Success Stories

How Family Businesses Survive and Thrive

As Baby Boomers retire, thousands of local family businesses are facing difficult transitions to the next generation. A groundbreaking local survey identifies challenges and solutions. Here’s how family businesses can survive and thrive. There’s a perfect storm ahead, and most…

Can You Keep a Secret?

Ever wonder what customers really think of your business, and what sort of service they receive when you’re not around? Mystery shopping firm Insight Twenty20 can tell you. “Michelle Chun and her team understand the hospitality industry and what keeps…

Talk Story: Sig Zane

Sig Zane is an icon of aloha wear. His mastery of hand-cutting rubylith is the signature of the SZD aesthetic and the sharp lines of his artwork make Hawaiian flora and fauna come to life like no other company. The…

Leadership Conference 2017 Information

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE Join Hawaii Business magazine for the largest professional development conference in Hawaii. The conference aims to help build smart, confident and authentic leaders through a full-day of skill-building workshops, speakers and networking. The State's most prominent leaders…

Family Cycle

The Montgomery family has been in the motorcycle sales and repair business for more than 70 years. “It all started in the living room of my grandparents’ house in Pearl Harbor housing, back in 1945,” says Ross Montgomery, VP of…

Top 100 Realtors 2017

Hawaii Business magazine is honored to publish the Top 100 Realtors, the gold standard in identifying the highest producers in Hawaii’s residential real estate industry. This section lists the Top 100 Realtors, based on transactions that closed in 2016. It…

Repurposing With Style

Ross’ Appliances & Furniture was founded in 1975 by Ross Wigney, an Australian who served as an electrician’s mate aboard Jacques Cousteau’s ship Calypso. “He met a girl on the Mainland, and when the Calypso pulled out of port, Ross…

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…

Not Your Father's Stock

Three Big Island breeders have welcomed 14 new alpacas to their pastures, part of what they say is a small but growing market in the state for the South American animals that resemble miniature llamas. Big…

Game On

In the virtual world of apps and video games, a locally founded startup called GamePress has created a global gathering place. GamePress’ site, pokemongo.gamepress.gg, drew a staggering 20 million unique visitors in July when the popular GPS-based mobile game was…

Sweet Paradise

Richmond “Rich” Chang always wanted to own a business. “I was a finance major at UH and, when I graduated in 2000, I didn’t know what sort of business I wanted, but I knew I wanted to buy one,” remembers…

Signs of The Times

When Billy Ng told his former boss at Island Sign Service Inc. that he and his brother, Min, wanted to eventually buy the business, his boss didn’t think the two would succeed. “Imagine, we were two immigrant boys from Cambodia…