“Through this partnership, we hope to celebrate diversity and paint a more equitable picture of the industry across our stages.”
— Patrick Lane, senior vice president of partnerships at Benzinga.
Benzinga, a financial news, technology, and events company, is partnering with advocacy organization Women Grow to foster women-owned cannabis businesses at its upcoming Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference on September 13-14 at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, Ill.
Through the partnership with Women Grow — which is focused on turning legal cannabis into the first female-led, billion dollar industry — selected women-owned companies will have their sponsorship fees waived and be able to showcase their brands at no cost in the conference’s exhibit hall.
Javier Hasse, head of content at Benzinga, said: “While gestures are often not enough, this is a good starting point to place emerging brands on an equal footing with major operators in the cannabis space. By showing how our industry can and should look if we all commit to supporting women-owned brands, we could well inspire others to do the same.”
At the event, the companies will have access to Benzinga’s extensive network of investors and industry leaders and the opportunity to network with them in a face-to-face setting. The Benzinga team will facilitate the introductions to jumpstart the conversations. The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference is where the Trulieve Cannabis team met Harvest Health & Recreation, ultimately leading to a $2.1-billion acquisition.
Gia Morón, president of Women Grow, said the goal of this partnership is to create a broader opportunity for women in cannabis. “Together we will work on getting women into rooms with investors, investment presentations and high net worth networking circles. Furthermore, we will work to identify women leaders and business owners to present at Benzinga conferences,” said Morón.
The cannabis industry’s meeting place
The 15th edition of the successful cannabis investing and finance event will bring together companies representing more than 90% of the cannabis industry’s market capitalization in one place. The conference offers exclusive opportunities for curated networking and access to private deal flow. In attendance will be executives of top-performing cannabis companies and the world’s leading cannabis investors, like mainstream finance behemoths Ricky Sandler, Whitney Tilson and Tim Seymour.
The conference will feature keynotes, panel discussions, fireside chats, networking spaces, company presentations, an exhibit floor as well as investor and celebrity appearances. Some of the top women speakers include: Wendy Berger, Nancy Whiteman, Emily Paxhia, Dr. Chanda Macias, Vivien Azer, Judy Rinkus, and Trulieve’s Kim Rivers.
Gratis passes for the social equity
To enable and support access to the conference for women and minority-owned businesses, Benzinga is providing a series of scholarships in partnership with WomenGrow, Minorities for Medical Marijuana and the Minority Cannabis Business Association. Benzinga will provide social equity passes for those who qualify and has committed to donating a percentage of all event ticket sales to the Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to cannabis criminal justice reform.
“Through this partnership, we hope to celebrate diversity and paint a more equitable picture of the industry across our stages,” said Patrick Lane, senior vice president of partnerships at Benzinga.
Click here to register or apply for a social equity pass for the Cannabis Capital Conference, which prides itself as the event “Where deals get done,.”