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This week, Aaron Ranka, chief revenue officer at Dama Financial, joins the Cannabis Equipment News podcast to discuss the state of the SAFE Banking Act, the bill's flaws, and Dama's bid to be more than a cannabis banking services company.
Ranka was working in the credit and debit card processing sector when he was offered an opportunity to join Dama Financial, a financial services company dedicated to the cannabis industry.
Ranka was brought on board in October 2022 to help build a payments platform, and remembers how his first few days felt like he was drinking from a firehose. He didn't have an extensive cannabis background and says he was blown away by the challenges cannabis businesses deal with every day.
In this episode, Ranka discusses:
- The jaw-dropping challenges cannabis businesses and employees face. (2:32)
- The changes he's made at Dama. (4:20)
- How the company has evolved since new CEO Patrick O'Boyle came on board. (5:00)
- Why cannabis operators are still taking unnecessary risks. (9:06)
- His optimism over the current state of the SAFE Banking Act. (10:49)
- The most critical issues for cannabis operators. (13:17)
- Financing challenges for social equity applicants. (16:18)
- The fallout from Mastercard's withdrawal from cannabis. (25:28)
- Problems with working with disparate regulatory bodies from state to state. (29:44)
Please make sure to like, subscribe and share the podcast. You could also help us out by giving the podcast a positive review. Finally, to email the podcast or suggest a potential guest, you can reach David Mantey at [email protected].
