Although almost six years ago, Simon Pérez and Silvia Charro They will always be linked in some way to the viral virus that brought them both fame and the eye of the hurricane. These were two famous economists who recorded videos giving advice on mortgages and investments. And they became famous, yes, but not in the way they hoped.
Because Everything changed at the end of 2017. A meal with friends, too many drinks, a (too) long post-dinner shoot, a bingo night, and the next day, both still visibly damaged. In this clip, they explain why people should opt for fixed rate and floating mortgage loans. In the end, they were right, but what stood out in Spain was not the message, but the conditions in which they conveyed the message.
It went viral, starred in hundreds of memes, reached a brief peak of popularity, and lost their jobs. He was working for that time Engel and Volkers and taught at the university. Everything went to waste. His credibility hit rock bottom. The couple embarked on a year-long journey through the desert, where they had to do things they now refuse in exchange for money. than shaving your hair alive Get Forocoches logo tattooed.
More than five years have passed since that unfortunate night, and they have reinvented themselves. EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA from the Prensa Ibérica group interviewed them in December 2022. They talked about the project in their hands, which is far from mortgages and interest rates. But at least it continued to sound strange: “We are now planting cannabis in North Macedonia,” they explained to this newspaper. And they started a company called Green Capital to sell their cannabis plantation to the pharmaceutical industry.
Balkan mystery
A year after the start of the project, it’s time to assess the situation. fields marijuana in a Balkan country It’s a job they tell step-by-step on their YouTube channel. This is the only platform where they can communicate with the public, where they look for investors and recommend their followers to get a job.
Interestingly, while his videos don’t have many followers (an average of a thousand views and their live shows no more than 50 at a time), the offer convinced enough investors to raise a million euros. They managed to run cannabis cultivation in macedonia And now they are planning to expand. Their eyes are on Portugal or Colombia.
“The beginning was not easy, because we are not commercial or marketing specialists. It is also a complex and very controlled industry. Due to cost issues and legislation, we went to North Macedonia. We planted cannabis containing medical THC there. It is THC for the pharmaceutical industry, not CBD. We will have lifted 1.2 tons in the project so far“, they explain in a phone call to this newspaper.
With millions from YouTube videos, they built a cannabis factory and paid very high rents and licenses to the Macedonian government: “Everything is super under control. Even if a plant dies and you have to remove it, you must forward the relevant report to the Macedonian government” they say. Because the country of the former Yugoslavia has somewhat vague legislation on this matter: it does not allow the purchase or consumption of cannabis, but allows its production to be exported to pharmaceutical industries in other countries with “corresponding licenses”. They keep stating.
They calculated fluctuating profits for their investors Between 100% and 900%. Perhaps overly optimistic forecasts. Now with one year of experience, you can enjoy the benefits for members who join their adventures. Between 100% and 300%. We’re less optimistic than the first, but it never went below the lowest we had anticipated.” That’s why they chose to expand.
colombian plant
“We will first hold face-to-face presentations in Madrid and Barcelona to explain the business to potential investors. Then we will travel to Latin America, where new projects will be analyzed,” they say. Because his idea is to build another factory give a stimulant in Colombia. “Because of the costs it will always be cheaper than in Europe. We paid half a million euros in rent in Macedonia. With that money you buy the ship there.”
“Getting a license to grow cannabis in Colombia is very easy. They are very open to international agreements. If you have a license for working with drugs, it’s fine. Also in terms of European regulations, having another factory in Macedonia makes administrative issues like certificates much easier for us.” Colombia was the fastest country to legalize in all of Latin America. Last March, the House of Representatives approved its recreational use.
Silvia and Simon were going to plant cannabis from Colombia to reach Europe and be distributed, for example: Maltese pharmacies “It’s a small country with only 80,000 inhabitants, but it’s highly developed in terms of medical cannabis. It’s not for fun, because the law greatly restricts the issue of cannabis associations. But if it’s for medicine, it’s fine.” . .
Is it legal?
But… is it all legal? Because they don’t work with cannabis, the “confusing kind” they describe. That is, the one with CBD, a cannabinoid that is unchecked and genetically manipulated to not have THC, which is the active principle of “rising” and is illegal. In this type of legal cultivation, the plant has less than 0.2 percent THC; this is the equivalent of non-alcoholic beer or decaffeinated coffee for non-marijuana experts.
They don’t. Marijuana reaches up to 25% THC. So (and a lot) one of the places.. But as they say, “many countries have started to legalize medical THC by prescription. Places like Germany, Great Britain or Malta already have these medical exceptions, and there are even small dispensaries for cannabis only in the same pharmacies. Because THC has healing properties.”
They say on their YouTube channel that they have chosen cultivars to plant with investors: “We are now with a White Shark x Amnesia and a Zkittlez” and yet they sow grass directly with THC and grow cannabis. In no case does your job have anything to do with drug trafficking: “I don’t do drugs”, Silvia phrase, very serious. “I’m not in the entertainment industry. I do some over-the-counter drugs. It’s medicine and it’s science.”
As for the partners entering their business, they say, “One of every 25-30 partners is establishing a new company and they are also a part of this company. We have already established three, because we are about to establish a fourth one.” There are already 90 people who donated that million Euros. All this gives them a legal certainty that they cannot have as individual investors.”
And they assure you that they are not looking for money at any cost. no one enters the company: “A 22-year-old college student who didn’t have enough money to attend university came, but he was going to ask his mother. Well, that kid can’t, because he’d have invested more money than he could have.”
They’ve already earned their first million and are now looking for the next one to splash out on Colombia. When Spain? Spain in no case does not fall into their plans: “Before going to Portugal, It has a much more developed law than Spain. They’re catching you on a plantation here and the Security Guards don’t even know what they’re doing. They are studying in Portugal and they know what is legal and what is illegal. We are losing the golden opportunity to become a world leader in an industry in our country. Because if we legalize marijuana, that would eliminate the entire economic gap.”