As an investor it’s your job to know everything there is to know about a company before you sink your money into it, so when Supreme Cannabis (FIRE.T) said in 2018 that they were growing cannabis in Lesotho, you were well within your rights to ask: what or where the hell is Lesotho?
So let’s start this journey with some facts.
The Kingdom of Lesotho is a mountainous landlocked country situated within the territorial borders of South Africa. It’s just over 30,000 km2 in size with a population of around 2 million.
The demographics skew largely 95% Christian, 3.5% atheist, and 1.5% non-Christian. It’s positioned 2,161 meters above sea level and possesses a literacy rate of 85% for women and 67% for men. Lesotho invests 12% of its GDP in education – double Canada’s GDP-percent spend.
It’s largest city is called Maseru and it’s a beauty.
The country’s attitudes towards cannabis use are relaxed.
Cannabis use is illegal but tolerated—like Vancouver before legalization. Cannabis production, however, isn’t just tolerated but celebrated as the nation’s most significant cash crop. It’s estimated that shortly after the turn of the millenium, 70% of South Africa’s cannabis came from Lesotho. In 2017, Lesotho became the first African nation to grant a cultivation license for medical cannabis.
The facts only offer half of Lesotho’s story. The other half involves the country’s spirit.
For that, you need to see its people.
These folks work for Lesotho-based licensee, Medigrow.
Last year, Supreme and Medigrow entered into a long-term global extraction and distribution deal for medical cannabis oil. Supreme now proudly owns 10% of Medigrow, but only after spending nearly a year in due diligence, ensuring that the company had real assets and a professional team dedicated to high quality standards before putting their reputation on the line.
“We met their leadership team, were impressed by them, and after going back and forth multiple times, we sent our team down there to visit and determine not just that the facility and license were real, but also to be sure this was a facility that could deliver a long term competitive advantage. We needed to physically see that management team in their element, and that took multiple trips to Lesotho as well as their guys coming to us in Canada to see our facilities over a number of months,” said John Fowler, Supreme’s president and founder.
Social responsibility was part of the deal. Fowler wanted to ensure that his employees and their extended families enjoyed an increased living standard. That’s what’s caused those smiling faces you saw earlier.
Supreme is a company that recognizes quality product can only come from quality workers, and Fowler takes care of his people. That’s not something you hear a lot about in the cannabis space, or any other space for that matter.
Medigrow was the first company to get their license in Lesotho, and were given the nod to grow a year before any other licensee. At present, there’s 33 licensees in the country, but most aren’t growing because they can’t afford the USD$37,000 startup fee, so the actual amount of competition for growing space in Lesotho isn’t much.
This video from March 20 doesn’t specifically state that the company under review is Medigrow, but it is.
One of the reasons we like Supreme is because they’re an original no-bullshit cannabis company. That’s a rare breed in a market saturated with liars and idiots.
When they say they’re going to do something, they do it.
When they say they have something, they have it.
Put those two things together and you have a track-record for reliable business from professionals who absolutely refuse to fail.
What more could you ask for in an investment?
—Joseph Morton
Full Disclosure: Supreme Cannabis is an equity.guru marketing client.
