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Aidonia’s day out at the Epican farm

Published:Friday | July 19, 2019 | 12:00 AM
From left: Epican brand champion Aidonia and Head of Marketing Jermaine Bibbons look on attentively as CEO of Epican Karibe Mckenzie displays his ‘weedlings’.
It’s in the cut! Cutters Rackein Dyer (left) and Marlene Grant (right) prepare the plant for packaging as Jermaine Bibbons (second left), Aidonia (centre) and Karibe Mckenzie (second right) look on.
Working up an appetite, Aidonia prepares to indulge
The dancehall hitmaker finishes his tour of the facility and poses for a quick photo.
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After inking a historic partnership with Cannabis brand Epican Jamaica earlier this year, Aidonia made waves as the first local artiste, dancehall or otherwise, to do so.

Since signing to Jamaica’s first cannabis brand, the ‘4th Genna’ hitmaker has been making the rounds on social media, as well as at the brand’s weekly event series, Hot Box.

Recently, the brand champion made the trek from Epican’s first location, Market Place in Kingston, to the company’s farm high above the city in the Blue Mountains.

With cool temperatures, vast landscapes and wide open spaces – a stark contrast to the city below – Epican’s 1.5-acre facility is a well-oiled machine and includes seven greenhouses, a drying room, administrative offices and a security post.

With just about 50 members of staff on location, the farm is the core of the company’s vertically integrated system. For brand ambassador Aidonia, a tour of the farm brought his knowledge of the company full circle and advanced his understanding of the medicinal marijuana industry.

“Being on the farm feels like heaven to me. Seeing everything, all the different strains and understanding everything in the process, it’s really good to be a part of something like this. It really is a perfect day for me,” shared Aidonia.

The process

The tour, which took the dancehall DJ and a few others from his 4th Genna crew through the process of seedlings, plants, mature and mother plants, to drying, cutting and packaging, lasted a little over two hours.

Epican CEO Karibe Mckenzie led the tour, with Head of Marketing Jermaine Bibbons and Director Dwayne Mckenzie also in attendance.

“It was important for our ‘brand champion’ to share the farm experience because it adds to his overall impression and understanding of the brand. Having him walk through the various processes will go a far way in how he connects with the brand, and the relationship can only get better from here,” explained Bibbons.

The next stop for the Epican team is its massive anniversary event slated for Market Place in Kingston on Thursday, July 25.