However, as a Nigerian immigrant growing up in Chicago and getting stamped with an arrest record while still in middle school, creating generational wealth seemed all-but-unreachable. “At the time that I got arrested,” Adedeji recounts, “I thought it was the worst thing that could have happened to me. My life was over. I remember my parents telling me they’re taking my fingerprints. And I’m like ‘man, I’m done for!’” Adedeji, who describes his upbringing as having to fend for himself with “absentee parents” in impoverished neighborhoods in the Windy City, says he was only selling weed in order to take care of himself at the time. After being arrested for the then-illegal substance, he developed other ways to supplement his lack of income. “I had to find ways to feed myself, so I started a lawn-mowing company; and I used to shovel snow in the wintertime. I’d go to the rich neighborhoods, so I had contracts with those people to shovel their snow for several years. I’d also rake their lawns. So I was always creative. I was always hustling,” Adedeji recalls. After getting introduced to the cannabis industry in Washington years later, Adedeji saved his own $30,000 from his time working in marketing, only to find out it wasn’t nearly enough to get started. So he began selling himself and his idea to investors. The hustle proved fruitful; and so did the arrest. In Illinois, in an attempt to give minorities a fair advantage, legislators created a social equity program to help minorities have a seat at the table and a way into the industry. One of the requirements to benefit from Illinois’ $30 million social equity program is having an arrest on record for cannabis in the state of Illinois. Adedeji was able to prove his arrest; and he has since applied to do business in Illinois. The URBAN EXPERIENCE | 2021 39
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