American Savings Bank and aio are building support for Hawai‘i's construction industry with the Hui Kapili Accelerator.
Hui Kapili launched in 2024 and works to address the state's construction labor shortage and foster sustainable growth in the industry.
The 10-week program is designed to provide local construction companies with business skills and support, a recent announcement noted. According to that announcement, Hui Kapili brings participants together with subject-matter experts, industry vets and business leaders from across the Islands, and covers topics like strategic business planning and development, financial management and budget optimization, marketing and lead generation, workforce management and development, community engagement, and long-term business sustainability.
So far, the program has graduated 22 businesses across two cohorts.
Its third cohort of 11 construction-related businesses, which launched Sept. 15 and will run through Nov. 19, includes:
- TC Campbell, PDG Hawaiʻi
- Lito Coloma, Cutting Edge Builders
- Elise Cudiamat, JC Construction
- Cheriese Flores, CKF Industrial Contractors
- Vanessa McMoore, HI State Construction
- Pono Nauka, Pacific Audio Communications
- Richard Orlando, Orlando Construction Island Builders
- Alyssa Palimoo, Showtyme Concrete Services
- Tony Shi, CAA Construction
- Uakea Street, Trades Construction Company
- David Tuipulotu, Mana Mechanical
“We saw how impactful this program was for our first two cohorts, where participants not only learned from our presenters and each other, but helped one another generate leads and opportunities,” Susan Eichor, aio CEO, said in the announcement. “Having now graduated 22 businesses, we are excited to welcome our third cohort and continue supporting Hawaii’s small business community and the critical construction industry that is building a better future for us all.”
Billy Pieper, director of commercial banking at ASB, is a co-lead of Hui Kapili and helps facilitate the program. He says aio had approached ASB with the idea because of the bank's role in the affordable housing space.
"We made a conscious decision about four years ago to focus in on affordable housing and how do we as a bank use the levers that we have at our discretion to drive improved outcomes for local families to ultimately own a home," Pieper told Aloha State Daily during a kick-off event for the third cohort earlier this month. "Their hypothesis was that we have a very strong construction industry, but we have a quote, unquote senior-heavy construction team. We have a lot of companies that have been around for a long time, but we don't have a lot of new companies coming in or companies that are relatively new, expanding into that space."
There are business accelerators for other industries, he says, so the idea was to create one for the construction ecosystem.
"Where, OK, you're great with the hammer. You're great at putting up drywall. You're great at being an electrician or a plumber, but you could probably use some help on the HR side or the marketing side or the risk management side," Pieper explains. "Our thought was what if we created a curriculum that helps surround these companies with those types of soft skills, the skills ... that are outside of their sweet spot but in order to help them flourish and help them grow. Ultimately, what that meant was if they're flourishing and they're growing, they're going to build and rehabilitate more housing supply. They're going to hire and provide high-paying jobs to other local residents. Overall, you're approaching it from both side o the equation. That was the genesis of it, and we were all in."
Now in its third year, third cohort and 33 companies in, Pieper says "it's been exciting to see it kind of unfold."
The curriculum runs the gamut, but Pieper says during the interview process, organizers try to uncover the issues businesses are struggling with. Some of the most common struggles? Lead acquisition, talent and human resources, and finance, he says.
The state's construction industry was a rare highlight in an otherwise dour economic outlook recently released by the University of Hawai‘i Economic Research Organization.
As ASD recently reported, UHERO's economic forecast for the third quarter of 2026 found that the storm-driven decline in visitors this year, compounded by war-driven fuel costs, increasing interest rates and stagnant job growth has left the state’s economic future uncertain.
However, the only positive point in the report is the continuing strength of the state’s construction industry, which is expected to employ more than 40,000 workers for the next several years as major public and private construction projects continue. The report noted that, just as the Lahaina fires necessitated a boom in residential construction, recent storms and the earthquake this year will likely do the same.
Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
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