East Meets West Second Day Delivers Info Packed Panel Talks
Day two of the East Meets West Conference was held appropriately at the East-West Center in Manoa, Friday,…
Entrepreneurship
The Aina Acknowledges East Meets West 2018 Summit Day
Hawaiians believe that when it rains on an event day that is the aina (that which feeds us) acknowledging your presence, and the land made attendees of the East West Conference 2018 Summit feel recognized. Venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, techies and…
Student Entrepreneurs Compete In State Qualifiers: Kolohe Ocean Gems Owner Advances to Nationals
Rose Wong started her jewelry business while a junior at Kaiser High and now that she’s in college, she’s launching a line of fine jewelry that she hopes will become “the next Cartier.” Wong won the Global Student Entrepreneurs Awards…
Entrepreneurs and Investors to Converge in Honolulu
East Meets West Conference: Interview with Blue Startups Managing Partner Chenoa Farnsworth The annual East Meets West Conference brings together tech industry entrepreneurs and investors from markets in Asia, the U.S. Mainland and Hawaii. The event will take place on…
Mana Up Aims to Turn Small Local Companies into Global Brands
The Hawaii brand is beloved around the world and there are mom and pop enterprises that want to give that love back but don’t know how. Enter Mana Up, a new accelerator aimed at promoting homegrown Hawaii products and transforming…
Restoring Memories
The JamBio for JamBios goes a little like this: An entrepreneur with successful ventures sees ideas everywhere. As she walks down the street, Beth N. Carvin pulls ideas from her surroundings, her daydreams, and the people and things in her…
Ask the Expert: How to Get Into an Accelerator
THIS MONTH’S EXPERT: Omar Sultan Co-founder and managing partner, Sultan Ventures and XLR8UH sultanventures.com xlr8uh.com Q: I'm an independent entrepreneur with a great business plan. How do I get into an incubator? A: First determine whether an accelerator is the…
Survivors
It’s Sunday morning and the aisles of Kauai’s Kukuiula Market are empty, save for a middle-age man scoping out the beer selection and a teen devouring a giant acai bowl. As a six-pack and a Spam musubi land on the…
His Formula for Success: Fail, Fail, Fail, Prevail
Kalin Uluave didn’t let business failures stop him. Good thing, because the fourth succeeded, and the fifth and sixth are on track, too, with a seventh on the way. Uluave, a business-management major at BYU-Hawaii, topped three other contestants to…
The Best of Startup Paradise 2017
Startup Paradise Is Good for All of Us. Everyone in Hawaii can and should be an advocate and champion for Startup Paradise, because we all benefit from…
Kainoa McGee’s Company Named Startup of the Year
Kainoa McGee’s life always revolved around the ocean. In middle school, McGee was already making surfboards. He would buy a stock board, reshape it and seal the board with Sunday newspaper comics and wax. The board didn’t stay sealed, but…
Harry Weinberg - Not Your Average Billionaire
Harry Weinberg amassed a fortune in local real estate and was renowned for being a financially savvy guy, who cajoled and exasperated the top executives of companies he invested in. However, what most surprised Kit Smith, who covered him for…
Meticulously Whimsical
It’s hard to tell if it was her business model or her impressive multimedia presentation that won Jana Lam the second annual Pitch Panel at Honolulu Fashion Week. Whatever did it, she received an impressive package of business services, advertising…
East Meets West in Startup Paradise
Asian and Mainland entrepreneurs and investors will experience a different East Meets West startup conference next month – and that’s not just because some business ideas will be pitched in outrigger canoes. Honolulu-based Blue Startups is hosting the third annual…
Japan is a Large Growth Market for Hawaii Entrepreneurs
Eric Rose can’t forget the day a year and a half ago when a group of Japanese businessmen walked into Morning Glass, his trendy coffee house in Manoa, and suggested taking the concept to Japan. “They came in out of…
All Work and No Job
There are a million stories in the white-collar gig economy. Let me introduce you to one. Alison Chock has two jobs: One is in retail, where she works nights at a boutique. Her other job is more unpredictable. The work…
Creativity: Hawaii's Next Big Export
How a public-private program called Creative Lab accelerates entrepreneurs in six creative areas: screenwriting, broadband, interactive media, fashion, producing and music While Hawaii is known worldwide for its rainbows, aloha spirit and beautiful weather, Georja Skinner hopes to add “creative…
Inside the Mind of an Entrepreneur
In the high-tech gold rush of modern Silicon Valley, the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success.” That’s how HBO describes its buzzy TV show, “Silicon Valley,” but is this characterization true? Ryan Louie shed…
Brewed and Bottled in Hawaii
Owning and running a brewery or brewpub is a lot of people’s idea of a fantasy job. The reality is there are casualties spread across the Hawaiian Islands. Companies that recently failed include Alii Brewing, Pacific Breach Brewing, Aloha Beer…
Changing the World Has a New Birthplace
If you want your new business to make the world better, not just make money, consider launching it at Impact Hub Honolulu. That’s where social entrepreneurs will find inexpensive office space, training and other resources, and a network of like-minded…
Entrepreneurs Inspired by the Ocean
It’s no surprise the same ocean that inspires surfers, paddlers and swimmers has also inspired entrepreneurs to make a living off what they love. They start surf schools, design canoe paddles, cultivate marine livestock, run fishing charters or develop technology…
Ask the Expert: Buying a Home While Owning a Business
www.honhl.com 808.681.7500 loansonline@honhl.com Question: I’m a small business owner. What should I do to ensure I’m in the best position to finance a new home? Answer: When someone wants to buy a home or refinance one, a mortgage company looks…
Free training for small business owners with big dreams
In 2005, Lourdes Vergara Marcelo left her job as head nurse at Tripler Army Medical Center to start her own company in Mililani with just one client and another certified nursing assistant. Soon, Marcelo had hired three more CNAs and…
Starting a Business After Age 50
Ready to move on after decades of experience, but not ready to retire? Consider becoming an encore entrepreneur: someone who takes over or starts a business in a field different from their main career. Many people are doing it in…