Interview with Adrian Müller: Mrs. Green’s Co-Founder
Over recent years the attitude towards hemp has become increasingly more liberal, at both social and legal levels. Meanwhile, CBD products are legal and tradable in Switzerland. Mrs. Green is an Olten-based start-up specialised in trading CBD products. STARTUPS.CH met co-founder Adrian Müller to interview him on what makes a start-up so special in this industry.
Mr Müller, over recent years the attitude of the public and lawmakers to hemp has become increasingly more liberal. Nevertheless, it is not yet completely accepted. What moved you to do business in this special area?
Firstly, we find it incredibly exciting to do business in an industry that is still young and has so many facets: the variety of possible uses for hemp is simply awesome. Secondly, we wish to contribute to the social acceptance of hemp and hemp products. Hemp is an underrated and unjustly criminalised crop and medicinal plant. Its medicinal potential has been barely researched, and the fact that more than 80 active ingredients are as yet known that occur only in hemp (the so-called cannabinoids) proves that it has been scientifically investigated to a sufficient extent. Furthermore, hemp seeds are perfectly suitable as ‘super food’ for processing in the food industry because, with up to 90% of unsaturated fatty acids and a high content of omega-3 fatty acids, they are more than healthy. As hemp is a very undemanding yet resilient plant and most hemp products can be recycled in an environmentally friendly way, it is also a sustainable and environmentally sound resource.
Was any special registration needed for the sale of your products or is any licence required to distribute CBD products?
No licence as such is required for the production and sale of CBD buds as tobacco substitutes. However, the production and sale have to be reported to the Directorate General of Customs and Excise for the payment of tobacco tax, and each new tobacco substitute has to be submitted or, as the case may be, reported to the Federal Office of Public Health. Whether or not the production or sale of CBD products has to be approved, reported, licensed, etc. depends on what kind of product you have declared or what law is applicable to it. For cosmetics, medicinal products, food articles, etc., there are various requirements in place. According to Swissmedic’s leaflet, the sale of CBD buds or products as raw materials is lawful only in some exceptional cases.
How do you think, how much untapped potential there still is in the Swiss CBD market?
The Swiss CBD market is just one to two years young and still offers, in our opinion, a lot of unused potential. As yet the majority of suppliers manufacture mainly unprocessed CBD buds, which can be sold as tobacco substitutes. Hypothetically, it is possible to process or use them in almost every sphere of life, however: for example, hemp fibre is also used in the automotive industry and, as already mentioned, hemp contains a variety of barely researched active ingredients that can be found only in hemp. Indeed, due to the partially restrictive and often ambiguous legal status, this significant potential can be tapped only to a very limited extent. For instance, CBD is not approved for the manufacture of cosmetics and, unfortunately, does not fall within the definition of an allowable agent under article 19d of the Pharmaceuticals Regulation. All over the world influential stakeholders lobby against using cheap medications such as hemp: especially the pharmaceutical industry is not interested at all in natural drugs made from a medicinal plant’s ingredients that cannot be patented. Consequently, the market potential of CBD and hemp also depends on further political and social development.
Especially the online trade in CBD products is still facing some difficulties. Among other things, because the US based credit card providers Mastercard and Visa, which, in their general terms and conditions, invoke US law, whereby CBD products are still illegal (cf. blog). Does this severely affect your business?
We were astonished hearing this news. Fortunately, this obstacle could not be confirmed in practice. We revealed our CBD and hemp range to the financial services provider responsible for clearing our credit card transactions and we know that you may surely pay for such products by credit card. However, financial services providers offering payment settlement services have a sharp eye on the vendors. The internal due diligence audits conducted so far were extensive and rigorous. There is a detailed catalogue requirements, and full information on subcontractors and production conditions has to be revealed. The vendors may offer only products that are also compliant with Swissmedic’s leaflet.
Do you think that the attitude towards hemp is going to become even more liberal?
I am convinced of it. Another popular initiative is in the pipeline, and recently some shift in society could be observed. In our opinion, the repression is being seen increasingly more critically, and many people are starting to recognise the plant’s huge medicinal potential. In general, the criminalisation of hemp serves only organised crime. Legalisation, in turn, would bring millions in additional tax revenues and thus make the implementation of specific youth crime prevention programmes possible. Of course, the ongoing proliferation of legal hemp products and their partial legalisation in the USA and other countries such as Uruguay are also going to have a positive impact on public acceptance. If you would also like to support the legalisation of hemp in Switzerland, you can do so, for example, via www.hanflegal.ch.
And the final question: what piece of advice would you give to young soon-to-be entrepreneurs?
Have the courage to undertake something, and focus not too much on the risks, but rather on the opportunities. What is important is the right team, and if you prepare a detailed financial plan with clear-cut goals, you will surely know what you are going to deal with. Anyway, errors are inevitable, and in the end your best teacher. If you are too much afraid of failure, you forfeit a unique chance to grow and expand your horizons.
We thank you very much for this exciting interview.
Mrs. Green is a start-up founded in April 2017 by four young entrepreneurs. Mrs. Green specialises in the distribution of CBD products with less than 1% of THC, which can meanwhile be legally sold in Switzerland. With the 2017 turnover totalling 60 million Swiss francs, the industry is rapidly growing. Cannabidiol (CBD) is an active ingredient which, together with THC, can most often be found in hemp. Unlike THC, CBD has no intoxicating effect, therefore it is not subject to the anti-narcotics law and is thus legal.
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