The CEO of Viola is working to change the game in a $25 billion industry where just 2% of business owners are people of color.
, when Al Harrington was nine years old, getting searched for drugs by police in Orange, New Jersey was routine. Most school day afternoons, after Harrington and his friends played kickball, they would hang outside the bodega on the corner of Tremont Avenue and Scotland Road. “All the time, the police would pull up, three or four cars, and they’d jump out, hands on their guns: ‘Everybody against the wall,’” the 42-year-old Harrington remembers.
Viola Teammates: Harrington partnered with NBA Hall of Famer Allen Iverson to create the Iverson 01 cannabis strain, which was released in March.In January, Viola raised $13 million from investors to expand to Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The company also plans to open two dispensaries and a cultivation site in St. Louis later this year. He already inked a licensing deal to bring. In total, Viola has raised $34 million and is valued over $100 million.
Viola launched its incubator program two years ago. The company has since invested around $700,000 into four companies, including Mezz, a vape and pre-roll company in Colorado and Los Angeles-based Butter Baby, which makes THC-infused butter to use in baking things like brownies. Harrington takes between a 10% to 25% stake in exchange for help with marketing and fundraising. He doesn’t invest in ideas, rather he buys into companies that are already up and running.
Harrington told Howard about his goal to make 100 millionaires and asked if he was interested in joining the incubator program. Howard’s board said they would only agree if Harrington came down and “put his hands in the soil,” says Howard. “He did, and I'm forever thankful. That was probably one of the defining moments that's going to change the course of my family's history for another 80 years.
But the steep climb to attain a license also showed Harrington another path for creating cannabis wealth. The inherent value of a license to grow, sell, manufacture, distribute or sell cannabis is best thought of like a seat on the old New York Stock Exchange. Owning a license can make you an instant millionaire. So through his other company, Village LLC, Harrington applies for cannabis licenses across the country by partnering with local entrepreneurs.
The next day, his grandmother was in so much pain that she relented. Harrington’s friend brought over some bud and a vaporizer, and she took a few hits. A little while later, Viola was sitting in a chair, reading her Bible. “She's crying tears and said, ‘I'm healed. I haven't been able to read the words in my Bible for over three years,’” Harrington says.
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