Meet Melinda Rombouts Founder of Eve & Co Cannabis And 2019 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards Ones To Watch Award Winner

Melinda Rombouts

Founder, Eve & Co Cannabis

Ones to Watch Award

After a series of agriculture businesses, Melinda tried a new hand — cannabis. She made history as the first woman founder and CEO to receive her cultivation license for cannabis under the Cannabis Act. Now leading a publicly traded recreational cannabis company, Melinda continues to guide the company to great success on the national and global scale.

My first job ever was… during summers, I worked for an Entomologist at the Ministry of Agriculture as a “bug counter”, which I was teased about, but through this position, I further developed my love for agriculture, growing and plants.

I decided to be an entrepreneur because… it wasn’t really a conscious decision.  When I graduated from university, I had an idea and ran with it.

My proudest accomplishment is… the Eve & Co. team – I credit them with the success of our company.

My boldest move to date was… deciding to completely shut down our previous business to retrofit the greenhouse for Cannabis production.

I surprise people when I tell them… there is only about 6% of female leadership in the Canadian Cannabis Industry – it is a very male-dominated industry. Secondly, I have had many roles in our company including the Quality Assurance Person, Master Grower, and now CEO and President and was also initially responsible for security design, GMP facility design, completed the application on my own and wrote the Standard Operating Procedures.

I knew it was time to launch my business when… we realized how few female leaders there were in the industry which led us to ask if women’s needs would be addressed.  About 94% of Canadian cannabis leaders are male. Employees of licensed holders are approximately 71% male whereas Eve has just under 70% female employees.  We believe that this is an effect of female leadership and that there needs to be a change and inclusion of females for leadership positions in all industries.  Being predominantly female at all levels (leadership, board and team members), Eve is uniquely oriented and can authentically address what women want from their Cannabis products.

My best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is… trust your instinct. 

My best advice from a mentor was… surround yourself with people who will work hard and who believe in the company – the best team members are often those with determination.

“Surround yourself with people who will work hard and who believe in the company.”

When the going gets tough, I tell myself… things work out the way they’re supposed to.

If I had an extra hour in the day, I would… spend it with my kids.

I stay inspired by… looking at the new opportunities that are constantly arising in this rapidly expanding industry and considering the exciting possibilities for Eve & Co.  We are approached on a weekly basis with new ideas for product lines, partnership opportunities and new directions. My team also inspires me with their enthusiasm, determination and faith in our company. 

The future excites me because… there are so many possibilities in the works for Eve & Co. for global expansion and our product lines. Our team has purposely oriented itself to helping our customers by offering products that allow people to achieve a better life and in developing products to improve health and wellness.  We also see the possibility of doing much more with our company and intend to help women at all levels: to lift barriers and lift women. We are out to change the world.

My next step is… to move forward as quickly as we can with global expansion and distribution in the European market.  We are also investigating the possibility of growing into additional world markets. Currently, we are developing production partnerships in multiple European countries.  Once we have the Eve product lines fully developed and distribution of our products across Canada, we hope to bring Eve’s full product lines of topicals, edibles, beverages, concentrates and extracts to the world market as the foremost female-oriented Cannabis product lines.