Maui-based Jennifer Varner is an ecommerce veteran. She started BellaBluMaternity.com, which grew into one of the largest online maternity stores. She sold it in 2006 and, six years ago, founded Pure-Ecommerce.com, which helps people start their own ecommerce businesses and offers ready-to-go website businesses for sale. Varner offers these steps to setting up an ecommerce business. 1. Start smart: After identifying the area…
Secure DNA provides information technology security and compliance services. www.secure-dna.com Question: How can I protect myself from Automated Clearing House fraud? Answer: The ACH network is used by financial institutions to process direct deposits, checks, bill payments and cash transfers. Unfortunately, it’s also a popular target for hackers since all they need are someone’s account details to commit fraud. ACH fraud…
What started two years ago as a healthy vitamin and mineral water to combat jet lag has turned into Aloha Friday Beverages, which are designed to keep everyone healthy, every day. Andrea Gall Krasnick explains the mistakes she first made and how to fix them. How did you realize Jet Lag Beverages product wasn’t working? Listen to your customers and retailers….
Photo: Courtesy Sue Brown Kena Coffee Farm sits on a country lane that meanders through picturesque coffee and macadamia orchards. The 4.89-acre farm in Kealakekua includes 1,164 coffee trees, 39 macadamia trees and numerous producing fruit trees at an elevation of 2,300 feet. The listing agent, Kona Realtor Sue Brown, says the farm is blessed with an average annual rainfall…
On weekends, Mark Dunkerley loves taking people for a spin around Oahu to see Diamond Head, Makapuu, the Pali and more. Appropriately, the CEO of Hawaiian Airlines conducts his sightseeing tours at 1,500 feet by flying the plane that launched the airline back in 1929. Just as it was back then, the plane is painted red and called the Bellanca,…
When Betina Parker set up her shelter in Kunia, she didn’t realize how many abandoned, abused and neglected horses there were in Hawaii. If not for her and the Equine 808 Horse Rescue, most of those horses would be dead. “We try to connect horses with people who want them,” Parker says of her nonprofit. “I had no idea when…
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 middle age, including the four individuals and one couple profiled in the following pages. They Asked “What’s Next?” and…
Name: Doug Jago Job: Visual presentation manager, Neiman Marcus at Ala Moana Center Years of Experience: 40 Starting out: After graduating from the University of Tampa in Florida, Jago worked in the visual merchandising department at Bloomingdale’s in Woodbridge, N.J., near where he was born and raised. He also worked at Ohrbach’s in New Jersey and Bullock’s and DFS in…
Pelatron Networking-On-The-Move Product: Networking-On-The-Move is a battlefield-ready networking and telecommunications system designed and manufactured by Pelatron, a Native Hawaiian-owned engineering and technology firm based in Mapunapuna. Senior VP and chief engineer Branson Aken describes NOTM as a mobile, modular “command-and-control” (C2) system commissioned by the U.S. Marine Corps to provide continuous voice, data and video streaming for troops in the…
Renovated Volcano House reopens three years after closing. After standing empty for three years, the Volcano House Hotel is gradually reopening on the rim of the still-active Kilauea Caldera at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Photo: Courtesy of Volcano House The National Park Service closed the lava-stone and ohia-wood structure on Jan. 1, 2010, as its past glory faded below national-park…
Today, I learned how to manufacture an oxygen tank. After that, I assembled detailed financial reports for a handful of Hawaii companies. Then, I began a six-week interactive course in Quickbooks. Finally, I created a 10-page draft for a last will and testament. All without leaving my desk. I simply browsed through the astonishing selection of free databases available on…
Hawaii, the only island state, has the fewest boat owners in the nation, both in absolute numbers and per capita. Hawaii’s 14,835 registered boats number little more than half the 28,249 boats registered in Wyoming, a landlocked state with the second-fewest boats, according to a 2011 ranking by the National Marine Manufacturers Association. On average, about one in every 93…
Kamiya Gold Inc. Packaging Warehouse, Laie Photographer David Croxford >> Pat Kamiya washes and sanitizes papayas before packing them at her family’s farm,Kamiya Gold. Within 24 hours of being picked, the papayas are delivered to Kamiya’s customers: mom and pop shops, wholesalers, restaurants and supermarkets across Oahu. Categories: Media, Parting Shot
Inside this issue, we explain how public school teachers, principals and administrators are evaluated and held accountable for their on-the-job performance. You already know that students are held accountable every time they hand in an assignment for grading or take a test. Sadly, it may be impossible to hold accountable the most important players in education: parents. Why do some…
CEO, Central Pacific Bank Dean, Hawaii Business’ 2012 CEO of the Year, has also been named Hawaii’s Salesperson of the Year for 2013 by the Honolulu Chapter of Sales & Marketing Executives International. He spoke with HB publisher David Tumilowicz. Some people are surprised that you are SMEI’s Salesperson of the Year. They don’t think of you as a salesperson….
Are sweeping changes in Department of Education’s leadership enough to fix Hawaii’s schools? New three-part strategy emphasizes student achievement first, followed by improved support and IT systems, and better training/accountability/HR. Don Horner, chair of the two-year-old, appointed Board of Education, ticks off the changes to the state’s school system over the past few years. “Write this down,” the former First…
It’s all in place: cubicles and copier, conference room and Wi-Fi, a bit of art on the walls and a verdant view of Iolani Palace. The Patsy T. Mink Center for Business & Leadership at the Laniakea YWCA on Richards Street is only months old, but people behind it are stoked to carry out its mission: to empower women entrepreneurs…
Tim Johns Age: 56 Position: Chief consumer officer at HMSA Workouts: Swimming, surfing, resistance training, stationary biking, jogging, paddle boarding, hiking, long walks with his dog On weekdays, Johns says he wakes extra early to fit in a swim before work. “Then I just try to grab the time whenever I have a break in my schedule. The weekends usually have multiple activities,…
Many people were surprised when the 2010 Census revealed that 120,000 people in Hawaii identified themselves as having Hispanic heritage, about 9 percent of the state’s residents. In fact, the Hispanic population in the Islands had grown by 38 percent since the previous Census, while the overall population grew only 12 percent, making them the state’s fastest growing ethnic group…
The most important person at a school is evaluated yearly on test scores, creating a good “school culture” and other factors Principals say success depends on building a strong team and creating support within the community Every day at Iroquois Point Elementary School in Ewa Beach, children who have done good deeds are invited to reach into principal Ofelia Reed’s…
Possibly the best way to improve public schools in Hawaii is to set goals around student achievement and to hold administrators, teachers and principals accountable for results. Here are three report cards on what is being done about accountability in public education. Report Card: School Administrators Are sweeping changes in Department of Education’s leadership enough to fix Hawaii’s schools? New…
New contract says teachers must be rated as “satisfactory” or better to get pay raises A rating of “unsatisfactory” can get you fired Kristen Brummel spends a lot of time thinking about what “teacher accountability” means. In fact, it was the topic of one essay she was required to write for the National Teacher of the Year competition after being…