Written by John Lee
Most financial establishments consider the cannabis industry high risk. As such, cannabis businesses struggle to make deals with banks and other businesses. Luckily, as the industry grows, some recognize the needs of these up-and-coming businesses and are rising to meet the demand.
Brother Processing Services is one such company that believes in the cannabis industry and its ability to prosper. It is a merchant service provider, which means it helps businesses accept payments for their goods. Brother Processing has helped those in the U.S. and Canadian cannabis industries for 15 years and counting.
Stuart Lutterman, co-founder and president of Brother Processing, told Emerald, “we provide the capability of accepting some form of payment for merchants who have challenges to accept payments because of what they do.”
Specifically, they serve a variety of establishments including dispensaries, wholesalers, ancillary businesses, and e-commerce CBD companies.
Rising Above the Stigma
Despite the fact that nearly 40 states have legal cannabis, Lutterman says stigma continues to hinder the industry’s growth.
“We have merchants who sell bongs and rolling papers online. You would think that it would be a very easy thing to get a merchant account because they’re not selling anything illegal or anything like that,” he adds. “But because of the stigma of the industry, for example in Canada, there are one maybe two banks that will even go near the business.”
That’s where Brother Processing steps. The company provides loan acquisition and management to credit and debit card processing and other merchant services.
The People and the Future of the Industry
Lutterman goes so far as to attribute Brother Processing’s success to the industry’s neighborly culture and amicable business environment. He says, “at the end of the day, I love what I do and I’ve learned a lot. If you ain’t happy with what you’re doing, you ain’t going to do it well and it’s not going to be fun.”
Lutterman believes that the people in the industry make it a fun and healthy business environment. But foundationally, he believes in the financial potential that the cannabis industry exhibits.
As the demand and supply for cannabis grows, the laws and misconceptions that stifle the industry won’t handle the stress.
“Half of the U.S. is there already and in my opinion, when the U.S. does [federally legalizes cannabis], which we’ll get there, and especially if Mexico does it then we’ll be in the fastest growing and biggest industry probably in history.”
Armed with belief in the cannabis’s industry’s potential, and with a faith in the people behind the businesses, Brother Processing and many others like them will be at the forefront of this inevitable surge in the industry.
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