Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
The future of the Desert Hot Springs business community is bright, at least according to residents and business owners who attended the city's business summit.
While the event Wednesday didn't focus exclusively on the cannabis industry, it certainly stood out as cultivators talked about the enormous economic potential the industry holds for the city and state.
In the short term, cultivation will create hundreds of jobs in the city, Jason Elsasser, CEO of CV Pharms, a cultivation facility projected to open in March. In the long term, it could create thousands, as well as bringing in tens of millions in tax revenues to the city.
Local, well-paying jobs could be an economic gamechanger for Desert Hot Springs, where people travel an average of 30 minutes to get to work and the median household income is under $34,000 a year, according to census data. Cultivators said some starting jobs at their facilities will pay $40,000.
Greta Carter, who cultivated in Washington before moving to California, said not all of these jobs require an in-depth knowledge of cannabis.
"We need people with the same talent and skills of any other business," she said, adding that cultivation facilities will employ accountants, lawyers and marketing and social media specialists.
One of the biggest challenges, she said, is transitioning people who have always operated in a black market economy and have institutional knowledge but no formal business experience.
"There's a lot of anxiety about how you bring an underground economy, that has put kids through college and paid mortgages, above ground," Carter said.
The summit brought representatives from the city's burgeoning cannabis industry together with residents and other local businesses and organizations, including real estate companies, security companies and marketing agencies, to discuss the increased opportunities for economic prosperity in the city's future.
Resident Markus Smith said he came to the summit because he's a landowner in the city and has had concerns with the status of the city, particularly public safety.
He said attending helped ease these concerns and he was interested to hear about everything the city is doing to build up and expand the business community.
Smith wasn't the only one interested to learn about the city's economic evolution. Elsasser, Carter and Adrian Sedlin, CEO of Canndescent, the first cultivation facility to commence operations in the city, fielded dozens of questions about their businesses and the industry.
The three responded to inquiries about investing in the industry, how soon supply will catch up with demand and how it will affect profit margins, impact on the electrical grid and how they deal with conflicting municipal, state and federal laws.
All three admitted inherent difficulties in getting into an industry on the ground floor, but said there were rewards as well.
"One of the challenges of being first is that sometimes the pioneers take the arrows," Sedlin said. "But hey, you're still being allowed to do something no one else in the state is being allowed to do."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Cannabis Industry Shines At Desert Hot Springs Business Summit
Author: Corinne S Kennedy
Contact: (760) 322-8889
Photo Credit: Richard Lui
Website: The Desert Sun
While the event Wednesday didn't focus exclusively on the cannabis industry, it certainly stood out as cultivators talked about the enormous economic potential the industry holds for the city and state.
In the short term, cultivation will create hundreds of jobs in the city, Jason Elsasser, CEO of CV Pharms, a cultivation facility projected to open in March. In the long term, it could create thousands, as well as bringing in tens of millions in tax revenues to the city.
Local, well-paying jobs could be an economic gamechanger for Desert Hot Springs, where people travel an average of 30 minutes to get to work and the median household income is under $34,000 a year, according to census data. Cultivators said some starting jobs at their facilities will pay $40,000.
Greta Carter, who cultivated in Washington before moving to California, said not all of these jobs require an in-depth knowledge of cannabis.
"We need people with the same talent and skills of any other business," she said, adding that cultivation facilities will employ accountants, lawyers and marketing and social media specialists.
One of the biggest challenges, she said, is transitioning people who have always operated in a black market economy and have institutional knowledge but no formal business experience.
"There's a lot of anxiety about how you bring an underground economy, that has put kids through college and paid mortgages, above ground," Carter said.
The summit brought representatives from the city's burgeoning cannabis industry together with residents and other local businesses and organizations, including real estate companies, security companies and marketing agencies, to discuss the increased opportunities for economic prosperity in the city's future.
Resident Markus Smith said he came to the summit because he's a landowner in the city and has had concerns with the status of the city, particularly public safety.
He said attending helped ease these concerns and he was interested to hear about everything the city is doing to build up and expand the business community.
Smith wasn't the only one interested to learn about the city's economic evolution. Elsasser, Carter and Adrian Sedlin, CEO of Canndescent, the first cultivation facility to commence operations in the city, fielded dozens of questions about their businesses and the industry.
The three responded to inquiries about investing in the industry, how soon supply will catch up with demand and how it will affect profit margins, impact on the electrical grid and how they deal with conflicting municipal, state and federal laws.
All three admitted inherent difficulties in getting into an industry on the ground floor, but said there were rewards as well.
"One of the challenges of being first is that sometimes the pioneers take the arrows," Sedlin said. "But hey, you're still being allowed to do something no one else in the state is being allowed to do."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Cannabis Industry Shines At Desert Hot Springs Business Summit
Author: Corinne S Kennedy
Contact: (760) 322-8889
Photo Credit: Richard Lui
Website: The Desert Sun
