EDITOR’S NOTE: NJ Cannabis Insider is hosting a two-day business and networking conference March 9-10, featuring some of the state’s most prominent industry leaders. Early-bird registration is open. Tickets are limited.
Longtime New Jersey cannabis advocate Leo Bridgewater was named among 10 recipients in a national business accelerator program for underrepresented entrepreneurs in the industry.
Bridgewater, a Trenton-based consultant and well-known figure in New Jersey’s run to legalize cannabis, received a $50,000 grant from Eaze, one of California’s largest marketplaces for legal cannabis and delivery.
Bridgewater’s business vision entails using profits from the cultivation and processing space for vocational rehabilitation and uplifting a network of self-sufficient equity businesses that can lead the charge in establishing generational wealth within underrepresented communities.
“When you talk about minority inclusion and equity, these are things we’re not talking about in our understanding of this plant or this industry,” said Bridgewater, who is also the national director of Veterans Outreach with Minorities for Medical Marijuana, and instrumental in getting PTSD added as a qualifying condition for medical use in New Jersey.
The initial investment will allow Bridgewater’s consultant business to look toward getting cultivation and processing licenses once the state’s cannabis market opens up to adult consumers. Eaze would then consider carrying his company’s products on its menu.
Bridgewater runs a consulting company, BridgeH2O, and also has a strain named after him by the same at Harmony Dispensary in Secaucus. The strain was named after him for his advocacy work for veterans suffering from PTSD.
Creating a path for other economic ecosystems of color to thrive within the state will be key, said Bridgewater, who was recently profiled by NJ Cannabis Insider’s CannaInfluencers series ahead of last year’s elections.
“Making sure this industry is reflective of its consumers is something that’s going to be really, really, really important if we’re to be leaders in this industry,” he said.
The business accelerator, known as Momentum, will entail a 12-week program including mentorship from Eaze employees combined with a slate of industry experts, said Jennifer Lujan, director of Social Impact at Eaze.
Bridgewater was among 250 applicants for a 2021 cohort and was the sole recipient from New Jersey. Of the 10 recipients, only two others besides Bridgewater were not from California.
Providing recipients with an additional opportunity to grow their business at the end of the program is critical, Lujan said.
“They’re able to present to leading investors, industry experts, professionals in dispensaries and even to the Eaze team, their businesses for either a chance to get investment, shelf space or even potentially be on the menu for Eaze,” she said.
Social equity brands becoming self-sufficient and thriving is a matter of making sure there is access to business infrastructure, said Darius Kemp, Eaze’s head of Equity and Community Change.
“What we do is we find the partners that are able to meet the demand capabilities of our customers and then we basically rev their engine with as much gas as possible,” he said. (Eaze has signed on as a sponsor for NJ Cannabis Insider’s March virtual conference.)
After spending time in the industry as a longtime advocate and consultant, Bridgewater said that moving into the cultivation and processing side of the cannabis business is about setting an example.
“I have to become that which I’ve been screaming for,” he said.
Jelani Gibson may be reached at jgibson@njadvancemedia.com Follow him on Twitter @jelanigibson1.