The birth of Enecta: two cousins and a revolutionary promise

Once upon a time there were two cousins and a promise: 'When we grow up we will make a revolution'.

This is a phrase my cousin Marco and I have often repeated to each other. First as kids, when we imagined that one day we would invent a train to the moon and back. Then as teenagers, when we thought of creating a sort of independent village made up of everyone we liked. And then as young men with a background and a future to write. 

Two backgrounds to be honest, and very different ones as well, which nonetheless led us to the same place at the same time, each with the exact same certainty in our minds: "If we don't carry out the revolution now, we never will!"

I was in the Netherlands for my PhD in Economics, Marco had already been living in Amsterdam for a few years and it was there that the spark ignited; we met up for the umpteenth time and finally decided to fulfil our objective. It was the right place.

In those months of 2012 spent together, we realised that cannabis, a plant with such extraordinary therapeutic properties, could be a symbol of revolution for a more natural, more sustainable and certainly better world.

One day I showed him the project I was working on, which at the time was called: "Cannabis Revolution. For a better and sustainable world." We laughed like crazy and then got a little emotional: "It will be our revolution." 

And we talked and talked and talked, all the way on the bus, at dinner and again at home. All through the night and again the next day and then again.

This is how Enecta was born. Two cousins who were once just kids found themselves with the same dreams they had back then and the desire to take risks in order to keep a promise.

The discovery of CBD and the official start of our adventure

We had a clear but rather ambitious goal: to take the best from the cannabis plant and create an original product that could be used by as many people as possible, that would do them good and was legal. 

After much research our attention turned to cannabidiol or CBD, a non-psychoactive cannabinoid produced by cannabis plants, which had been praised by scientific research for some time already. We were free, we were young and we decided to go. We went to America to see how they were using CBD, we worked in a cannabis farm for 3 years, CBD was cultivated and extracted, we learned what was needed to imagine bringing this resource home. Back to Italy.

We were still a bit sceptical but felt this could be the right direction. We sought out the best experts to test the qualities and properties of the plant.

It was a bit like when we were kids playing chemistry, but this time, for the first time, it was for real. Together.

We studied cannabidiol in its entirety and realised that it was exactly what we were looking for. A molecule with numerous therapeutic properties, all natural and perfectly legal, capable of improving people's quality of life.

A molecule which was still almost unknown in Italy and which we learned to extract in order to create... our first revolutionary product. 

That's when our adventure officially began.

Our production chain and a brand new project

Since our first conversation that night in Holland, we had decided that at the cost of making lots of sacrifices we would follow the whole chain, from cultivation to distribution. 

Our revolution would also be an agricultural one, we would practice organic and natural farming and abolish the use of chemical pesticides. 

In addition to cultivation, we would also take care of distribution and, of course, research and the creation of new genetics.

And so we did. Not all by ourselves, of course. 

Little by little our team has grown and we are proud to be able to employ so many people. We cultivate over one hundred hectares of fields in Abruzzo, Veneto and Emilia Romagna, which we are able to follow thanks to our collaborators and a production network that we trust completely and that we monitor constantly.

After several CBD products that we have created over time, here we are in a new project, which sees us as the first in Europe: to offer the market a specific seed for CBD extraction with standardised and certified performance. The same seed that gives us our extracts.

Revolutions never stop.

Global and local connections

We believe that creating networks and being globally connected is essential, but that real change starts locally. In addition to our products, we are equally passionate about a number of projects that focus on physical and mental wellbeing, training and scientific research.

We created Enecta Free Fitness, a project that offers free sports lessons in the cities of Bologna, Naples and Barcelona. We also organise sports-related events in the less populated areas of Abruzzo, such as the Enecta Bike Tour.

We created Cannabeta, a cycle of scientific meetings on the theme of cannabis, which have so far taken place in Athens, Milan, Rome and Naples. And a whole series of activities related to research and science.

This year we decided to focus on young people with an educational project: Reezo Academy, a training course dedicated to the hemp sector for young people aged between 18 and 30, which will enable students to acquire the tools to sow their own future.

Just as we did.