Fluresh opens applications for next cohort in cannabis accelerator program

Fluresh opens applications for next cohort in cannabis accelerator program
Previous participants in Fluresh’s Cannabis Entrepreneur Program.

GRAND RAPIDS — Vertically integrated cannabis company Fluresh LLC has opened applications for the next round of participants in its cannabis accelerator program for entrepreneurs.

Grand Rapids-based Fluresh is now in the third year of its Cannabis Entrepreneur Program, formerly known as the Fluresh Five Accelerator. Company officials will select five participants for the nine-month business incubator that provides professional training, technical assistance and workspace.

As well, the business incubator was designed to bring more diversity, equity and inclusion to the cannabis industry and help entrepreneurs scale up their ideas.

“The mission of the program is to support efforts that will help build equity in the cannabis industry,” Fluresh Community Engagement Manager Tia Ezell said in a statement. “We believe that one of the greatest ways we can achieve this goal is by providing educational tools to those seeking them. The participants can be forces for change, while using our resources to create opportunity in our community and industry.”

Applications will be accepted through Dec. 2, and participants will be selected and notified on Dec. 9.

As Grand Rapids’ first company to operate a cannabis dispensary, Fluresh launched the incubator in early 2021 with focus areas on state and local licensing, entrepreneurship, finance, cultivation and processing, retail operations, environmental sustainability and marketing. More than 80 percent of the participants selected for the first cohort were Black and Indigenous business entrepreneurs.

Jessica Austin, co-owner of Creative Carvings LLC who participated in the 2021 group, said at the time that “to be part of a mentorship program that focuses on social equity, and working with individuals seeking opportunities in the cannabis business makes me excited about the future of my business in the cannabis industry.”