Did you get all the way through high school and college without actually learning about a potential career and test driving it? Did your college courses have little connection with what you learned in high school? If you answered yes…
It’s 2 a.m. in Hilo town. The loud noises in the front yard have the elderly homeowners frightened and fearing burglars. It’s not the police’s first call to the neighborhood, but they find nothing – again. The next morning, footprints reveal…
Delaney launched HiHR in 2009 and the company has made the Hawaii Best Places to Work list in every year for which it was eligible – four straight now. In the same time, HiHR went from revenues of $6.1 million in 2009 to $123…
Twenty years into a high-powered career as a hospital executive, Murray got tapped for the opportunity of a lifetime: Overseeing the $70 million opening of The Queen’s Medical Center’s 17-acre campus in Ewa Beach, on the site of the former Hawaii Medical…
From July to December, customers crowd a classroom-size room at Kahuku High School where almost everything is red. Kahuku.org, which has made over $1 million in revenues since 2001, sells Kahuku High T-shirts, hats and hoodies while also teaching students how…
Before the young business leaders from Hawaii started their intensive three-day journey to Japan, they did not get an ordinary pep talk or briefing. Instead, Glenn Furuya, founder of Leadership Works, talked to them about “Leading from the Heart.” To…
It’s sometimes easy to believe the famous saying: Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door. But when the market is already full of mousetraps, and your R&D is better than your marketing, that…
2014 appears to be a crucial year for the Neighbor Islands. The future of agriculture is being passionately debated, tourism is at a crossroads, and the sources of county revenue are up in the air. Hawaii Business interviewed the three Neighbor Island…
The best political candidate in the world might get nowhere without a team of marketing, direct-mail, advertising, polling and other professionals to help refine the message and effectively deliver it to voters. It’s an election year and Alan Tang is…
It’s not your imagination, Honolulu is packed with high-rises. In fact, it ranks sixth in the United States —right behind San Francisco—and 30th in the world among cities with the most skyscrapers, according to Emporis, a building-industry information clearinghouse. Since…
PHOTOS BY MONTE COSTA “Raising funds in today’s economy is no easy task,” says Clyde Namuo, CEO of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. Neither is travelling around the world in a traditional Hawaiian sailing canoe, but the voyaging society is simultaneously…
Some afternoons, after lunching on a mess of ahi furikake or fried ahi belly at Nico’s, the big fish restaurant down on Pier 38, I like to walk across the street and amble down the docks and survey the ragtag fleet…
Panelists: W. David P. Carey III: President and CEO, Outrigger Enterprises Group Rick Egged: President, Waikiki Improvement Association Eric Gill: Financial Secretary-Treasurer, Unite Here Local 5 Hawaii Ernest “Ernie” K. Nishizaki: Executive VP, Kyo-Ya Co. LLC George D. Szigeti: President…
Question: My business is successful in the Islands. How do I know when I’m ready to franchise on the mainland? Answer: Here are the main factors to consider when deciding if you are ready for franchising. Built for Other…
There is no typical family business in Hawaii – they are as diverse as the state itself. But each has at least one powerful strength and one potentially crippling drawback: the family itself. Michael Miyahira, the founder of Business Strategies,…
Time is the raw material of our world. Use it wisely and you can manifest your highest goals and leave a powerful legacy, says executive coach Nina Cherry. She says once you have a vision for your life that includes…
PHOTOS BY RAE HUO It's hard to avoid baseball metaphors when talking about Hawaiian Telcom. Five years ago, faced with three straight quarters of losses, crippling debt and imminent bankruptcy, the century-old local telephone monopoly appeared to be down…
“Have I got enough rope to hang myself with here?” Venture capitalist Timothy Dick jokes about the length of the microphone cord as he stands in front of 100 entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs-to-be at the Waikiki Yacht Club. Dick came to…
Restoration is a slow and sometimes painful process for people whose bodies have been battered by strokes, car crashes and other calamities. Helping those people regain their basic skills and abilities is the main goal of the Rehabilitation Hospital of the…
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK ARBEIT One of the things that sets Chaminade University apart is its emphasis on community service. If you want to see how that plays out, tag along with Joan Riggs’ students in the environmental and interior design program.…
Some things are almost impossible to oppose: Mom, apple pie and renewable energy. After all, renewable energy promises independence from world oil prices, fewer greenhouse gases and, possibly, lower prices. For many people in Hawaii, geothermal perfectly fulfills that promise…
PHOTOS BY MARK ABEIT When people think about the fashion business, they tend to focus on the designer’s creative ideas and the finished products they buy. The beginning and the end. But it takes a great deal of work…
Chinese companies and individuals are investing tens of billions of dollars in America. Here’s how Hawaii businesses and nonprofits are creating relationships with their Chinese counterparts and working to get a share of those investments, with varying degrees of success.…
Henry Kapono Kaaihue was already a well-known performer, with decades on stage and dozens of best selling CDs, when he met his wife-to-be, Lezlee. She was a successful, trained-on-the-job stockbroker and he was playing at the Pier Bar at Aloha Tower…