Kuha`o

independent, to stand alone

Vision
To serve as an advocate and vehicle of empowerment for Molokai's families to achieve both individually and collectively financial independence and abundance in the formation of healthy and sustainable businesses.

The goal of this project was to provide training suited to business start-up. In addition to training seminars, classes, and workshops, other key features of the program consisted of providing one-to-one mentoring; access to resources for business plan development, market research, on-line business expertise; and raising start-up capital for the business entrepreneur. While RDP utilized the MCC Visitor Industry Training and Economic Development Center (VITEC) to conduct the first phase of the project, RDP hired a Business Assistance Facilitator to spearhead the second phase of the project which resulted in the sustainable Kuha`o Business Center.

In 2001, a consortium of partners including the Molokai Community Service Council along with the Molokai Enterprise Community, the US Small Business Administration, Bank of Hawaii, and American Savings Bank pooled their resources to form the Kuha`o Business Center. At the time, it was housed in a small space at MCSC’s administrative headquarters. While the center provided much needed business resources to Molokai, it became evident that in order to fully serve community needs additional funding would be required to deliver the envisioned business support services. In 2004, the Molokai Rural Development Project agreed to provide the necessary seed money to move the center into a more expanded space and to hire Annette Pau`ole-Ahakuelo to serve full-time staff as a Business Assistance Facilitator. Other key partners contributing to this broader vision included: the Center for Entrepreneur Development of the Pacific, the Women’s Business Development Center, Molokai Chamber of Commerce, the Queen Liliuokalani Children’s Center, Maui Community College Molokai Education Center, Tri-Isle Resource Conservation and Development – Molokai Agricultural Development Project, UH College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources, Rural Communities Assistance Corporation, the Maui County Council and Molokai Councilman Danny Mateo, and the County of Maui Office of Economic Development.

Today, the center is sustainable and “stand-alone” as the name Kuha`o implies. The Molokai Rural Development Project has since ended its fiscal sponsorship of the project. Principal sponsorship now comes from the County of Maui through funding approved by the County Council and Mayor through executive management with the Office of Economic Development. The center has assumed a vital role towards Molokai’s economic revitalization through empowering residents to establish small businesses. For the 300-plus clients that walk through the center’s doors and take part in various workshops, Annette with her gentle approach and steadfast commitment to every entrepreneur has managed to give each individual a greater sense of possibility and opportunity. Her assets-driven approach and genuine aloha for each client are the secret ingredients to the successful outcomes realized within this short period.

In evaluating the Kuha`o Business Center’s impact on the clients served during RDP’s leadership, positive outcomes include the creation of 54 new businesses and 35 new jobs associated with them. Molokai’s existing businesses have also sought the services offered at Kuha`o and to date, 69 have improved their services and products and/or expanded their operations. Forty-four (44) businesses now experience an increase in profits, sales, and productivity. Fifty-three (53) clients developed business plans. Of those clients, thirty-seven (37) secured start-up capital. Twenty-four (24) operate self-sustaining agriculture enterprises.

The center actively works within the community to help organize business workshops; assist in the organization of the Molokai Chamber of Commerce’s annual Small Business Summits and Food & Business Expositions; cultivate youth entrepreneurship; assist farmers in developing and maintaining their agribusinesses; assist Molokai’s talented artists, crafters, and inventors; and provide a critical network and support system among Molokai’s new businesses for their mutual benefit. A Molokai SCORE chapter of retired entrepreneurs has been established to provide free business consulting services to clients.

Solid partnerships have been built in the public and private sector with collaborative efforts undertaken to train all age groups in entrepreneurship and to offer specialized training (e.g. patent, trademark, and copyright requirements; agribusiness; etc.). These partner collaborations included working with the Center for Entrepreneurial Development of the Pacific to implement a former county grant OED grant. It also included a joint undertaking with Tri-Isle Research Conservation & Development – Molokai Agricultural Development Program and the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (UH-CTAHR) to plan future workshops in the agriculture sector. The center also developed with UH-CTAHR a youth entrepreneur program and curriculum at Kualapu’u Elementary School for 4th graders and organized a Molokai Homesteaders small tree plantation training and basic business classes. Since 2004, the Kuha`o Business Center has played an instrumental role in preparing farmers applying for start-up funds with the Molokai Agricultural Development Project. Most recently, eight (8) clients served were successfully awarded grants totaling cumulatively $150,000. These funds support the establishment of new agricultural enterprises such as a Native Hawaiian plant nursery and greenhouse operation, vanilla farm, organic papaya, and diversified agriculture (corn, bok choy, okra, jalapeño and Hawaiian peppers).

Additionally, the center works closely with the high school in the implementation of a youth entrepreneurship curriculum. In order to promote increased accessibility to business assistance services county-wide, the Kuha`o Business Center also co-sponsored workshops on Molokai with the Maui County Business Resource Center. A more recent project in progress involves designing a recycle-based enterprise training with the Rural Communities Assistance Corporation and expert entrepreneurs on-island. Other clientele currently being served by the center include a number of individuals at various stages of patenting their inventions and products, new entertainment services, value-added food products, and custom crafts.

Client numbers continue to climb steadily at an average of (sixty) 60 clients per month. Building upon these positive strides, the Mayor, Maui County Council, and Office of Economic Development has adopted the Kuha`o Business Center project as its own for the benefit of Molokai and as a critical piece to economic sustainability for the island. Through the Kuha`o Business Center, Molokai’s people are given the tools of self-sufficiency and empowerment to arrive at their own economic solutions.

Click here to view the project photo gallery.