40 Under 40: Shai Ramsahai, The King Of Seeds

Known for producing some of the finest cannabis seeds available on the planet, European-based Royal Queen Seeds (RQS) is a business Shai Ramsahai knows from the inside-out. Started a decade-and-a-half ago by Ramsahai’s father, Boy, RQS is a true family affair, having employed the younger Ramsahai since he was a teenager.  

Eager to absorb as much business knowledge as possible, Shai started off packing and shipping orders at the company. From there, he hustled hard, ultimately working in nearly every department within RQS, including stints as a seed packager, sales representative and eventually European sales team manager. At 21, Shai left the company to start his own business. 

“My father wasn’t quite ready to hand over the keys to the kingdom,” he says. “In a way, I wanted to walk in his footsteps, but on my own terms.”  

After Shai successfully scaled his own wholesale distribution company internationally, he sold it in 2021. That’s when his father reached out to express interest in having Shai take RQS global, too. Thus, for the past several years, Shai has been leading RQS as its president, working to create inroads in emerging international markets, including Thailand and, most recently, the US.  

Utilizing his uniquely intimate knowledge as a cannabis industry veteran and entrepreneur, Shai’s work guiding RQS’s international expansion includes everything from negotiating strategic partnerships to successfully placing an eye-catching advertisement in New York City’s iconic Times Square on April 20 to coincide with the annual 420 festivities. 

Originally from Holland, Shai now calls Malaga, Spain, home, where he enjoys spending whatever free time he can on the beach or playing with his daughters. He’s also happy to tell anyone who’ll listen why nothing beats the pleasures of growing your own weed. 

“Cultivating cannabis at home is both challenging and incredibly rewarding, similar to having a vegetable garden,” he says. “Sure, you can buy a tomato at the store, but will it ever taste as good as the tomato you picked off the vine, that you grew from a seed, watered diligently, pruned and trimmed, and protected from wild animals and weeds?”  

As one of world’s leading international seed banks, Royal Queen Seeds’ mission has always been about working with growers of all skill levels, be they hobbyists or professionals. Shai adds that as part of this work, RQS advocates strongly on behalf of homegrow as a mandatory component of state and federal regulatory frameworks.  

“Through this process, Royal Queen Seeds customers develop a deeper understanding of the cannabis plant, cultivate a stronger connection to the earth and grow confidence within themselves,” Shai says. “Allowing individuals to grow cannabis just like they grow their tomatoes is a critical step toward ending prohibition. It can also promote sustainable growing practices while empowering consumers to become smarter shoppers and reduce the burden on law enforcement.” 

And that’s where RQS and Shai come in, always ready and willing to provide the seeds for future rewards. 

“Just like the craft beer industry created an entire generation of informed beer drinkers and allowed brands to develop and market new brews for different niches of drinkers, homegrow can do the same for the cannabis industry,” Ramsahai says.