Aurora cannabis entrepreneur Victoria Williams has two reasons to celebrate August 2021. First, it happens to be National Black Business Month. Even better, the 37-year-old is the recipient of an Illinois state transporter license. She now can legally move cannabis products from point A to point B.
The Illinois Department of Agriculture issued nine of these documents in the first round of its adult-use marijuana licenses. Williams got the news on July 15th and she believes many more will follow in her footsteps.
The transporter license is unique. It does not involve any of the actual growing, manufacturing, storing, producing, or selling of weed products. But it does give Williams the ability to move products from cultivation centers, processing plants, craft growers, and lab testing facilities to retail.
Williams sees this as an enormous boost to her journey into the cannabis industry. She’s the founder of ACC of Illinois. Launched in July 2019, ACC offers mandated education and training for entrepreneurs hoping to get involved in the weed business.
Williams is pretty stunned about the possibilities. “The state has already made over two billion in sales, a number that could possibly triple once things open up more following last year’s COVID restrictions,” Williams points out. “And that product has to be transported.”
The license is a crucial benefit. For security reasons, cannabis facilities cannot transport their product. The state awarded Williams a key to a service no burgeoning cannabis business can ignore. Some consider the transport license the next step in solidifying the industry.
The single mother of three started the journey six years ago after discovering the cannabis industry via a friend on the West Coast. She immediately saw the potential, not just to leap into a lucrative career but to “bring” the prosperity “back to this community.” That was before medicinal weed was legal in her resident state.
Williams attributes fortitude to her success. She applied to the state’s equity lottery and won her license. She admits the paperwork was grueling. Her submission included a business plan, an employee-training plan, and a record-keeping and security plan. She also paid a $2,500 application fee and almost $10,000 for the fee alone.
Many applicants dropped out of the process during the pandemic, mostly due to losing the commercial property required to have a license.
Williams was not new to business before cannabis. She managed a daycare center for years before moving to the east side of Aurora so that her autistic son had access to better schools. Williams grew up in property with her teenage parents in Englewood. She knew how harsh the hood was but also knew how the media presented these neighborhoods as grotesqueries.
The next step is the development of ACC of Illinois Transportation. She sees the industry as a “fairly new market” and a wide-open opportunity for everyone. The cannabis industry is a stepping stone for changing how the world perceives its communities. Williams hopes to inspire andemploy them.
