Asya Hill, President of Illinois Women and Cannabis (IWC), shared her insight on the importance of making the right business decisions as she and her team prepared for a panel at Flower Expo, a buyer trade show connecting brands with buyers. "Because the industry is still new, many of them feel they need to build everything from scratch. They end up hemorrhaging money trying to reinvent the wheel. Even established companies often lack strong SOPs, infrastructure, the right hires, and the best strategy. Without a clear business foundation of people and processes, you can't run efficiently. With that foundation, you can shift and adapt more easily—but without it, success becomes nearly impossible."
Mentorship in the cannabis space is essential for success. Reflections and conversations such as Hill's are part of a niche economy, booming with great ideas but facing challenging capital and legislative realities. Among them is the challenging access to conversations at events such as Flower Expo. The two-day pass is $250, a fair cost for professional development, but a barrier for cash-strapped startups. Organizations such as the Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA) are positioned to serve entrepreneurs who find themselves excluded by pricing and lack personalized connections to build a network of trusted industry peers.
Mike Lomuto, MCBA Board Chair and Co-Founder of Dao Mastery, has taken the MCBA Equity Workshop Tour on the road for the third consecutive year. Having hosted it, he's learned a few things along the way. He believes the tour's most valuable asset is being able to accommodate businesses of all levels of experience and background. "The Tour has really reinforced my belief in the need to meet entrepreneurs where they're at, and the importance of doing so through listening, rather than what I often see, where subject matter experts and technical assistance providers either talk at entrepreneurs or talk to them based on where they believe they should be coming from," Mike shared.
Each year, cannabis mentors and educators support entrepreneurs by first understanding where they are in their development. This aspect of the Equity Workshop Tour is a much-needed resource, considering participants don't have full access to resources from the Small Business Administration. While industry insights have focused on operations, there has been little investigation into how transferable skills from various industries have supported success. He followed up by saying, "The number one thing I believe that the Tour has reinforced is the utmost importance of a cannabis entrepreneur's mindset—their coachability and willingness to be wrong and learn, and to find mentors who are willing to meet them where they are while guiding them to where they need to be."
The cannabis sector is still in limbo, and there needs to be some nimbleness. With the state of cannabis under the current administration, Mike's sense is that there is still a large amount of uncertainty and even despair among EWT participants across the nation. But Lomuto believes the Tour helps keep spirits high and keeps business leaders inspired to find solutions. "I believe the Tour helps provide a strong sense of hope—not false hope in miracles being around the corner, but rather the kind of inspiration that comes when you know you're not alone in something, and that you have aligned leaders you can tap into on this journey. We also focus strongly on creating SMART goals—tangible action items—and a lot of people tell me they appreciate that type of focus that's created out of a curated program," he said.
When asked what the attendees seem to have in common over the years and across states, Mike responds enthusiastically: they are solutions-oriented. "These business leaders have a desire to solve problems and to think outside the box. No one believes there is a quick answer, and everyone's in it for the long game," he remarked.
In 2024, the Tour hosted 23 workshops across the nation and engaged 200 speakers and facilitators from 30 agencies, and served over 1,000 attendees for free. The tour returns to the Windy City on Saturday, October 4th, 2025, at Industrious - Fulton Market from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and it's expected to reach capacity yet again. Highlights include fireside chats with State of Illinois regulators and advocates, business development roundtables, Metrc specialized training, and networking.
Dr. Mila Marshall is an environmental professional and journalist with a passion for advancing sustainability in all sectors. Her passion is directed towards urban food systems in segregated cities.