Serving the needs of the African Cannabis Industry
GROWING TOGETHER
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ABOUT
CTAA
CTAA is a voluntary non-profit association for
cannabis industry companies and professionals. We
are a self-regulating body for our members and are
involved in industry and government liaison,
education, networking, business and skills
development and general upliftment for members.
Our vision is to support, represent and advance the
causes and interests of members of the cannabis
industry CTAA promotes the facilitation of trade for
cannabis businesses from Africa, both locally and
internationally, to benefit members and their clients. We have significantly invested in legal action that will help make our vision a reality.
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BOARD
MEMBERS
TEBOGO TLHOPANE
Serial entrepreneur Tebogo Tlhopane is the owner and CEO of Biomuti (Pty) Ltd, a healthcare business that specialises in complimentary medicine, including cannabis. He is also the Chairman of the Cannabis Traders Association, an organisation that strives to recognise and regulate cannabis related products for health and wellbeing, paving a way forward for this job creating sector.
Tebogo comes from a family of healers, both his Grandmother and Mother are sangomas* and he grew up in South Africa surrounded by plant medicines. His earlier career took him into the technology space, developing software for communications and payment services. He pioneered the handheld payment device and, for a period of four years (2003-2007), he lived in China. After that he spent over six years in Thailand, where he had a jewellery manufacturing business. He met his wife there and the couple have since settled in Johannesburg, South Africa with their children.
Tebogo says he finds his work with plant medicine to be the most rewarding he has ever done; seeing how it helps and changes people’s lives has kept him inspired to continue promoting products that can deliver these benefits to people. *traditional medicine practitioner and healer
ANTHONY COHEN
Anthony Cohen is the founder and CEO Elixinol South Africa and has been keenly focused on plant medicine, health, spirituality and wellness for over 3 decades .
He is a serial entrepreneur and prior founded Shambhala Holistic Centre in Cape Town in 2000 and is a healer, spiritualist and visionary. He has also been a leader in the media space in SA where he founded Primall Media and then sold to Primedia this successful Shopping centre focused media company.
Anthony has since been focused on the Hemp CBD industry with Elixinol since 2015 and has been active in making CBD legal in the SA market.
TONY BUDDEN
Tony co-founded Hemporium, Africa’s oldest cannabis / hemp company in 1996 and has been instrumental in helping to change laws, hearts and minds in the use of plant medicines in Africa and beyond.
Tony is a regular on the cannabis speaking circuit and was recognised internationally as one of the top 100 Global Icons at the Cannabis Business Awards in the USA in April 2020.
Tony was previously the Director of Government Relations and Strategy for Canopy Growth Africa.
CLIFF GIESENOW
Cliff Giesenow is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for incubating and launching ideas, with experience in the Cannabis, Real Estate and Technology industries. He is the founder of Leafolo™, the world's first range of african herbal smoking blends, and is also a Co-founder of CannaFoodsAfrica where he is currently responsible for product development, wholesale and online channels.
He has an MBA from the University of Cape Town, and did a semester on exchange scholarship to UCLA in California.
CannaFoodsAfrica source, produce and deliver to market a wide range of high quality cannabis products under the brand 'Taste of Cannabis'. With a chain of retail stores in key shopping malls across South Africa, as well as an online presence, they offer a unique channel to market for both local and international offerings.
TARYN VOS
Taryn was admitted as an attorney in the Republic of South Africa in June 2014 and is a member of the Law Society of the Cape of Good Hope. She began her career as a candidate attorney at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr Inc (Cape Town) with experience in the Corporate and Commercial, M&A, Administrative law, Hotel and Leisure and Litigation departments. She spent 3 years in the renewable energy sector as the corporate counsel and legal advisor to an international renewable energy project developer in the solar energy space where she oversaw the legal aspects of tender submissions and the development and construction phase of projects both locally and internationally. She has advised on large scale projects in South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Iran.
Taryn is the former Head of Legal – Africa for the multinational cannabis company, Canopy Growth Corporation, and is the current Head of Legal for Highlands Investments, a South African based cannabis business. During her year as a legal professional in the cannabis sector she has developed a working knowledge of the South African and Lesotho cannabis related legislative framework and has also developed relationships within the sector with activists, legal and other professionals, regulatory bodies, cannabis companies and other stakeholders.”
LINDA SIBOTO
Linda Siboto is one of the Co-Founders and Directors at Cheeba Africa, Africa’s first Cannabis education academy with a physical campus in Gauteng and an extensive online Cannabis course offering, ranging from medical Cannabis to growing. At Cheeba Africa Linda is responsible for new business and sales and oversees their media channel Craft Cannabis TV.
Media and education are in his blood. Linda was one of the founding members of Youngpreneur Media, a production company that documented the stories of young entrepreneurs as an online video series called ‘I am Youngpreneur’, a show that was later commissioned by the SABC 3 under the name The Mavericks. After travels in South Korea, Linda and his wife started a non profit after-school programme called Emagqabini Education Academy based in Khayelitsha, helping high school students improve their school performance for better job and study opportunities.
His father, orthopaedic surgeon Dr Gordon Mthuthuzeli Siboto passed away from cancer in 2008 and was followed by his wife only a few years later, succumbing to the same disease. Since learning of the many benefits of Cannabis, albeit sadly too late for both his parents, he has become a firm advocate of the plant and supports access and economic opportunities for all South Africans.
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