Inc retails clothing, ganja storage cases, joint rollers, rolling papers and so on. Sales are estimated to hit US$2.7 million this year, stated Vaswani.
“We created our seed-to-smoke model, and want to create brands and products all the way along that journey,” he said.
“It provides the Colorado community with one of the highest grade medical marijuana and other natural and holistic products and services that relate to the service and business of marijuana,” he said. “Our brand lab is made up of a Medical Marijuana Centre (MMC) and Retail Medical Marijuana Centre (RMC) in Denver that is used for retail sales, and two Optional Premises Cultivation facilities to supply our operations.”
Vaswani said that the company currently operates 20,000 square feet of indoor grown space that yields an average of 80 pounds per month.
“We are also finalising plans to build out 175 acres of outdoor greenhouses which hope to break ground in March 2015. This is anticipating the initial output in phase one to be 1,200 to 1,400 lbs per month,” he added.
The ganja company plans to expand into Nevada; New York; Washington, DC; Aspen; and California in 2015 and early 2016.
“The plan is to build out and operate our recreational and medical brands across the country as the drug legalises,” Vaswani said. “We are very much brand- and product-focused. We want to become one of the leading ganja lifestyle companies in the US and also in Jamaica, when that day comes.”