Small Business

Lobbying Lessons

Melissa Teves Pavlicek has fought for the interests of small businesses at the state Legislature for the past five years and became state director of the National Federation of Independent Business in 2006. HB: How can small businesses gain influence…

Native Hawaiian Businesses

Finding a way to preserve culture Hui Ku Maoli Ola, a native plant nursery nestled deep in Haiku Valley on Windward Oahu, is a kind of island unto itself. Except for the steepest, most inaccessible parts of the Koolau Mountains,…

Preserving the Past

Greg Schredder is reviving a classic Hawaiian brand and hopes to turn it into a 100 percent local product. The Kauai entrepreneur was searching for a manufacturing site for his startup, Koloa Rum Co., when he learned that Hawaiian Fruit…

Ask SmallBiz: Dividing Family Stock

Q. What should the owners of a family business consider when dividing shares of stock among their children? I have been told never to give two children equal shares. -Monica Toguchi,
VP, Administration and
 Planning, Highway Inn Inc. A. You’re right,…