Presenting ‘The Green Side’ your local Farmacy and Cannaporium.

At the very beginning in 2018 we were ready with a brand-new company called Canna Trade Africa Pty Ltd (CTA). This company was set to become the ‘Apple’ of cannabis with a “seed to sale” understanding of the industry. The first thing one does when getting involved in a newly regulated industry is to meet with the attorneys that have been involved in changing the laws to see what is possible. We chose to meet with Schindler’s law firm and found out that the cannabis industry was highly restrictive and there was very little that we were able to trade in, but, with eternal optimism, we soldiered on.

(CTA), the brand was launched at the first ever cannabis expo that was being held in Tshwane in December of 2018. When I arrived on the Thursday to find the exhibition hall thronged with people, I now understood. This is the ‘green rush’. Customers were in a frenzy to grab whatever they were able to. Suppliers ran out of everything very quickly. We however were not caught off guard. Due to my past working in a family business and an accomplished marketer, we had wide categories, loads of cards, flyers, brochures, a website and some of the most awesome limited-edition goodies on offer. That was our first taste of this mind-blowing new industry, set to take our world by storm.

Canna Trade Africa set out to be a focused end to end distribution company that was incorporated to handle Spades & Buckets.

We are of course speaking proverbially and are referencing the new ‘Green Rush’ to the ‘gold rush’ of yesteryear. The CTA brand was born out of laser sharp total brand penetrative focus. The actual brand graphic shows the movement of the new Global Cannabis industry and sector to Africa and then once we adopt the industry for ourselves back out to the world again. That is why this brand is so current and evolutionary. Canna Trade Africa (CTA) itself has three vital pillars and all our products sourced have to match the criteria namely; the best products, best protocols and the best price. In order for a product to fit the Canna trade Africa category mosaic it must meet all 3 pillars of criteria. This is our value complement. Next step in our journey was opening a showroom – retail store. We found a venue in the leafy suburb of Greenside. When we were standing outside the property and working out what to call this new site, it dawned on us, ‘The Green Side’ (TGS), that is a perfect name for our new CTA showroom.

We were not planning on creating another brand, but what happened next resulted in our awesome end user focused brand that basically chose us.

 ‘The Green Side’ Your local Farmacy & Cannaporium 

We were immediately challenged by some who took umbridge to this brand, resulting in us registering and trademarking ‘The Green Side’ TM. The Green Side was born out of diversity and conflict. The more conflict others threw at us the more we got stuck in and created this awesome new brand for the Cannabis & wellness market.

Canna Trade Africa is always about innovating, we now took a play on two words firstly being Farmacy “food as real medicine” and secondly, we coined the term Cannaporium by combining cannabis and emporium. We now had the perfect ‘by line’ to bring 2 sides of the cannabis coin into one store.

Presenting ‘The Green Side’ your local Farmacy and Cannaporium.

Our byline, tells the end user that we are a local company promoting local products. We are focused on Food as medicine and we are a fully stocked cannabis emporium. Once we opened, we were blown away at the huge amount of support. Our customers enjoyed the ability to find out all about their favourite plant in a new upmarket environment without the stigmas of the old Dagga illegal industry. Our customers are people from all walks of life, and this allowed us to set the parameter to create our new wellness program. We opened a new section of the property and turned it into our wellness centre called ‘Ozz your centre of unlearning’. If one is to assist people with medical Cannabis, it is vital to begin with unlearning as the scientific community only just acknowledged the endocannabinoid system or (ECS). A system in one’s body that results in an individual reaching a state of homeostasis or equilibrium. Cannabis as a vital part of a healthy regime has been known by the herbal community for at least 2000 years, hence let’s begin by unlearning.

‘Fresh&Healthy’ Certified organic produce

In 2016, We started a give back business called ‘Fresh & Healthy’. We understood that the only way to achieve complete holistic wellness is to see our body as a temple. With this we need to feed our bodies certified organic produce. Between 2016 and now we are the leading distributor of Certified Organic vegetables from our partner farm in centurion to your kitchen. So, it all really started in 2016, with our last brand, Fresh & Healthy. We have now built a full wellness program that focused on using cannabis for homeostasis and endo-cannabis coaching. We then pair this with brain health and the reasons why we should eat organic. The next step is introducing superfoods and nutraceuticals and finally targeting ailments. This program has no charge as we believe that the Fresh & Healthy lifestyle has to be shared.

Our Expansion Journey

We are extremely fortunate to have returned to pre covid trading levels. One needs capital to expand so we decided to create a fund called ‘The Green Seed’, you cannot build and sustain a fire without fuel, the fund is a way for us to fuel our fire resulting in us having the ability to launch our new Flagship store that is to be the first regional store. ‘The Green Side Sandton’ cnr Bowling and South Road. This store has been open for over 18 months. We took ‘The Green Side’s’ special look and feel and combined it with a brand-new approach of re use and re purpose, very similar to what is happening in Barcelona. We are happy to say that we are blessed and our customers have begun to frequent the new store. Canna Trade Africa is all about innovation and in this store, we are super excited to add another two components; our Plant Based ‘Deli’ and ‘Diner’. We believe that if all people eat 50% less animal product immediately the planet will ‘breathe a sigh of relief’.

That is why we have created The Fresh & Healthy Plant based Deli and Dinner to show our customers just how easy it is to eat less animal products. Pop in and enjoy us out of this world vegan burgers, sloppy Joes (made from lentils), toasted plant-based Cheese & tomatoes all at very affordable prices. The next step was to open a fund company to expand nationally. We now have launched The Green Fund Co and have opened the first of 6 new regional stores. This store is in Pretoria in the leafy area on Hazelwood. We have outdone ourselves and have managed to duplicate the Sandton store 100%. This store is 3 months old and is set to be a jewel in the Tshwane landscape. This resulted in one of the most current and sophisticated brands with cutting edge creativity in the cannabis market. If you are looking for the best brands in the cannabis environment, The Green Side will titillate your curiosity, hypnotise your senses and satisfy your desires on your journey to optimal health.

Pop into the store, bring this article and receive a free gift worth R450. Namaste!