Hawaii Business is thankful to be strengthening the local economy and helping our communities thrive by offering insightful and engaging content for the past 61 years. This attitude of gratitude has us looking back on all of the editorial features from this past year, and we compiled a list of the top 10 stories of 2016 according to web traffic…
Steve’s favorite things. Photo by David Croxford. STEVE PETRANIK, EDITOR So much fun stuff to do, so little time. I love hiking and playing board games with my family. One favorite game is Pandemic, in which you cooperate – not compete – to eradicate deadly global diseases. Avoid the app called Pandemic 2; in that, you play a disease trying…
Five thousand blocks of ice and 22 years later, Darren Ho still carves ice sculptures for all kinds of special events in Hawaii and around the world. Here he works in his Kihei studio. At the Sapporo Snow Festival this year in Japan, his first appearance at the annual event, Ho’s sculpture placed fourth. You can book him at icesculpturesbydarrenho.com….
Valerie Chang was only 42 when she was diagnosed with idiopathic emphysema – a form of COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. “It’s rather severe, with no known cause,” explains Chang, now 59. “They’ve explored all the possible causes, including genetic, and haven’t found anything. Originally, I was told I’d need to get a lung transplant, but, fortunately, now the doctors…
ORIGIN: David Pang has been creating pet products for years, first when he owned a chain of pet stores in Taiwan and then after he opened Pet Spot Ward at Ward Warehouse in Honolulu. So he launched a company to market his creations and called it Ilio Products, using the Hawaiian word for dog. The first item was a puppy…
NAME: Barbara Ankersmit JOB: Market researcher, president and partner COMPANY: Anthology Marketing Group Research Team START: Ankersmit had been a project manager in California for Arbitron, a radio listener survey company. When she and her family moved to Hawaii, she got a job with a marketing research firm and conducted polls for The Honolulu Advertiser on major political races in Hawaii. Since then,…
Richmond “Rich” Chang always wanted to own a business. “I was a finance major at UH and, when I graduated in 2000, I didn’t know what sort of business I wanted, but I knew I wanted to buy one,” remembers the 37-year-old owner of Hawaiian Paradise Candies, a small chocolate confections factory in Nuuanu. “I’d go onto those websites that…
Developer Peter Savio says everyone in Hawaii pays more for common items like food because of an unfair system of leasehold land rents. He says the current system does not account for decades of up-and-down land prices and economic conditions, but landowners and appraisers dispute his assessment. Peter Savio thinks you’re paying too much rent if you’re a leasehold tenant….
Q: I’ve got a great job with a real estate development company, but I’m afraid I’m about to get fired. I screwed up a project, missing a deadline, mixing up job orders and costing the company real money. I’ve done what I can to fix it, and my boss doesn’t know yet. Is there any hope for me or should…
1. FOLLOW YOUR PASSION Choose a nonprofit with a mission that you’re personally passionate about. This will make it easier for you to commit the time and energy it takes to add value. 2. SEEK SUPPORT FROM YOUR EMPLOYER I’m fortunate to work for Hawaiian Telcom, a local company that is committed to supporting our communities. Communicate with your employer…
Q: What are the best practices for creating a culture of volunteering? A: Volunteering can be a rewarding, life-changing experience for employees and is one of the best ways of creating goodwill in the community for the companies they work for. For companies, creating a culture of volunteering is worth the investment of time as it engages employees, attracts top…
We are proud of the traction Hawaiʻi’s Most Charitable Companies has gained since the inaugural list in 2012, which included 53 companies.
The low-slung warehouse sits on the edge of a small industrial park just outside Waimea. Behind it are the humped, green foothills of Kohala, the oldest of the Big Island’s five volcanoes, and low, heavy clouds inch down the mountain like a vaporous glacier. A wood plank hung on the side of the tin warehouse reads “Kamuela Hardwoods.” The company,…
The high cost of animal feed has long hindered the meat, poultry, dairy and seafood industries in the Islands, but local efforts on several fronts aim to reduce those expenses. Shipping feed from the Mainland costs about $150 to $200 per ton – often doubling the total price of feed to local companies, according to Jesse Cooke, a senior investment…
“What Do Women Want?” was a condescending question often asked (and answered) by men when I was young. It is also a question Gallup set out to answer in a report called “Women in America: Work and Life Well-Lived,” based on surveys of more than 323,500 American adults. I had the privilege of hearing Gallup COO Jane Miller speak about…
The mission of Touch A Heart is to teach single mothers – who are recovering from addiction – the culinary arts so they may join the workforce. But more importantly, cooking is a skill 1 Kumabe explains how an eggshell makes a handy tool to retrieve broken shells.2 Before the single mothers start the cooking portion of training, they start…
This summer was a blur for Sarah Park, who is the state epidemiologist and head of the Department of Health’s Disease Outbreak Control Division. Each year, an average of 10 Hawaii residents contract Hepatitis A, which is considered a normal rate for the size of the state’s population. But, by the middle of June, the Health Department knew this was…
Buffy Owens of Kamaaina Kids was meeting with consultants from the HR management company ProService Hawaii when news broke that the federal government would update the Fair Labor Standards Act by doubling the minimum pay for salaried employees. Without missing a beat, the original focus of the meeting went out the window, and discussion immediately shifted to the new rules and…