Spotlight on Coppin State University
How we’re Working with Emerging Entrepreneurs: Inside Coppin State's CEO Accelerator
Getting a cannabis license in Maryland is no small feat. But a license is just the beginning, and the distance between licensed and operational is where many emerging entrepreneurs get stuck. These are businesses in the early stages of operational formation, working to get the right pieces in place before they can truly launch. Coppin State University's Center for Strategic Entrepreneurship, in partnership with the Maryland Office of Social Equity, built a program specifically designed to support that process. The CEO Accelerator is a first-in-the-nation initiative that gives social equity licensees the business fundamentals, mentorship, and direct access they need to move from licensed to operational. E.TBD is proud to be part of making it work.
Emerging entrepreneurs don't just need information. They need access. Since November 2025, E.TBD has been sourcing and managing mentors for the program, coordinating office hours, and tracking feedback across nearly 200 social equity licensees. To date, 63 one-on-one sessions have been facilitated, out of 100 offered, with mentors Delshan Baker, Q. Nicole Vanderhorst, Justino Rodriguez, and Kieta Iriarte. Each brings their own expertise, and together they've covered a wide range of what emerging entrepreneurs actually need: business and financial strategy, funding opportunities, org structure, licensing and compliance, industry-specific guidance on launching and scaling, and mindset coaching.
The questions weren't abstract, and neither were the results. The most consistent thing participants walked away with was improved confidence. That might sound soft, but it isn't. Confidence is what moves someone from having a license to actually booking the next appointment, making the next decision, and taking the next step. Coppin noted a meaningful uptick in sessions being scheduled following an Ask the Expert seminar where participants got to meet the mentors before committing to a one-on-one, and they're already interested in expanding the model to reach more licensees in the program.
Supporting emerging entrepreneurs well is as much a logistical challenge as it is a relational one. Finding mentors who are both business-savvy and cannabis-industry fluent, and willing to give their time, is not a small lift. Neither is coordinating individual appointments across multiple calendars at scale. The infrastructure behind the access matters just as much as the access itself. When the system works, people show up. And when people show up, things start to move.
