spin-offs to avoid additional financings to fund secondary businesses. This keeps PUF’s share structure intact and allows for the new vehicle to finance according to a well thought out business plan with a separate management team and much more focused vision.
We are using the same strategy with Natures Hemp. We have created a new vehicle to finance the new consumer product business plan with a new more focused management team. Natures Hemp originated from a product I have developed called Nature POD, which is a proprietary hemp milk blend that I see as a dairy substitute. When you take the family for breakfast on a Saturday morning, you typically find creamers which are always milk or cream, but never a third choice. My vision was to become the healthy third alternative for coffee creamers. There are real concerns with almond and soy milk due to nut allergies and issues with estrogen content. To my knowledge there are no issues with hemp. So, I see Nature POD being that third choice offer a product that not only works for your coffee and tea, hot or cold, but is also a healthy choice containing natural omega 3 fatty acids that you can drink on its own or add to your smoothie.
Q: Focus is always good. And from there you have been busy on the international front with the creation of your Columbian subsidiary. Can you advise on the status of this venture as well as an update on how things are progressing down under is Australia?
A: Absolutely - international diversifies the company’s business. Canada has become very competitive very quickly, and I believe the USA and international markets will experience the next big wave. Today, PUF does not have any U.S. exposure due to challenging regulations and restrictions and we have spent considerable time with compliance to ensure we don’t have any U. S. exposure. But we do believe there is a significant international opportunity, especially in places like California, for medical and recreational cannabis.
In terms of Colombia, because it is the lowest cost cannabis producing country in the world I wanted to establish a presence there. I am a resident of Colombia and personally own property there, so I am very familiar with the business environment. We created Pure Grow Medicinals to evaluate opportunities and if we find something worth while we will act. The project must make sense and we will not overpay. In Colombia there is a need for technology and expertise to bring the final product to international quality standards and ensure the potential for exporting to other countries.
Australia is another great project with significant upside. The 1.2 million square foot greenhouse in is the planning stage and the we have filed for the necessary licenses and permits to begin construction. But with any emerging cannabis market, regulators are methodical in their ways and applications take time to process. We have a great team leading the process and the project is moving forward, but there is a lot of paperwork.
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