Each month we feature a selection of our Co-op Members and Supporters. They live the Co-op’s mission and demonstrate the innovate nature of the independent entrepreneurs that make up BC’s highly skilled craft cannabis sector.
Dayna is a founding partner of Tricanna Industries and acts as its Managing Director and CFO, in charge of business administration, finances, sales, customer and vendor relations, plus she leads the development and establishment of the Company’s record-keeping ERP system. Dayna is the A/RP, supporting the Director of Quality and Compliance in answering to Health Canada’s myriad requirements for quality assurance and record-keeping. Including her husband and one other founder, there are now six partners involved in Tricanna, which specializes in craft flower processing, packaging and micro-reduction treatment services using radio frequency.
A self-described over-achiever, she inherited her ability to dream big from her father. That combination of a strong work ethic and an instinct for seeing the potential in an idea, an instinct she’s had since childhood, triggered a business idea in 2018. A friend was trying to figure out how to launch a cannabis drink product. At the time, the manufacture and selling of edibles was very much a grey market activity. The idea stuck with her, and she and her husband persevered to discover a viable business plan within the legal cannabis industry.
After months of research, Dayna came to the realization that serving the cannabis industry as a processor of dry flower was the road to take. She knew it would be no small undertaking to get set up from scratch, but the time was ripe to enter this emerging industry. The bonus turned out to be that she could share her career and entrepreneurial spirit with her husband, a long-time advocate for cannabis. The pair had the good fortune to find and assemble a team of like-minded partners, all of whom are highly experienced, bring complementary skill sets, and are all committed to the company and supportive of each other.
The biggest challenge in getting Tricanna off the ground? Getting licensed as a Standard Processor. Day-to-day challenges, besides the intense amount of paperwork associated with regulatory obligations and excise tax certification, involve identifying how to solve the issues that confront her clients, the cultivators and brands they work with. It’s a complicated journey from seed to sale, and getting products in the hands of consumers is no easy task.
Dayna notes that they haven’t forgotten about their drink idea. She hopes to bring a cannabis drink to market one day when the time is right. In the meantime, she and her team are staying focused on their current business model of dry flower packaging.
Her advice to cultivators is to do your research – be conservative with your financial forecasts, find unique and proprietary high-quality strains to bring in with your license, and talk to people. Ask existing license holders what their biggest challenges are, and plan ways to overcome those challenges in your own business. It is important to consider and understand that growing and getting your harvest to the consumer are two entirely different yet equally demanding businesses, both requiring separate licenses with Health Canada and different expert skill sets. Do your research, read, read and read some more.
And nurture a good team for yourself. The BC Craft Farmers Co-op provides great resources, whatever part you want to play in this new industry, plus it offers solidarity you can count on. It’s got a great mandate and is strongly positioned for effective advocacy. These are all important ingredients for pushing the needle forward, to creating a BC industry that has a better fit within society and is at once more varied and economically viable for all stakeholders.
T: 877-410-7875
W: www.tricanna.com
E: info@tricanna.com
E: dayna@tricanna.com