Making a smart business acquisition “all comes down to how well your team can analyze the business,” says Gabe Lee, executive vice president of commercial marketing at American Savings Bank. Lee recommends hiring an attorney with experience in acquisitions and a certified public accountant. 1. Look at adjusted EBITDA A CPA can help analyze the Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation…
When Rick Hadley became chairman and CEO of Hawaiian Springs in 2006, he didn’t want Hawaiian Springs to be just another water. He says his vision was to take the best water from the most beautiful place on Earth and expose it to the rest of the world. HB: What are your Mainland and foreign markets? Our objective is to…
Q. I’ve worked hard to build my business and I don’t want to lose it in a disaster. How do I know if I’ve got the right insurance coverage? A. Smart. The best time to think about that question is before disaster strikes (tsunami anyone?). Here are three of the most common — and potentially catastrophic — insurance mistakes that business…
It’s late afternoon in Liliha and minutes are ticking by on the new town clock high above Finance Factors at the crossroads of North Kuakini and Liliha streets. Schoolchildren and early diners squeeze onto stools at Liliha Bakery for $4 hamburgers, hot cakes and saimin. A few doors away, wobbly orange crinkle fencing shelters new shrubbery and a modest fountain outside the new Longs/CVS…
6:34 A.m., Monday Hawaiian Airlines MAINTENANCE HANGAR Honolulu International Airport >> This Boeing 717 pulled in at 10 p.m. the night before and the maintenance crew went to work overhauling the right engine. Engines are overhauled after a set number of “cycles,” a cycle being one takeoff and one landing. Depending on what’s needed, an overhaul can take from 30…
Idea Engineers used to rely on meteorological towers to measure wind speed. But “met towers” only give you data for one location; they don’t tell you anything about wind velocities around a valley or along a ridge. Wind 3D, a product being developed by Oceanit, creates three-dimensional maps of wind velocities within a radius of three miles. Technology Wind 3D…
People tell me that I’m a lucky guy because I got out of the newspaper business a year ago. True, I have a lot more job security now than my friends at the Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the two papers at which I worked for more than 22 years. I am fortunate. But their troubles are a crisis for…
Robin Campaniano General partner, Ulupono Initiative, since January Campaniano, former president and CEO ofFarmers Insurance Hawaii (formerly AIG), now helps run an entity created by Pam and Pierre Omidyar to build and support sustainable ventures in Hawaii. He’s photographed at the warehouse of Re-Use Hawaii, one of Ulupono’s projects. Q: How did you become involved in the sustainability efforts by the Omidyars? A: There’s…
YES Hawaii’s fisheries need adaptive regulations to ensure that we and future generations can continue to catch fish and preserve cultural practices. Fishing has been regulated in Hawaii since ancient times. Long before Western contact, Native Hawaiians regulated catch based upon spawning seasons and had protocols about who could fish where. Traditional practitioners knew fisheries needed regulation to remain sustainable….
Health insurance is the second-biggest expense for most employers after payroll. And that cost keeps soaring: Hawaii companies have been paying an average 9 percent more in premiums each of the past 10 years – and that will likely continue. But there is hope, says Max Botticelli, CEO of UHA. “Employers have a big stake in promoting a healthy workplace…
High on a ridge overlooking Maalaea Bay, a small group of students from the Horizons Academy scramble out of vans into the vast open space at the top of the Kaheawa wind farm. They gape for a moment in the brilliant morning light. It’s an impressive sight: the giant white turbines of Kaheawa – 20 in all – standing majestically…
One of Hawaii’s largest charity groups has just opened its new urban Honolulu headquarters — a one-stop shop for social services and home to 170 employees who oversee more than 30 programs statewide. Catholic Charities Hawaii says it paid $15.4 million to buy and renovate the 2.2 acre Clarence T. C. Ching Campus at the former site of First Presbyterian…
LeeAnn Crabbe is vice president of the Queen Liliuokalani Trust, which cares for orphaned and destitute children. She is also the proud adoptive mother of two children. Food Pre-kids, she and her husband would splurge at Chef Mavro’s. “Now, we’re more Goma-tei ramen kind of people,” she says, laughing, but adds, “Small saimin and a side order of fries from…
I’ve always wondered how a place can charge much less for plate lunches than its competitors. Yum Yum Thai, a downtown hole-in-the-wall, either has an incredibly low overhead or is doing something I don’t want to know about. Prices start at $2.50 for a no-starch, one-item plate, and tops off at $5 for a one starch, three-item plate. Ordering here…
Author and investor Kim Kiyosaki, whose book “Rich Woman Hawaii” maps strategies for financial independence, takes goal-setting seriously. So seriously, that every year she and her husband, author Robert Kiyosaki, who created an industry around his book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” revisit and reinvent their personal goals. She says that strengthens their relationship, and lets them re-evaluate where they’re going,…
What’s It Worth? $1,150 What is it? Travel humidor cigar case made by German luggage maker Rimowa. Why so special? Only 35 pieces are available in the U.S.; fewer than 500 were made for the global market. Why so VALUABLE? The humidor is made from an aluminum magnesium alloy thicker than the company’s premium luggage. Like the luggage, it’s designed…
For many locals, a movie or a sporting event wouldn’t be complete without Hurricane Popcorn. The combination of nori, liquid butter, arare and popcorn has been a local favorite ever since the Hawaii Popcorn Co. began as a pushcart in Kaneohe’s Windward Mall almost 19 years ago. Owner Mark Doo says the company offers four versions: pre-popped, microwaveable, toppings (everything…
If brown tree snakes sneak aboard the increasing number of flights from Guam to Hawaii and establish themselves here, the damage on Oahu alone could top $2 billion a year, according to a new study. The report in January’s Pacific Science journal calculated the cost of the snakes’ destruction on Guam and extrapolated to estimate the potential damage to the…
My company provides a cell phone and says it understands if an occasional call is personal (calling home to say I’ll be late, for instance). But I find myself using it more and more as my primary phone and have cancelled my personal cell phone contract. Have I crossed the line? Did you really need to ask? Of course you…
Hawaii Island is now home to the first large-scale commercial maile farm in the state. Although maile is one of the most popular lei in Hawaii for special occasions, virtually all of what’s sold here is imported from the Cook Islands and Tonga, where it is cheaper to produce. Ka Mahiai Ihi o Wailea (“the sacred farm of Wailea”) plans…
Raymond Jefferson has already given a lot for his country and for his comrades. During Special Forces training in 1995, Capt. Raymond Jefferson lost all five left-hand fingers as he shielded teammates from a grenade that exploded prematurely. He spent the next six months recovering at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii, the place he now calls home. Much has…
Until teleportation is invented, mail and package services will remain essential to Hawaii businesses, who are served by three major providers: FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service. William Donohoe, who worked at FedEx for 19 years before opening the Shipping Shack in November 2005, says his company uses all three and each has its pluses. “It’s based on the…
Constance Lau is president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric Industries, ranked No. 1 on our Top 250 list of the biggest Hawaii companies. What is the most important lesson you learned at your first job? My first job was as an associate attorney in a large law firm where everybody worked really hard. I learned it’s not about the amount…
Your online business can be “hijacked” if you don’t pay attention to business listings on the Web. “People who are victims don’t even know they are victims,” says Daniela Stolfi, interactive marketing specialist at Boss Hawaii, which specializes in Web design, social media and other services. Plug your business’s name into Google or another search engine, and a slew of…