A desire to know more
My insatiable curiosity regarding Cannabis led me to sourcing, growing, curing, extracting, infusing, beneficiating, and trying to do everything I can imagine with this amazing plant.
The lack of Cannabis analytical equipment and services available in South Africa at the time quickly frustrated this need to know more. I could not help but get sucked in by the vacuum created by the (albeit slow) legalisation and normalisation of Cannabis in our country. The Cannabis-analytics rabbit hole took me deep into research about the type of equipment and budgets required to set up an analytical facility. In this process, I encountered amazing people, built relationships, saw incredible machinery, and quickly learned about the physical requirements for a laboratory venture. In the meantime, I was fortunate to meet and spend time with a true Dagga legend of Southern Africa; this man, Mark Nortier, spent his entire life in the Cannabis industry, whatever that meant in the old South Africa… His deep know-how about Cannabis and the industry was legendary. In addition, Mark imported the first NIR Cannabis Field Tester into South Africa. The Sage Analyser travelled with him through the country providing a novel service to growers and enthusiasts. For the first time ever, South Africans could get an idea of the THC and CBD content in their flower. On top of this, the printed sticker that the machine churned out was a nifty addition – a piece of paper that added some science to growing. I so wanted a machine like that, and penned it into the budget in my head. Our exchange rate put most of my plans on hold since Dollars don’t convert well into Rands on spreadsheets!A chance encounter
All of this changed after a chance encounter at the first Cape Town Cannabis Expo in March 2019. Being a founding member and the treasurer of the Cannabis Industry Development Council (CIDCWC), I was actively manning the stand when Brenda Marx fleetingly mentioned analytical chemistry and Cannabis, grabbed some business cards and left her details. One of those business cards happened to be mine, and 2 weeks later Brenda set up a meeting in a Stellenbosch coffee shop.
Little did we know, that chat over a black Americano would lead to the beginning of Qure Analytics. Not only did Brenda have years of experience in analytical chemistry in the food and beverage sector, but she also then recently took out a second bond on her home to finance her own gas chromatograph – a key piece of equipment for laboratory-level Cannabis analytics. Brenda’s enthusiasm for Cannabis combined with the resources she brought had me rushing to contact some of my other colleagues – already enthused about my ideas.
A team brought together
Jean Jeffery was a business associate and we had years of experience in managing and implementing mostly social entrepreneurship projects together. I met Kristin de Jager through the CIDCWC. He immediately stood out as a brilliant scientist and Cannabis farmer, busy at the time with his master’s degree in microbiology.
Jean did her magic – creating a business plan and raking in some friendly investors. At the same time, Mark Nortier became a friend, and we eventually took over his analytical business and equipment. I am privileged to have had Mark as a mentor, and spent many hours with him before his untimely death in 2020.
Qure Analytics suddenly started to take shape in front of our eyes. As a result, Kris and I had something exciting to market into the fledgeling, post-constitutional court ruling market. And we had the chance, for the first time ever, to test our flower and products repeatedly, learning more and more about the plant as Brenda sharpened her methods and introduced us to the strict requirements and standards that a laboratory is run under.