In addition to making waves in the natural cosmetics space, Blank& has also caught the attention of the cannabis industry. The company’s COO, Miro Koliseva, has been nominated as one of seven contenders for the Industry Rising Star category at the Business of Cannabis Awards 2025.
Koliseva says the nomination came as a total surprise. For him, the recognition marks a personal journey—from a student sending raw ingredient inquiries from a Gmail account to a respected professional in the field.
“We were seeking funding for domestic CBD production at the start of the pandemic six years ago, but we were too early. Now we have both legislation and shifting attitudes on our side. The cosmetics industry is ready for CBD. Cannabidiol was approved as a legal cosmetic ingredient in Europe in 2021,” Koliseva explains.
Koliseva has worked with CBD since 2018, pioneering its path into certified natural cosmetics. Despite this long-term effort, the nomination still caught him off guard.
He admits he still occasionally struggles with impostor syndrome. The 2025 Business of Cannabis Awards nominee list includes accomplished individuals from publicly listed companies and leading chemists in the field.
“But when I look at the facts, I can see what I’ve achieved. I helped secure a funding round based on CBD in Finland and, together with a talented team, built a certified natural cosmetics line. There was no ready-made blueprint for this—I simply pieced together knowledge from different sources.”
Even with work still ahead, Koliseva has tried to pause amid the hectic startup life to reflect and feel grateful.
“It feels like this has the potential to grow into something much bigger,” he sums up.
The Business of Cannabis Awards 2025 will take place on June 25th in London.
Blank& Gaining International Recognition Across Two Industries
Following the launch of its first CBD natural cosmetics products in April, Finnish brand Blank& has quickly drawn international attention. The brand was recently shortlisted for the European Natural Beauty Awards (ENBA)—Europe’s leading competition in certified natural beauty. (We previously covered the ENBA nomination in this blog post.) With over a thousand applicants, ENBA celebrates the highest quality products and professionals driving the industry forward while calling out greenwashing.
According to Creative Director Noora Shingler, the market is finally shifting:
“I’ve followed the natural beauty space for nearly 20 years, and the transformation has been dramatic. But with growth, greenwashing has also become more aggressive—making it harder for consumers to identify genuinely sustainable products like ours.”
The ENBA awards ceremony will take place on September 29th in Paris.
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