Jan 29, 2014 | Environment, Events, Small Business
DougMcLeod, County of Maui Energy Commissioner
What will future consumers want and expect from their utility? That is just one question Hawaii leaders and others across the country are expected to tackle at the upcoming conference: “Electric Utilities: The Future Is Not What It Used To Be.” The event scheduled for March 26-28 at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center comes at a time when Hawaii is experiencing an unprecedented wave of growth in solar and wind generation. The gathering will provide a forum for open and frank discussions about the rapidly changing energy landscape and its implications for power utilities, policymakers and consumers.
The County of Maui and the Maui Economic Development Board are presenting the conference with the support of numerous partners. County of Maui Energy Commissioner Doug McLeod asks: “The traditional investor-owned utility model has worked in the past, but will it be the right model for tomorrow’s electric utility?” McLeod said he hopes the conference will bring new faces and ideas to Hawaii from Japan and the Mainland. MEDB President and CEO Jeanne Skog said she and her agency are pleased to partner in the event. “As Maui County continues to move aggressively toward clean energy goals, this dialogue will contribute to creating a new template for how utilities will best serve our residents,” Skog said.
McLeod said open and frank discussions are important to understanding the impact renewable energy alternatives are having on electricity usage and electric rates. Conference organizers have confirmed keynote presentations from Hunter Lovins, president of Natural Capitalism Solutions, and Ron Binz, former chief of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. The conference also expects to spur discussions on other questions, including: what are the key drivers shifting today’s energy paradigm; how can states achieve a mix of clean energy to satisfy all stakeholders; and what are the key elements of a 21st century energy utility business model.
To learn more, go to www.hightechmaui.com/energyconference.
Nov 6, 2013 | Small Business
Federal government representatives recently visited the islands to provide Maui entrepreneurs an opportunity to obtain funding for new technology and innovative projects. About 40 people attended the Hawaii Small Business Innovation Research Conference coordinated by Maui Economic Development Board. “It’s not often that federal agencies come to Maui,” said MEDB Business Development Director Mark Todd. He said the conference was a chance for “someone with a great idea to get federal funding and turn it into a reality.”
Businesses like Oceanit and Pacific Biodiesel have received SBIR funding in the past, and Carl Hebron of the U.S. Department of Energy said “chances are good” for more Hawaii companies to get federal support. “Renewable energy is a growing field we’re trying to expand,” Hebron said. He urged conference participants to start the application process as early as possible and to ensure that the correct paperwork is filed. Amongst the top five mistakes applicants make in applying for federal funding is failing to comply with word and page limits and failing to submit a commercialization plan. “If that’s not done, we won’t be able to process your application,” Hebron said.
The Small Business Innovation Research and the Small Business Technology Transfer Research projects awarded as much as $2.4 billion to entrepreneurs nationwide in fiscal year 2012. Aside from the Department of Energy, 10 other federal agencies participate including the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Navy. Hebron said 25 percent of the applicants for renewable energy projects in last fiscal year were first-time applicants; more than 40 percent received federal funding. “I think that speaks for itself,” Hebron said. “SBIR has proven to be one of the most successful federal programs for technological advancements in U.S. history,” Todd said. “It has delivered more than 60 patents and hundreds of valuable innovations in agriculture, defense, energy, health science, homeland security, space, transportation and other fields.”
Sep 11, 2013 | Environment, Events, Small Business
Physical scientist Stacie Williams thrives on learning the latest developments in her field at the annual Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance (AMOS) Technologies Conference presented by Maui Economic Development Board. She especially enjoys a conference feature that offers a day of hands-on science activities for youngsters. “Their engagement is our motivation,” said Williams, a program manager who oversees educational outreach projects for the Air Force Research Laboratory. The lab is actively participating in this week’s AMOS conference at the Wailea Beach Marriott. An international assembly of space situational awareness experts has gathered for events that provide technical interchange on a variety of space-related technologies. In addition to technical sessions, participants are attending a special Space Policy Forum to hear current issues and trends in national and international policies that have impacts on their work.
For Williams, one of the highlights of the conference is welcoming hundreds of Maui youngsters to the conference venue. The students are given an opportunity to learn about space situational awareness topics by engaging in varied activities from viewing celestial bodies through a telescope to maneuvering hand-held spectrometers to determine characteristics of objects in space. The Air Force Research Laboratory’s partners with MEDB in association with the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, the Maui High Performance Center, Pacific Defense Solutions, and the Boeing Company for the student day activities. “Every year our student activities get more complex and more engaging,” said Williams, who has helped to coordinate the activities for the last four years. “Everybody has embraced this and I think we just get better every year.”
Williams said she’s received overwhelming, positive feedback from scientists and other space situational awareness experts about including students at AMOS. “Bringing in the youth education element provides a wonderful synergy, a rare opportunity that more technical conferences should exploit since we are losing leadership in scientists and engineers to the rest of the world,” a senior project engineer wrote. Williams hopes that the student activities will inspire some of them to consider a career in science and technology. “We really need to get more young people interested.”
Mar 27, 2013 | Community, Small Business
Chad Goodfellow
Whether it’s building communities or battling fires, Goodfellow Bros has maintained an ongoing commitment to social responsibility, according to President Chad Goodfellow. “Our mission is to be the contractor of choice by our clients, employees and the communities in which we live and work,” he said. You’ve likely seen Goodfellow Bros trucks and equipment working on any given day throughout the Hawaiian islands. The 90-year-old company takes charge of projects valued in hundreds of thousands of dollars, most recently constructing a portion of the Lahaina bypass and erecting buildings in the Kahului business park.
Employees work hard to help improve their community, volunteering in a variety of projects. Amongst the most memorable for Maui Regional Manager Ray Skelton, a 24-year company veteran, is his crews’ willingness to support local firefighters battling nearly inaccessible brush fires in South Maui. Goodfellow Bros has on many occasions provided bulldozers and trucks and the manpower to operate them. “If we are really to be corporate citizens who want to help out, we need to respond and work for our community,” Skelton said. At the fires, Goodfellow Bros follows the lead of the Maui Fire Department as they battle blazes. “We work with them at their direction. This is our opportunity to give back,” he said.
Aside from responding to fires, Goodfellow Bros employees have actively participated in local fundraising campaigns, volunteered at schools, served in nonprofit causes and coached in youth sports. Skelton remembers providing labor to build a playground at Kalama Park in Kihei and picking up trash and abandoned vehicles in a Community Work Day project. Goodfellow adds: “By partnering with vital nonprofit organizations, we actively enhance the communities for which we live and work. Inherent to our culture is a sense of pride in making a difference, and we encourage employees to get involved in the causes that touch their own lives.”
Mar 13, 2013 | Small Business
Patricia Boulet
An internship in the Maui Smart Grid project energized three people to launch businesses aimed at helping Hawaii reach its clean energy goals. They are Patricia Boulet, Green Energy Consulting; Stamati Stamatiou, Mati Consulting; and Austin Van Heusen, Van Heusen Energy Consulting. Each of them had been enrolled in the Sustainable Living Institute of Maui program through the University of Hawaii Maui College. And each has a goal to help both residential and commercial clients become more energy efficient.
“Energy efficiency is often overlooked but it is one of the most cost effective ways to reduce your electric bill,” Boulet said. “Getting an energy audit is the first step in understanding your energy use and how to lower your electric bill without reducing the quality of your life.” A certified home energy auditor, Stamatiou said every home audit in the Smart Grid project resulted in finding opportunities for energy savings, many at low or no cost to homeowners. Van Heusen, who now interns at Green Building LLC, said his energy consulting business assesses energy usage and then makes recommendations for energy efficiency upgrades.
Stamati Stamatiou
Stamatiou said he formed Mati Consulting nearly two years ago with a desire to apply the energy efficiency principles and green building concepts he studied in school. “My goal is to be a part of the solution to the issues facing our island and our planet, specifically through promoting the implementation of energy efficiency measures,” Stamatiou said. Boulet said she believes a successful business will mean following her passion — promoting green technology and energy efficiency, and following through — “Making sure that these recommendations make sense to my clients both logically and to their wallets.” Van Heusen said he would like to help build a green work force that is beneficial to both Maui’s economy and environment.
May 2, 2012 | Small Business
Ameritone Maui President, Ruth Nakasone, and daughter, Joni McGinnis, Sales Representative
Before the late Bob Nakasone got his start in politics, winning seats on the Maui County Council and State House of Representatives, he took a risk. Nakasone and his wife, Ruth, used their new family home in 1973 as collateral for a loan to purchase the hardware division of MDG Supply Inc., where Bob worked as store manager. Take that risk, add a lot of hard work and Ameritone Maui has thrived as a small business with mom and pop roots and with pride as the neighborhood paint store.
“At Ameritone Maui, we don’t just sell you a gallon of paint, we become a part of your home, your family and your community,” said owner Ruth Nakasone. She has seen the ebb and flow of the Maui economy in her nearly 40 years of business. “Though change is inevitable for any business to remain viable, it does not mean we have to change our philosophy,” she said. At the core, Ameritone Maui believes it’s important to take care of its employees and treat them like family. Ruth’s two sons, Byon and Vance; her daughter, Joni McGinnis; and granddaughter, Joy Moleta, are all employed in the family store. Long-time employees include Eric Kuniyoshi, Farley Duldulao, Ernest Pascua and Ed Acidera, also help to staff the two stores — one in Kahului, the other in Lahaina.
McGinnis, who serves as a sales representative, said Ameritone Maui has built its success on treating every customer as an individual. “It doesn’t matter how large or small the paint project is, every job has its challenge and reward,” she said. “We take the time to find out what you’re doing before handing you that gallon of paint.” The business’s individual customer service is exemplified by its practice of keeping records of its customers’ paint purchases and colors. Ameritone Maui also has earned a reputation as being the best color matcher on the island. “Our guys have matched nearly everything from red dirt to that certain green in a leaf,” she said. “So, if you have a difficult color to match we’ll give it a try.”
Jan 25, 2012 | Small Business
From left: Sisters Gail Saito and Cindy Tasaka-Ing and their cousin, Kelly Kohatsu
A family business with nearly 100 years of history lives on today in Cindy Tasaka-Ing and her sister, Gail Saito. The two are the owners and operators of Tasaka Guri-Guri, a homegrown snack shop founded by their greatgrandfather Jokichi Tasaka. He created the store’s hallmark guri-guri, a frozen dessert featuring a cross between sherbert and ice cream. Guri-guri is served in scoops of two flavors — strawberry and pineapple. Tasaka’s son, Gunji, perfected his father’s recipe, and his sons, Setsuo and Henry — Cindy and Gail’s dad — kept the recipe secret and continued the thriving business for about 35 years until retiring recently when the operations were officially handed to Henry’s daughters.
Cindy and Gail have one other employee, their cousin, Kelly Kohatsu, and get a lot of help from Henry’s long-time friend, Tony Ishikawa. “It’s a small business, we’re doing okay, why change it?” Cindy Tasaka-Ing said. Aside from the secret family recipe for guri-guri, Cindy and Gail manage Tasaka Guri-Guri just like their great-grandfather, grandfather and father did — no computer, no fax, no copier, no Web site. “Our business comes from word of mouth,” she said. Tasaka Guri-Guri switched from its site at the old Kahului Center nearly 100 years ago to the Maui Mall where they’ve had the shop for about four decades now.
Tasaka-Ing said the store welcomes a range of people from loyal residents who stop by every day for a scoop of guri-guri to visitors from the Mainland and others who want to take a quart or two to the Neighbor Islands. Tasaka-Ing said the shop has been successful in part “because our prices are relatively low.” Two scoops of guri-guri in a cup is priced at $1.20 and rises up to five scoops for $2.85; it can also be bought by the quart. Tasaka-Ing said she and her sister aren’t interested in selling the family recipe and hope that one day, their own children — most of whom are 12 years or younger — will take over the business.
Dec 14, 2011 | Small Business
Curtis and Naomi Takaoka
The Takaoka family, led by the late Mike and Patsy Takaoka, first assumed ownership of Tasty Crust in 1957, sold it in 1982, and took it back in 1997 with Curtis and wife, Naomi, offering to assist as Curtis’ parents took a well-deserved retirement. With 27 employees on the payroll today, Tasty Crust provides a menu of local favorites including saimin, teriyaki steak and the ever-popular hot cakes. From Monday to Friday, as many as 20 gallons of hot cake batter is prepared – and up to 30 gallons on weekends. The Mill Street restaurant sits in the same spot it was built on in 1944 and still uses recipes from Patsy Takaoka and her closest friends and family.
Sustaining the business success could lead to adding more staff and/or raising prices. “It’s a constant battle having to take care of business in this economy. Eventually we’re going to have to tool the business a little bit, but I think we’re going to keep the menu the same.” Takaoka said he appreciates the support the community has given his restaurant. “We’re so thankful we’ve been able to do business on Maui. Everyone has been so supportive and we’ve got a lot of people who have been very, very loyal to us.”
Nov 24, 2011 | Small Business
As we recently celebrated Veterans Day and are mindful of the service given to our nation by members of our armed forces, disabled Iraq veteran and entrepreneur, Chelsea Ann K.E. Fernandez, is fulfilling a dream of serving the disabled community of Maui. The president and co-founder of FernanTECH Inc., Fernandez and her husband, Joey, are opening a new branch called Hawaii Assistive Technology Company. Its mission will be to provide people with disabilities a chance to live independently with the use of technology. “It was always in my heart to help the disabled,” Fernandez said.
At age 14, Fernandez, a graduate of Hilo High School, saw her two-month-old sister die in part because of complications from both physical deformities and Down syndrome. Fernandez said she vowed that she would do what she could in her adult years to support impaired youth and adults. Her vision is to find technological devices that assist the deaf, the blind and the disabled in everyday living, concentrating on education and communication. “The range is so wide,” she said, adding that products could include walking canes for the blind and iPads for autistic children. Fernandez was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Syndrome Disorder as a result of her service in the U.S. Army Reserve and a tour in Iraq. Following her year of military service in 2004, she moved to Maui in 2006 and established FernanTECH Inc. She also earned an associate degree in business from the University of Hawaii Maui College and earned certificates in entrepreneurship, management, marketing and accounting.
The current treasurer of the Maui Lions Club, Fernandez has made connections with the group that empowers volunteers to encourage the deaf and the blind. Fernandez also started the Maui Deaf Club and she’s partnered with the Hawaii Independent Living Center on Maui and a panel of service providers for the disabled to learn more about the community she wants to serve. She has invested some $10,000 in educating herself about the needs of the disabled including registering for a February 2012 international conference sponsored by the California State University. “I really want to do this,” Fernandez said.
