Dear Shareholders,
Despite the challenges we experienced with logistics and installation delays for our distillation machine, we believe 2022 was a set-up year enabling the next 12 months to be transformational as we transition into production and sales. I remain as confident as ever in One World Products, having personally invested $3 million in the Company to-date. I am pleased to provide the following detailed informational update, which outlines our achievements thus far and delineates our plans for the future.
Our first cultivation site is located in Popayan, Colombia and our extraction facility will be located in the outskirts of Bogota, Colombia, in the town of Mosquera. Our cultivation facility encompasses approximately 30 acres and includes a covered greenhouse built specifically to cultivate high-grade cannabis and hemp. In addition, we have forged agreements with local farming co-operatives that include small farmers and indigenous tribe members. Under these agreements, they will cultivate cannabis on up to approximately 140 acres of land using our seeds and propagation techniques, and sell their harvested products to us on an exclusive basis.
We employ modern propagation and cultivation techniques drawn from U.S. practices that allow us to rapidly multiply the cells of a specific plant strain to produce large numbers of genetically consistent progeny plants using our own plant tissue culture method. We believe this technique allows us to cultivate plants which are stable, robust, and able to produce genetically superior cannabis and hemp-derived products. We are committed to adhering to international quality standards. As such, we intend to certify our processes and products as compliant with Good Agricultural Practices (“GAP”), Good Manufacturing Practice (“GMP”), and the standards outlined in EU Pharmacopoeia—a publication setting forth quality standards applicable to the European pharmaceutical industry.
We currently have 120,000 square feet of covered greenhouse capacity, which we intend to increase to 160,000 square feet. We are building out our extraction and production facility and expect it to be operational before the end of the third quarter of 2023. During the first quarter of 2022, we invested approximately $1,400,000 into state-of-the-art distillation equipment. Installed during the first quarter of 2023, we anticipate putting this equipment into service within our vertically integrated extraction facility in the second quarter of 2023.
On October 1, 2022, we entered into a five-year lease for this facility, which combines our office and extraction operations into one building. This arrangement is approximately half the cost of our previous setup, and the facility already contains necessary infrastructure, such as electrical wiring and epoxy floors, which will significantly reduce our tenant improvement costs. Once the equipment is placed in service, we will be one of the only companies in Colombia to both hold licenses and possess the capability to extract high-quality CBD and THC oils. To further boost our cultivation capabilities, we have a contractual relationship with a local co-operative under which they agree to assist us in cultivation at our facility.
We have received full registrations from the Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario (the “ICA”) for the full registration of 3 non-psychoactive high CBD strains and 13 proprietary high THC cannabis strains. This approval is crucial as only registered strains may be sold under Colombian law. We have also initiated the quota process, a necessary step for the commercialization of THC products, and received a supplementary quota on December 30, 2022 that will allow us to sell THC products, based on the thirteen strains that were approved.
We recently added premium coffee certified by the Colombian National Coffee Federation infused CBD, teas infused with CBD, and a series of wellness products, including sports CBD energy drinks for optimum performance, CBD facial and body creams for anti-inflammatory and anti-aging use to our product pipeline. As we look to the second half of 2023, we expect to start exporting our product pipeline, including CBD flower and distillate oil, while developing our white-label commercial agreements with Europe, USA, and Latin America. By streamlining our processes and adopting lean best practices, we aim to become the preferred just-in-time supplier of premium cannabinoid-based products and raw ingredients. This approach will enable us to offer our customers attractive pricing without compromising on quality.
We remain confident about the burgeoning global market for cannabis and hemp products, with the CBD segment, in particular, demonstrating substantial demand and growth. We will pursue sales into this market using a direct sales force to establish direct customer relationships and distributor relationships. We will seek out customers who have large and recurring needs and demands. Countries that we intend to focus on include EU countries, the UK, Poland, Israel, and Canada. Each of these markets offers unique opportunities and we are prepared to navigate these dynamics to establish a strong presence.
Your continued support is invaluable to us and we look forward to updating you on our progress in the exciting months ahead.
Thank you,
Isiah ThomasChairman and CEO, One World Products, Inc.
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