Ebele Ifedigbo

Ebele Ifedigbo is a social entrepreneur, strategist, and community builder whose work focuses on racial justice, economic equity, and the legal cannabis industry. Ifedigbo is co-founder and co-director of The Hood Incubator, a social impact organization that creates pathways to ownership in legal cannabis for people of color. The Hood Incubator is a national organization leveraging the growth of the legal marijuana industry to build economic and political power for Black communities affected by the drug war. Founded in Oakland, California, The Hood Incubator addresses barriers such as lack of capital, real estate, professional networks, and business startup experience that hinder Black and Brown ownership of legal marijuana businesses.

The organization employs a three-pronged approach, concentrating on community organizing—including legal, wellness, and financial clinics—policy advocacy, and economic development. The Hood Incubator contributed to Oakland's adoption of the cannabis Equity Permit Program, which prioritizes Black and Brown inclusion in the legal cannabis sector. Ifedigbo and co-founder Lanese Martin launched an incubator and accelerator program, a four-month initiative designed to teach aspiring entrepreneurs the fundamentals of business, including business planning, investor pitching, and professional networking. The Hood Incubator utilizes organizing, policy advocacy, and economic development strategies to ensure that communities of color have access to legal cannabis jobs across the United States.

Ifedigbo holds an M.B.A. from Yale and is committed to using business as a tool for innovation and racial equity in cannabis. Ifedigbo earned a joint B.A. in economics and philosophy, with a minor in African studies, from Columbia University in New York City. Ifedigbo has served as an NAACP economics fellow, developing federal and state policies and programs aimed at closing the national racial wealth divide, and has held roles as an analyst at Ameriprise Financial, a legal and compliance summer analyst at Goldman Sachs, and an M.B.A. summer intern for the worker cooperative development organization Project Equity.

Ifedigbo's work has received recognition from major business and culture platforms. Ifedigbo was awarded the Echoing Green global social entrepreneurship fellowship for work with The Hood Incubator and was honored by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the Most Daring Entrepreneurs, alongside Jeff Bezos, Issa Rae, and Elon Musk. Ifedigbo has also been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30, the Essence Woke 100, Marijuana Ventures Magazine 40 Under 40, and High Times Most Influential People in Cannabis lists. As a keynote speaker, Ifedigbo's areas of expertise include civil rights, diversity and inclusion, entrepreneurship, government, social activism, social entrepreneurship, and social justice. Through public discourse and community organizing, Ifedigbo remains a leading voice advocating for racial equity in the cannabis industry and other rapidly growing sectors in the United States.