Business View Magazine - Sept 2023

THE MA JORI T Y MINORI T Y GROUP Kenyatta shares, “After legalization passed in Illinois, back in 2019, we founded The Majority Minority group, primarily as a diversity and inclusion company. We formed it to help people overcome the obstacles that they face. You hate to just say it’s always related to race, but it does turn out in a lot of situations that many Black and Brown entrepreneurs, not only do face obstacles as businesspeople, but they also have to get over various stigmas in the business, in the workplace and as owners.” Advocacy and Education For the Majority Minority Group, advocacy holds immense significance, as does education. Taking on a role that involves bridging the gap between lawmakers and entrepreneurs, the company aims to bring them together to discuss priorities. “On the legislation side, what we find is, there seems to be an implementation problem, where we come up with these great concepts, these great policies, but then when it comes to following up and seeing how those things are going, there are people that are kind of left in between the cracks,” acknowledges Kenyatta. “I would say, if we advocate for anything, that’s kind of what we built our foundation off of, is this concept of social equity and advocating for that.” Kenyatta emphasizes that discussions in the cannabis industry often center on ownership, which he believes is a positive in terms of equity. He maintains that it is equally vital to consider employment opportunities, training, and diverse hiring. “If you’re in the cannabis industry you have a real responsibility to make sure that with your workforce and in the way that you do things, you embrace this culture of diversity. Several factors tie into why this industry in particular needs to focus on diversity,” he stresses, suggesting that the cannabis industry bears a responsibility to foster diversity due to the historical context of cannabis-related arrests and convictions. The Majority Minority Group makes it a priority, particularly with legislators and advocates, to ensure that policies and developments consider diversity when shaping new laws or concepts. Success in a Highly Regulated Industry