In the Green Market Report At the Midwest Women's Cannabis Business Summit in Chicago on November 2nd, we recognized some of the top players in the industry with the GMR Midwest Women in Cannabis Awards.
The pioneer award was presented to Jackie Cahan, managing partner at Chicago-based logistics support firm 240L Holdings, which specializes in supply chain solutions for marijuana companies.
Cahan is relatively new to the marijuana business, having just released 240L in early 2021, but after just a few years she says she feels like a “seasoned veteran.”
“I didn't know I needed the cannabis business,” Cahan said Green Market Report, but during the COVID pandemic, stress led her to abuse alcohol and it was cannabis that helped her stop drinking. “I really believe cannabis saved my life, I kicked the bottle and I'm really trying to understand what my body needs to be the best person I can be.”
Cahan's company made its first acquisition the summer after it launched: an Oregon distribution company that Cahan helped reorganize into a much more efficient brand management machine.
“Just breaking that business down” was one of her proudest moments to date, Cahan said, because it helped her create an inventory management system she calls a “doobie decimal system” and used it to organize more than a million SKUs .
“Now being able to actually track and trace SKUs, being able to provide our brands with dashboards that tell them how their products are performing on the retailer's shelf, then that's a pretty empowering moment for the supply chain,” Cahan said .
He added that he has been surprised by how difficult it has been to get colleagues in the marijuana trade to cooperate and share information on various projects, which he said has been the biggest business hurdle to date.
“No one wants to share,” Cahan said. “People are so afraid to tell you what they're working on in case you can steal that idea. And I think every idea right now is so great and important in this industry.”
“I believe that the strength of this industry will be built on relationships, like any other industry, and that you should not be afraid to share your work, if you want, with me. And I'm looking for great partners all the time,” he said.
When looking to the future, Cahan said she's eager for more women to claim the industry.
“I'm looking for women to really get into this market. In my opinion, women are not into cannabis. 60% of the market is flower, smokers. Women don't want to smoke,” Cahan said. “But give me something that's going to help my body, that's fast acting, that gets me high and I'm in.”
