Jason Cohen, marketing manager for the Kona-based Hawaii Forest & Trail tour company, checks user-review sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor whenever he is notified of a new review. He also monitors the company’s Facebook page daily for comments. If anything arises, he springs into action. A good example was when a travel agent posted a negative review on Facebook,…
HI529, Hawaii’s College Savings Program, now boasts assets of $67 million and some 4,260 participants – an average of about $16,000 per investor set aside for a keiki’s education. National analysts give Hawaii’s program good marks on the investment returns and the management team, and only ding the program on its fees, which are higher than many other state programs…
Daniel B.T. Lau, co-founder of Finance Factors, was born in 1919, the year the treaty officially ending World War I was signed, and Congress approved Constitutional amendments that created Prohibition and gave the vote to women. Stephen Haugse, the owner of Flip Flop Shops in Waikiki and Ala Moana Center, was born in 1986, the year Chernobyl exploded and burned,…
Photo: David Croxford Thursday, 12:13 p.m. Oeno Winemaking, Kailua Co-owner Bryon Crowther draws wine for a taste test. Oeno makes more than 150 wines from a variety of international vineyards. The winemaking process takes four to six weeks from mixing to fermentation and bottling. Categories: Lifestyle
Honolulu drivers spend an average of 60 hours a year sitting in traffic, according to the annual INRIX Traffic Scorecard. That’s a challenge for your patience but a great opportunity for vehicle ads, says Kia Kamauu, VP for ROI Printing. The back of your vehicle is a prime location for ads since drivers and passengers “stuck in traffic and sitting…
It’s been six years since the Alakai sailed out of Honolulu Harbor for the last time, yet somehow the Hawaii Superferry won’t go away. It haunted the 2014 campaign like the ghost of elections past. In June, an unscientific online poll by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser showed support for the Superferry’s return at 87 percent. Ideas floated at a ferry conference…
Income inequality led the agenda at the 2015 World Economic Forum in Davos and has sparked spirited debate in Washington, D.C., and across America, where the gap between the nation’s richest citizens and everyone else has been growing for four decades. While most economic research, including Thomas Piketty’s bestselling book, “Capital in the 21st Century,” has focused on national and…
Dr. Kazuma Nakagawa was frustrated. Time and again, the neurointensivist at The Queen’s Medical Center saw patients transferred from Neighbor Island hospitals with intracerebral hemorrhage – a type of bleeding in the brain – even when it was clear no surgery or specialized care was necessary. “Someone has to pay $15,000 (or more) just for the ambulance ride,” he says….
If you want to put bounce in your workouts, check out iTrampoline in Kapolei. With over 14,000 square feet in its trampoline space, iTrampoline gives kids of all ages the chance to jump, flip, do corkscrews and literally bounce off the walls. Imagine playing dodge ball while flying through the air or slam dunking like LeBron James. It’s a great…
Founder: Tow Choice founder Dave Kozuki is surprised to be a towing entrepreneur, as his background is in tech sales and marketing in Silicon Valley. But he was sold after seeing the demo product use a smartphone to arrange a tow. “I thought: We gotta do this. We can change the towing industry.” Product: Tow Choice is a service, like…
“There was always something else. When pineapple closed, the resorts were there. When the ranch closed, Monsanto was still there. There was always an answer. We don’t have the answer now.” —Kimberly Mikami Svetin, Store owner To some people, Monsanto is the face of corporate evil, but David Makaiwi sees a different face. Before Monsanto hired him, he sold drugs,…
Malia Haumschild – like the teas she creates – is steeped in hula and Hawaiian culture. “From the age of 11, I danced hula at the then-Maui Prince Hotel in Makena three nights a week, for about 11 years,” remembers the 32-year-old Native Hawaiian entrepreneur, who can trace her lineage to precontact days. “The ‘Dance Malia’ business was started by…
Molokai and the battle over GMOs remind me of another island whose people struggled to control their destiny against outsiders. Newfoundland is the poorest of the Canadian provinces, much like Molokai is the poorest of the main Hawaiian Islands. The unemployment rate in Newfoundland was 11.4 percent in January – almost double the national rate in Canada. At latest count,…
In a world in which too much information can be as dangerous as not enough, Contix offers a solution. The app sifts through millions of social-media posts about events – such as when a celebrity promotes a company or brand on Twitter – to provide real-time alerts to investors. “It’s intriguing,” says Bob Berghell, the CEO of Island Technologies. He…
President of FCH Enterprises, owner of Zippy’s restaurants Brothers Francis and Charlie Higa made a wise choice in 1966, when they opened a drive-in restaurant called Zippy’s on South King Street instead of a car wash, and launched one of the most popular chains in Hawaii. Today, the parent company, FCH Enterprises, is still privately held by the Higa family,…
Each year, Hawaii Business selects 20 emerging leaders who have already made major contributions to Hawaii and whom we expect to have an even greater impact over the next two decades. Let us introduce you to Hawaii’s People to Watch, Class of 2015. MELIALANI JAMES President, Hawaii Venture Capital Association Age 36 Melialani James started her career on the mainland,…
Pow! Wow! Hawaii 60 walls 100 artists (50 local, 50 national and international) 4,500 spray paint cans Corruption Ratings One of our favorite websites, fivethirtyeight.com, recently ranked the pervasiveness of corruption in each state, with first being worst and 50th best. Here’s where Hawaii ranked on three measures: 24th federal corruption convictions per capita 35th reporter ratings 38th lack of…
Name: Therese Wahl Job: Wardrobe Stylist Experience: 25 years What is styling? Stylists are usually part of a team – including models, photographers, hair stylists and makeup artists – that creates an image for a magazine, catalog, TV commercial, music video, film or fashion runway. But styling is not just for celebrities on the red carpet: Stylists also help…
Herb Wheatman ASA, CPA/ABV, CBA VP and Manager, Business Interests & Valuation Bank of Hawaii boh.com Question: “I own a small business, which I’m thinking of selling. How do I find out how much it is worth? Answer: Your business is probably your most important asset. Here are some useful tips to help you estimate its value. Try to be…
It was 1955. The FDA approved the Salk polio vaccine and Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus. The Brooklyn Dodgers won the World Series for the first time and Disneyland opened. Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly were Hollywood’s biggest stars. That was 60 years ago. In Hawaii, a military plane crashed in the Waianae…
Robert Nichols spends his workdays focused on modernizing the interisland terminal at Honolulu International Airport as program manager for Parsons Corp. On many Saturdays, the engineer’s focus shifts to the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii’s Youth of the Year Academy. The five-month program helps exemplary youth begin their professional development by learning skills such as interviewing, resume writing and…