NEW YORK: The rapidly developing cannabis industry is quickly becoming a major global marketplace. Several countries across the world are adopting cannabis legislation, with particular interest being expressed in medical cannabis.
Major players from the U.S. and Canada are thriving in the industry as they develop premium products such as oils, tinctures, creams, and strains for consumers. Globally, many countries have also locked in distribution agreements with companies operating in the U.S. or Canada. Countries such as Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom have signed such agreements with distributors to receive medicinal cannabis imports. According to data compiled by a European investment bank, Bryan, Garnier & Co., the global legal cannabis market is projected to reach USD 140 Billion by 2027. With the market expected to continue to flourish as more countries move towards legalizing cannabis. Although many regions around the world have not fully legalized cannabis yet, a handful allow for personal consumption in minimal amounts. Primarily, the marketplace is expected to be dominated by the North American region, due in part to the U.S. and Canada's large recreational market space. Biome Grow Inc. (OTC: BIOIF) (CSE: BIO), Auxly Cannabis Group Inc. (OTC: CBWTF) (TSX-V: XLY), AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc. (OTCQB: AXIM), Planet 13 Holdings Inc. (OTC: PLNHF) (CSE: PLTH), VIVO Cannabis Inc. (OTC: VVCIF) (TSX-V: VIVO)With the recent boom in the industry, companies are actively seeking employees to fill rapidly developing job positions. Jobs such as dispensary managers and budtenders are popular, but there are also jobs like lab technicians, brand ambassadors, extractors, trimmers, and delivery drivers, according to News Times. For example, in December 2018, Glassdoor found 1,512 new cannabis job openings using its database, a 76% increase from the previous year. Slightly more than half of the job openings were for professional and technical workers, ranging from marketing positions, to plant scientists, to accountants. Cities such as San Francisco, California and Denver, Colorado account for the majority of these job openings. Moreover, California and Colorado are the biggest global market drivers, as they each drove in over a billion dollars in revenue in 2017. Cannabis industry roles on Glassdoor are highly diverse, requiring an array of skills and backgrounds from marketing and retail to research and agriculture. The jobs available, however, broadly fit into three categories: service and retail, professional and technical, and labor and physical, according to Glassdoor's cannabis job report, The cannabis industry in the U.S. faces myriad risks in the future with uncertainty over its legal status and uneven state-level regulations. However, by increasing hiring and investing in human capital, employers are signaling their confidence in the long-term staying power of the cannabis industry.
Biome Grow Inc. (OTCQB: BIOIF) (CSE: BIO) also listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the ticker (CSE: BIO). Earlier last week, the Company announced that, After an overwhelming demand for its products in its home province, Biome Grow's Nova Scotia based brand, Highland Grow, will be dramatically increasing its operations. This is further validation of Biome's localized approach to building a locally owned and operated brand that offers high quality products specifically created for the local consumer.
As part of this expansion, Highland Grow will immediately be adding twenty-five new jobs. An integral part of this plan is our newly announced Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre to develop an innovative job training, skills and employment opportunities program for urban indigenous people in the region.
Within two weeks of signing this MOU, Biome sent the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre a request to immediately assist Biome in filling five new positions to join our Highland Grow's rapidly growing facility. These first five jobs will be in supply chain logistics, packaging, quality control, and cultivation.
This partnership offers Biome a unique opportunity to demonstrate its social responsibility as a trusted corporate citizen, and truly be part of the community we operate in - to always be locally owned, locally operated and our products to be locally grown, said Khurram Malik, CEO, Biome Grow. These are stable, long term careers for local people to work in one of the fastest growing and most innovative industries in the world. We wanted to work with The Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre from the very beginning to ensure that these opportunities were made available to everyone, specifically to local indigenous communities.
The three-year partnership will see the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre and Biome Grow collaborate on Indigenous focused training programs and employment support projects in the cannabis sector. Job skills in the sector include medical handling and packaging proficiencies, product compliance and cultivation, quality control and analysis, shipping, classification and inventory control systems.