A small group of burgeoning business owners gathered Tuesday at the Kalanihoʻokahā Community Learning Center in Nānākuli.
They're the first cohort of a new small business incubator pilot — launched in June by the City and County of Honolulu's Office of Economic Revitalization — called Idea2Biz.
Twenty aspiring entrepreneurs from the Wai‘anae Coast were selected for the 13-week program, which the city says aims to "transform early-stage business ideas into viable ventures through weekly in-person training, hands-on mentorship and access to critical business resources."
The program kicked off June 17 with a cohort that includes Atiana Bailey, Haley Enos, Danni Duseigneur, Micki Kauwalu-Key, Kat Duran-Higa, Skye Keao, Jairus Aleka, Jeron Sambrano, Sabrina Williams, Porshia White, Carryssa Krzyska, Janyce Marcec, Clifford Popa, Kari Guellimo, Selena Costa, Leslie Meacham, Dora Mae "Kanani" Kama, Mary Taboniar, Shayna Stanley and Leilene Raymond.
Aloha State Daily attended Tuesday's session to learn more about the program and what its participants hope to take away from it.
"This program is really to help aspiring entrepreneurs turn their business idea into a full-fledged business, registered [with a] business plan, and have really all the foundational aspects of what it takes to build a business," Alyssa Goslee, the small business and finance program manager with OER, told ASD just before the start of Tuesday's session, noting that the city wanted to focus on West O‘ahu for the first go-round and "help aspiring entrepreneurs and folks with an idea start a business on this side and bring some economic development."
Goslee says the city hopes to do future versions of the program, whether it's industry-specific or focused on other areas of the island.
With this pilot, and its focus on the Wai‘anae Coast, though, Goslee says the city was "really wanting to bring economic opportunities to the West Side. We know there's an entrepreneurial spirit here and [we were] really just wanting to support that in the city's first incubator."
Goslee says there have been a few iterations of what an incubator would look like for the city.
"There was a lot of research and talking to the other organizations that support entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial ecosystem to figure out what the gap was, where there was a need, where maybe people weren't putting as much effort into support services," she says. "Through that, whether it was talk stories or more formal interviews, we were able to determine that it's really that early stage, pre-venture, where folks just need a lot more assistance ... that might not always be something other organizations have the capacity for."
The city, Goslee says, doesn't want to duplicate other services, but rather enhance what's ready out there.
When asked what she hopes participants take from the opportunity, Goslee says, "I think it's that entrepreneurship is attainable. It takes hard work and tenacity, but as long as you're willing to put in that effort, there are so many people and resources and organizations in the community who want to support entrepreneurship and want to support building an equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem and support system for folks."
Two participants, Kanani Kama and Danni Duseigneur, are sisters from Nānākuli.
Kama told ASD that she's had an interest in starting a business for a long time, but there's a lack of resources and opportunities "to know how to follow through on the things that you need to do to acquire that business."
When the chance for Idea2Biz came along, she, her sister and some of their children applied, but only she and Duseigneur were selected.
Her business idea is to do local apparel that's affordable. It's something she's been thinking about for more than a decade. So far, she has a name, but that's pretty much it.
Kama says she feels "very blessed" to have this opportunity.
As for what she's hoping to take away from the program, Kama says she wants to be able to "duplicate what we learn here because our children also have business ideas."
Duseigneur, however, had a business opportunity — a woman-owned roll-off company — present itself to one of her partners.
She says she's "very analytical, so I want to make sure that we do things correctly and legally. I do a lot of compliance stuff to make sure we stay aligned with what is necessary for a business."
The business, she says, is already established and even has an employer identification number but she enrolled in the incubator "looking for support in funding the business."
"However, being a part of these classes has helped me to see things from different perspectives," Duseigneur told ASD. "It's not always only about what is black and white, but the networking, being able to support one another in each of our business ideas, and being able to receive some feedback on things that could benefit us and help us grow. So this has been very, very beneficial."
She's most looking forward to building the relationships with other members of the cohort and being able to take those relationships beyond the class, "at some point being able cross over and be able to utilize each other's businesses, to [offer] support or just to be able to refer others to them. We cannot do anything by ourself. If the community is involved, that just makes us stronger."
Selena Costa of Wai‘anae has the idea to make hand-crafted, Hawaiian-inspired leather cowgirl boots. Already dubbed Leather and Lei, Costa says she hopes to launch by the end of the year. Her friend send her a link to the application for the incubator "and I just applied because I'm literally in the beginning stages and I'm not a business person. But whatever help can help me, I'm going to take."
She hopes to get a feel of how people start their businesses with help from the community. When asked what she's gotten from the program so far, Costa says it's the support.
"Support is a big thing."
Costa says, too, that she thought it was "just amazing" to have an opportunity like this on the island's West Side.
Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
