See below for the five finalists of the People’s Choice Award. Proceed to bottom of the page to cast your vote! The winner will be announced in person at the Hawaii Entrepreneur Awards Gala on February 29, 2024. Voting Deadline: Friday, February 16, 2024 at 4:00 pm. Full profiles of your People’s Choice Award finalists coming soon. Here are your finalists: Maui Chili Chili Oil Entrepreneur: Deron & Kit Furukawa Maui Chili Chili Oil is a Szechuan-style chili oil with crunchy garlic and onion bits that can turn any dish into delish. They are created in small-batches on Maui and is available ..read more

preX, a scaling accelerator for local businesses, passed a significant threshold this year: The number of companies that have graduated from its program is now in triple digits. The free monthlong course – which is offered two to three times a year and is 100% virtual – was created in 2020 by XLR8HI, which calls itself Hawai‘i’s Entrepreneur Center. Tarik Sultan, co-founder of XLR8HI and managing partner of Sultan Ventures, says preX was originally created to help companies and entrepreneurs who struggled during the pandemic. “We saw a massive, underserved need in the community,” Sultan says ..read more

Winner: Kylie Matsuda-Lum and Judah Lum, Kahuku Farms Fourth-generation farmer Kylie Matsuda-Lum has a message for the produce-buying public: Appreciate more, waste less. Kahuku Farms has been a family-run operation since the 1940s. When it opened its café in 2010, the idea was to use cosmetically imperfect fruit that wholesalers rejected and would have otherwise gone to waste, which would help them become more diversified and sustainable, says Matsuda-Lum. “Imperfect produce requires the same amount of work, with a lot less return,” she says. So, at the café, “We take a banana that might hav ..read more

Jamie Nalani Fulkerson is a reseller of thrifty, vintage goods – a “modern day treasure hunter,” she calls herself. She says she has bought and then sold countless items, including rare clothes like a Chanel tracksuit, accessories, plates and tables. “I found Tiffany & Co. coasters that I paid $15 for and I sold them for $250.” Her company, Upscale Cheapskate, is always sourcing items to buy and resell. She says she prefers used things, as new ones are often harder to sell and don’t make as much profit. She also personally likes to reuse items, rather than throwing them away and polluting ..read more

Next week, come back to hawaiibusiness.com as we reveal day by day the 11 local companies in the eighth annual cohort for Mana Up. While you wait for the rollout, enter a Mana Up contest now to win a basket of local products from those companies. “We love being able to highlight our community’s emerging entrepreneurs along with their unique and innovative products,” says Mana Up co-founder Meli James. “Our Islands are teeming with talent – and this shows a great example of the new and incredible things Hawai‘i’s makers and artisans are creating.” To enter the contest, go to this page and ..read more

All entrepreneurs face huge challenges, but women often face extra obstacles, such as increased difficulty accessing funding, not being taken seriously and greater struggles balancing business and family life. I collaborated with the Patsy T. Mink Center for Business & Leadership and Central Pacific Bank on a survey of local female entrepreneurs to better understand their needs, problems and goals. The Anthology Marketing Group interviewed 245 women who are owners or principals of local small businesses that are majority female-owned. To address those needs and challenges, Hawaii Business ..read more

Jeth Parbo began raising chickens eight years ago to help feed her family and neighbors. Her farm, Mama Jeth’s Farmstead, now houses about 175 chickens on a quarter-acre lot in Waimea, and they produce about 45 to 60 dozen eggs a week. Baby chicks at Mama Jeth’s Farmstead in Waimea will grow into egg producers for Mālama Kaua‘i and other local vendors. | Photo: courtesy of Mālama Kaua‘i She’s one of 17 egg producers who participated in Mālama Kaua‘i’s Poultry Egg Education Project, or PEEP, which began in 2022 and provided Kaua‘i farmers with startup equipment, supplies, education and peer ..read more

Hawai’i’s Startup Paradise continues to evolve and that evolution is reflected in the winners and finalists of this year’s Hawaii Entrepreneur Awards. They are a diverse combination of innovative startups and multigenerational companies that have found “new life and new products” – and they’re “thinking differently about their brand and the future of their business,” says Meli James, president of the Hawaii Venture Capital Association, which sponsors the awards. There are also more companies from Indigenous populations that “have traditionally been underserved,” says James. What’s driving thes ..read more

Winner: Emily Jaime, Yireh In 2014, while still in college, Emily Jaime became the founder and designer of her own fashion business, Yireh. “It means ‘to provide’ in Hebrew,” Jaime explains. “I wanted a name that reminded me that humanity is more important than profit. I took a year off before college and took a worldwide trip and saw so many poor working conditions, people slaving away while others made money off them.” Yireh clothing is designed in Honolulu and produced in Bali at a WRAP-certified ethical factory. WRAP certification ensures workers have safe conditions, fair wages and benefi ..read more

Winner: Coen Cadinha, Big Boy Sweets When he was 13, Coen Cadinha decided selling li hing lemon peel gummy bears at school wasn’t challenging enough. So he became the first in his family to start a business: Big Boy Sweets, a pop-up candy and snack shop. Despite pushback from adults who thought he was too young, he says, his products were an instant hit. “I went to (my first) market and I sold out the first day,” Cadinha says. “Then I did the next week and the week after.” Cadinha, now 15 and attending high school online, has extended his product line from li hing lemon peel gummies, strawberr ..read more