Maui Coffee Roasters (MCR), a staple business on Maui since 1982, joined Maui Business Connect, one of Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) newest programs for small businesses. The program focuses on growing local businesses in Maui County through training, mentoring, and networking, as well as connecting innovative businesses in the agriculture, creative, and health care industries. It is designed to help diversify the local economy and create jobs throughout the region.
Leslie Wilkins, President and CEO, MEDB, noted, “We hope to expand our business-development mentoring and counseling to target businesses that are past the ‘startup’ phase and are poised to scale, but need additional technical assistance and coaching to achieve the next level. These businesses are the job creators who will fuel our economy and MEDB’s goal is to offer programs to increase their probability of success.”
Throughout the years, MCR has provided the local community with a comfortable place to relax and enjoy a cup of coffee. Conveniently located in Kahului, they provide a prime spot for travelers and local residents alike. Well known for 100% Hawaiian Coffee, MCR was voted the Best Local Coffee Shop in 2018. It is also a longtime supporter of Maui’s non-profits and winner of the Community Business Award from the Maui Non-Profit Directors Association. The team roasts coffee from across the Hawaiian Islands, as well as a wide selection of international coffee. All of their coffee is freshly roasted in small daily batches using their eco-friendly Loring™ roasters, ensuring the best taste possible. They display colorful art, offer baked goods, and a selection of brewing accessories. However, along with other small businesses, MCR was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic. “At MCR we have followed all safety precautions to keep our employees and customers safe,” said MCR General Manager Mike Okazaki. “We entered MEDB’s Maui Business Connect to support and network with other business owners. For 40 years, MEDB has been a dynamic force in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship. The Maui Business Connect program assembled a cross-section of established businesses as a think tank of ideas to redefine vibrancy.”
MEDB’s Maui Business Connect program offers technical assistance and coaching to businesses, and helps diversify the local economy to create jobs throughout the state.
Mike Okazaki, Maui Coffee Roasters General Manager
Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB), the Small Business Association (SBA) and the Women’s Business Enterprise Council (WBEC) are collaborating to introduce local businesses to networking platforms that hold the potential for new opportunities. One platform is SBA’s Minority Owned Small Business (MOSB) which includes Women Owned Small Business (WOSB) and Veteran’s Owned Small Businesses. On Wednesday July 8, at 10:00 am, MEDB, SBA, and WBEC-West will host a virtual seminar with Dr. Pamela Williamson, President and CEO of WBEC-West, (pictured) and Wayne Wong, Director, Hawaii Small Business Development Center, Maui. The mission of the WEBC is to increase economic vitality in the communities that are served.
Dr. Williamson has been a dedicated senior leader for over twenty years. Her extensive experience in developing and implementing innovative alliances with key stakeholders has enabled the organizations to reach new levels of growth and stability. Williamson’s ability to lead and empower staff members creates a strong team environment that filters throughout the entire organization. She envisions a promising future for WBEC-certified women-owned businesses, and takes an active role in facilitating connections between corporations and women business enterprises.
“Women-owned businesses make up the fastest-growing segment of the national and international business world,” said Williamson. “That is just one reason why WBEC-West is dedicated to helping navigate the certification process. We go through a rigorous and stringent certification process to confirm that the business is owned, managed, and controlled by a woman or women. Additionally, we gained access to over 9,000 other WBEC-certified businesses to network and partner with on joint venture opportunities.”
Leslie Wilkins, President and CEO of MEDB, observed, “The benefits of being a certified women-owned business are considerable, opening new opportunities in sales and revenue streams.” Businesses can get certified by being 51% owned and operated by women, minorities or veterans in order to qualify for special consideration in government and private contracts, and to participate in a sponsor company’s Vendor Diversity Program. Disney, Intel, AT&T, Major League Baseball, MGM and other companies have requirements for a certain percentage of purchases from vendors of diversity.
Forty percent of all businesses in Hawaii are women-owned, meaning there is a lot of untapped potential for women to take advantage of certification. What have you got to lose? Join us for this event, and visit www.medb.org for details.
There are many ways to invest in the future of energy in Hawaii. It will take creativity and hard work from project developers; the community, including indigenous groups; regulators; and energy service providers to come up with projects that are acceptable for all concerned. Building trust and respect between stakeholders within the context of equitable community development will be a key metric of success. Any viable project will require substantial amounts of financial capital and an adequate return on investment. The skill development and job creation that results must take us towards a new energy economy. Every community faces similar challenges – how can we invest in people while designing energy projects that are financially viable, resilient, and enhance job skills?
Join us for the 8th Annual Hawaii Energy Conference as we explore how to invest with knowledge and respect in Hawaii.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) partnered with Oahu’s YWCA Minority Business Development Agency’s (MBDA) Women of Color Business Center to present a ‘Women in Business’ seminar series. In the introductory seminar, “Getting Small Business Administration (SBA) Certified as a Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB): Opening New Doors of Opportunity”, business owners heard about the benefits of becoming certified, such as the opportunity to qualify for grants specified for women-owned businesses.
MEDB was joined by guest speakers, Shan Wirt, MBDA Director; Gary Albitz, Business Consultant with MEDB; Wayne Wong, Maui Director, Hawaii Small Business Development Center (SBDC); and others. The panel shared how certification as a WOSB will open doors for businesses, how to access contracts and grants exclusive to WOSB, and highlights of the steps in the process.
“These workshops help business owners understand the benefits of becoming WOSB certified,” said MEDB President and CEO Leslie Wilkins. “Our MEDB team will also help participants evaluate which projects to pursue, from farm loans to government contracts to research grants, to name a few.”
Albitz added, “It is not about the journey to get certified but what benefits are available once you get there. The SBA provides the training and the certification, and MEDB would like to encourage business owners to take the steps so that they can open doors to new projects.”
The MBDA Enterprising Women of Color Business Center at YWCA Oahu is funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is one of five new business centers established across the nation in September 2020 to help minority women-owned businesses grow through financial and business counseling, workshops and other resources.
Wirt noted, “We are excited to work with MEDB and SBDC to expand our reach across the state and promote the significant opportunities that certifications offer to women-owned businesses. This series is the perfect complement to our focus, which is to help minority women-owned businesses grow through business analysis, market access and access to capital. Opportunities are abundant. We are here to level the playing field.”
Further workshops will help participants use their SBA certification to take advantage of the opportunities with various agencies. All presentations are online and registration is free. Sign up at medb.org for updates.
Mitzi Toro, owner of The Maui Cookie Lady, recently opened an incredible upcountry boutique bakery in Makawao Town featuring her original, six-ounce cookie creations. After two years of looking for a store front, she received a call from Barbara Tam, who grew up on the property where Toro’s current commercial wholesale kitchen is located in Makawao. She calls the luck of her new bakery location, “pre-ordained cookie destiny”.
In business since 2012, Toro started baking cookies as a fund-raiser for the ICU nurses who cared for her terminally-ill father. The next year, making cookies became a favorite hobby that transformed into a full-time business. Toro noted, “Hawaii has an array of beautiful agriculture, so I use high quality, locally sourced ingredients. Additionally, I sell other local specialty-food items in my bakery, as a way of supporting my fellow entrepreneurs.” Toro also gives back through community initiatives. One project, Maui School Slippah Solace, provided over 2,000 pairs of new flip flops to students on three islands.
Toro has gained fans from all over the world. Matching her company motto, ‘To make the world a smaller place one cookie at a time’, the demand for her cookies continues to grow rapidly. The cookies are now sold at select stores, hotels, restaurants, on ocean cruises, and are shipped nationwide and internationally. The Maui Cookie Lady brand is also partnering with the QVC shopping channel to share Hawaii-made cookies in home-shopping markets. Toro noted, “During the pandemic, my focus was the online market with holiday orders and gift purchases. This helped me through tough economic times.”
Toro recalled, “At the beginning, I had to learn about all the things that are not so fun, like budgets, profit margins, packaging, food compliance, business math, taxes and licensing, just to name a few. My receipts were in a shoe box and I really was not sure what the business was costing. One day I went by the Maui Economic Development Board office and the rest is sweet history!”
The support and love from the community for our little island bakery still makes me tear up. I feel like I am living the cookie-prenuer dream.
Ho’oulu Maui Nui is an online resource directory that helps Maui County’s small businesses find local services and products during COVID-19. Ho’oulu means ‘to grow’ and the directory, launched as part of the 2020 Adaptability Fund, was created to help Maui County businesses grow and adapt in a new business climate. A partnership among the Maui County Office of Economic Development (OED), Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB), and various community organizations, the Hoʻoulu Maui Nui Business Directory is a one-stop, online resource for small businesses looking for local service providers, and businesses wanting to reach potential customers by publicizing their services and products.
“This business directory is a great opportunity for local businesses to connect and support one another as we take on the challenges brought by COVID-19,” said Mayor Michael Victorino. “Reinvesting in our local economy and vendors ensures we’re getting the most out of our CARES Act funds, while still getting quality work and products.”
Businesses listed are specifically geared towards retooling and responding to COVID, helping businesses to: conduct business safely, including personal protective equipment (PPE); adapt operations to alternate business strategies; and to invest in technology infrastructure to help businesses operate virtually. Many businesses have had to expand their online visibility with web-based marketing and increase their capabilities to sell online through e-commerce. Some of the types of business listed in this directory are Business Leasing, Business Finance Consultant, Cleaning Restoration, Commercial Printer, Design, Remodeling, and Construction, Employee Recruiter, Export Consultant, Food Scientist and Technologist, HVAC Filtration Expert, IT Consultant, Marketing, PR, and Social Media Consultant, PPE Provider, Photographer, Videographer, and other services. There is no cost to participate.
According to Leslie Wilkins, MEDB President and CEO, “We want to make sure that the companies know, through the Ho’oulu Maui Nui business directory, what resources are available here at home.”
You can learn more about the Hoʻoulu Maui Nui Business Directory, search for businesses or apply to promote your business at https://www.hooulumauinui.org/
Maui County-based companies interested in signing up and being included in the business directory can visit www.HoouluMauiNui.org. There is no cost to participate.
Maui TechOhana meetings are back! Presented by the Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) and supported by the County of Maui, the first virtual Zoom meeting provided an informal networking opportunity open to anyone interested in Maui County’s business and technology industries. Invited guest Doug Nelson, Founder, President and CEO of Kinection, spoke on the topic ‘We’re All Startups Again’.
“Whether you call it the “Post-Covid landscape,” the “big reset,” or the “new normal,” it is clear that we need to adapt our businesses in order to survive and thrive,” said Nelson “Our markets, our channels, and even our customers have changed, and will likely continue to for the foreseeable future.”
Discussing the questions startups face daily, Nelson explained how to adapt products and services so that customers are met where they are; how to continue to provide value; how to find new customers to serve; and how to take advantage of new opportunities that did not exist last year. The participants considered some practical techniques from the startup world that helped professionals and businesses to (re)connect with customers, (re)imagine themselves, and (re)discover product-market fit. Attendees also looked at some local examples and considered how to apply the techniques to their personal situation.
“The fundamental activity of a startup is to turn ideas into products, measure how customers respond, and then learn whether to pivot or persevere,” Nelson said “Using the Lean Startup Methodology, whose core is the build-measure-learn cycle, startups better understand their customers and develop products that the customers are looking for. Part of this methodology is Customer Discovery and Experimentation. This principled approach teaches you how to drive a startup, how to steer, when to turn, and when to persevere, to grow a business with maximum acceleration. Companies can create order, not chaos, by continuously providing tools to test a vision. By the time the product is ready to be distributed widely, it could already have established customers.” The participants agreed, “When markets, channels, customers and products are in flux, we are truly all startups again. Sharing personal experiences was a valuable takeaway for the community. Thank you, MEDB!”
MEDB’s Maui TechOhana presentation was a relevant topic in today’s pandemic-ravaged industry, offering an opportunity for participants to talk to others with similar professional interests.
Doug Nelson, Founder, President and CEO of Kinection
The 2020 Hawaii Energy Conference (HEC), postponed in March due to Covid-19, aired in July with a live-stream virtual event. Presented by the Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) and supported by the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, the conference welcomed over 600 participants from 24 different states and Puerto Rico. “An exciting feature this year was our international participation,” said Leslie Wilkins, MEDB President and CEO. “Six countries joined us, spanning time zones from Europe to Asia.”
One of the nation’s leading energy conferences, the HEC brought together experts on energy policy, strategies, leadership, and innovation to focus on how the energy sector should respond to the challenges imposed by the pandemic. The program included four panels plus brief video presentations with information related to the theme, ‘Imagining a Just Recovery: What would that look like for the grid?’
Jennifer Potter, Commissioner of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, and member of the conference program committee said, “The HEC has regrouped at a critical time for Hawaii and our country. The incredible macroeconomic stress and individual financial burdens across our nation mean that there is no better time to have dialogue on affordability and equity. Building a recovery plan that includes all socioeconomic groups is imperative.”
In his keynote, Scott Seu, President and CEO of Hawaiian Electric Company, explained, “It is not enough anymore to simply say we will all benefit from cleaner, cheaper renewables someday. The duration and the depth of our current economic downturn is unlike anything we have ever experienced, so someday is not soon enough. The leaders of Hawaiian Electric are looking at what bold strategies we can use to benefit the most people, the most quickly. Equity, opportunity, and participation are as important for our successful transition to renewable energy as any field source or technology.”
Seu added, “I have challenged myself and my team to think outside of our traditional role of keeping the lights on; to be bold, creative, and come up with ideas, such as a community solar program, that will strengthen our economy; to be the better Hawaii we can all imagine.”
The renewable energy transformation must include everyone. That is what equity looks like to me. Then, no one gets left behind.
Scott Seu, Hawaiian Electric Company, President and CEO
Exciting projects, industry-best benefits and flexible working arrangements are a few of the reasons that Kihei-based Centauri was recently named a 2020 Hawai’i Best Place to Work by Hawaii Business Magazine. Centauri is a technology company providing high-end, creative software and engineering solutions to critical national security missions across space, cyber, missile defense and intelligence domains.
Although headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, Centauri has a long-standing office in Kihei. The nearly 50 employees in Kihei support federal government customers in high-tech areas such as space domain awareness. Centauri’s corporate strategy brings together top experts in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), as well as intelligence operations and analysis.
“There is a sense of energy, drive, pride in accomplishment and commitment in the work at Centauri,” said Daron Nishimoto, Centauri Director of Advanced Technologies. “Our pervasive culture of excellence in all that we do defines who and what we are, as we focus on the important missions of our customers. Because our employees are our most valuable asset, we have built a company that recognizes the achievements of our team members.”
Centauri offers career opportunities and paid military leave for both veterans and their spouses, which is why more than 35% of employees are veterans. “For many veterans, the Centauri culture embodies a comparable sense of camaraderie and values instilled in the armed forces,” said Nishimoto. “We do work that matters on cutting-edge technologies critical to our nation.”
Centauri’s flexible work environment allows employees to be in charge of their hours, allowing them to accomplish their work on their own schedule so they do not have to sacrifice important appointments, school events or family needs. As for benefits, the company offers a high-match 401k and a selection of generous healthcare packages including medical, prescription drug, dental and vision, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, and survival support. Employee charitable contributions are matched, and stipends for continuing education are provided.
“Everyone in Kihei, and even those reporting into Hawaii from the continental US, genuinely enjoy working with us,” said Nishimoto. “Ultimately, our workplace culture of excellence defines our success and makes Centauri a Best Place to Work in Hawaii.”
At Centauri, we have been recognized by major nationwide and local awards programs. Presently, we are welcoming 2020 Summer Interns to our first-ever virtual program.
Daron Nishimoto, Centauri Director of Advanced Technologies
