https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/karmakoalapodcast/episodes/2025-05-06T01_24_38-07_00
I’m currently working with Trenton on a conference to be held in Johannesburg end May 2025 as part of the annual SA Cannabis Expo.
See information below Trenton’s bio.
Trenton is a cannabis educator and consultant and has built a permanent campus in South Africa to educate people across all aspects of cannabis and hemp. As far as I’m aware he’s the only person on the planet who has done this.
We talk about Cheeba Africa both the education and consultancy arms of the business and then a wider chat about the state of play of cannabis in South Africa and across the continent as a whole.
Trenton Birch
About Trenton
After a long career in the music industry I moved into the education industry heading up the South African operation of an international creative media school. I am passionate about education and its ability to change lifes and have worked across the education spectrum from Higher Education to more grass root NGO township based education – to date I have built 5 campuses.
I recently started to work in the Cannabis education space and have found another industry that I believe can have a seismic positive impact on the world we live in.
Cannabis has the potential to improve our populations wellbeing and contribute significantly to our economy. Check out our website www.cheebaafrica.com for more.
In the music industry I worked extensively in live music and with bridging the divide between brands and the music industry. I ran a label / managment company called Black Mango Music that was responsible for Goldfish’s first international release, promoting several Johnny Cleggs shows in London, ran an African Hip Hop label called Afrolution and started a music conference called the Breathe Sunshine African Music conference.
I have produced events across the world including in New York, Ibiza, Malawi, Amsterdam, Berlin, Johannesburg, Cape Town and London.
I then found myself in the creative media education space and built the SAE Institute brand in South Africa from 60 – 450 students in 6 years and built two 1500 square meter state of the art campuses.
I am a founding member of the international music non-profit Bridges for Music under which we built a music and entrepreneurial school in Langa township in Cape town.
I moonlight as a presenter and have interviewed anyone from Ed Sheeran and Skrillex to Black Coffee and AKA. I also make music and have opened for artists like The Prodigy, Faithless, UB40, Gentleman, Johnny Clegg and many more ……
I believe integrity, transparency and honesty are an integral part of doing good long term sustainable business.
My core skills include: management, business development, education, change & crisis management, strategic management, people management, experiential and digital marketing.
