 Hi, and welcome to Adventures in Small Business at Think Tech Hawaii. It's good to have you here with us today. I'm Jane Sawyer with the U.S. Small Business Administration. In this broadcast, this program is a cooperative partnership with our resource partners, the Mink Center for Business and Leadership, the Veterans Business Outreach Center, the Hawaii Small Business Development Center, and Think Tech. So thanks again for joining us. We're here to talk about small businesses, small business success, the strategies that make them successful, the challenges they face, how they overcome it, and try to tell you some good news about what's going on with small business in Hawaii. Today, I'm joined by someone everybody at Think Tech knows, Jay Fadal, who is the CEO for Think Tech and a great advocate for small business and building an innovative economy here in Hawaii. So welcome to the show. I know this is familiar turf for you, Jay. Well, thank you, Jane. It's great to be with you again for a long time since the two of us sat together. It has been a while. So it's been a very, very busy year, kind of an unpredictable year. So I'm glad that we're here to talk about one of my favorite subjects for a long, long time, and that is recognizing the best of small businesses here in Hawaii with our annual SBA awards program. I hope it's still a little fresh in your memory. Oh, it is. It'll be fresh in my memory forever. Okay. I hope that's a good thing. It is, yeah. So it's been a long time that SBA has been producing these awards in Hawaii, and it really is very interesting, enlightening, and even exciting when we really are able to tell stories of how businesses are succeeding, and SBA has been doing this a long time. Nationally since 1963, so many, many years, and we've seen a lot of great businesses from Hawaii be recognized at the national level. But as you can see, Jay was a winner for us last year. He won the Small Business Advocate Award for Media and Journalism for this very program, for what we're talking about, this issue, and other things that he does to help our community know more about what's going on in economics, in the business in Hawaii, and what's on the horizon. We learned a lot about SBA and the award process in the past year. You guys put a lot of time into this, and you had a lot of people involved, a lot of moving parts complicated, well executed, Jay, and you were a real pro at putting this together. And everybody loved it. The people involved loved it, the legislature loved it, certainly the awardees loved it, and their families and friends and business associates and employees, they all loved it. I mean, there was this award lunch, and it was just fabuloso-mo, with only people coming down here. It was really super vital, super high energy. High energy. Yes. Anyway, so what I got out of that is that, you know, just when you thought the SBA was all about making loans and guaranteeing loans, this more. Because this awards program is, and if you don't know this, I'm telling you this. This awards program is just as important because it encourages small business in ways that are not necessarily financial, but has a financial effect. So we, you know, we're walking down the street, people are complimenting us from then till now. I found out about this award because somebody stopped me in the street and congratulated me. I said, what? And from that day forward, you know, through the process and this big awards ceremony, the prestige of it was all over town, and people have been complimenting us day in and day out about it, so it's a big thing that you win one of these. We are very happy. Thank you for that. Well, congratulations again, and thank you for all you do. So, you know, what I learned about it is that awards are more than just plastic awards. Or is that glass? It's glass. Don't drop it. Awards are, you know, it makes you feel good. It encourages you. It makes you introspective. You look at it and say, why did they award this? And then you start looking and say, oh, that's why. And then people see that you got the award and they say, why did they get that award? And then they see you in a different light. They are more interested in you. They're trying to find out why, what, and trying to learn from you so that they can do business better. So the whole thing stimulates learning. It stimulates attention. It stimulates small business. It also stimulates, you know, the people who might have won awards but didn't win awards and maybe would win awards next time. The whole thing is, you know, an experience in energy, in connectivity, in raising all boats in the community about small business. Yes. And the Lord knows we need small business. You know, we have so many big companies here, big boxes, boxes from the mainland companies from the mainland, deep pocket capital concentrations. We need to preserve small business. It's kind of in our Hawaii DNA. Yes. And that's what you guys do. So these awards teach us about ourselves. One of the really interesting things that we did last year for the first time with our media partner, Hawaii Business Magazine, was to look back at past awards and select the initial group, the inaugural group for our SBA Awards Hall of Fame. Because again, with that long legacy of outstanding winners, we're looking at some really good businesses who've come back and often won multiple SBA awards and have become some of our strongest businesses in the state. So we look at Pan Lam, who was a national small business person of the year. I mean, we recognize our winners. We move Hawaii winners on up to compete regionally and then compete nationally. And I'm really proud to say that even though they tell us, we don't have a lot of strong businesses here, Hawaii in the last 25 years, 27 years maybe, has won three national awards recognizing the top entrepreneur in the country. So we know that Hawaii businesses can rank up there and that the quality of people that are coming through these awards, as business owners, as exporters, as advocates, can compete on some of the highest level. Since that time, Tan Lam, Charlie's Tires in Waipahu was one of our early winners and then Maui Brewing. Garrett and Garrett Marrero over at Maui Brewing will ask the national small business person of the year just three years ago. You know them all personally, don't you? You are the auntie of all the issues. Yeah, I'm the tutu now, yes. You're my auntie. And I'm surprised too. I'm glad that it seems so seamless. And how did I get nominated? Because, Jay, I'm sorry to tell you, it's not just a popularity contest. It's not just that because the nomination forms are pretty extensive there. We do expect people to, you know, fill them out. There are some specific information for all of our businesses. Nominations are open. Nominations are open this week, right now they're starting. We do the small business person of the year, which is kind of the granddaddy of the mall. We have the small business exporter. We have an entrepreneurial success award that goes to a small business that started small, has had SBA assistance and now is no longer considered small. We have a young entrepreneur, somebody who's been successful in running and operating their business, and they are still under the age of 35. They've been showing promise, they've been increasing profits and growing. And we do check this out. It's not just that you tell us you have money in the bank because our judging panel, which is made up of bankers and entrepreneurs, small business owners, business consultants, about 13 people who review these and score them independently. And then we get the cream of the crop out of all the nominations. And that's how we select winners. So, Kathy Wiltsie did the research and nominated you last year. Oh, really? Yes, because she's involved with these programs and she knows the benefits. She knows what we do, so to you. But you know what, when I went to that- You're not just another pretty face, Jay. We're at only so. But when I went to the luncheon there, I met a lot of people. And I was so impressed with the mom and pop quality. You know, you say mom and pop, but actually mom and pop is a broad definition. Yes. And then I met some of those graduates, so to speak, who have done really well over the years, you brought them down. It was so interesting to talk to because their origins were in the SBA. And now they're successful business people and they're avocular. They help people out. It's paying it forward and all that. And so having them there and being able to talk to them, that was a really valuable point about that luncheon because you could talk to people and learn from them. The other thing is I met a guy named Ed Kawamura, from Kauai, from outside Lihui, not directly in Lihui, you know, and his business. And I went there. Did you? You visited him. I filmed him because I was so interested. He's an amazing man. He calls way back. Way back. It's a family business. It's like four generations of Kawamura's. And it's the generational quality that really turned me on to a lot of these businesses. Some of them, the parents were immigrants. The parents started a really, really mom and pop kind of business that kids got involved. They perpetuated it. They sustained it. They're still in business. They're going places. This is the kind of backbone thing we need. And this is what you're encouraging with the awards program. Right. It definitely is. I mean, there is job creation there. There is innovation. There is that factor of sustainability with so many of them. They've started decades ago quite often. And that's particularly in our family-owned business. We see it in some of our small business person of the year awards because we're looking for the staying power in the business. It's not just that flash in the pan or fast, great idea. And what do I do next? They've started with answering a need, filling a niche. And then they've also carried it forward and sustained it, created jobs, increased revenue and sales, and then had some response to, how do we innovate? How do we stay current? So all those best business lessons that sometimes are tough ones to learn on the job are things that we can tell you about or how they responded to issues, whether they survived a natural disaster or some of the economic upturns, how they diversified, just some wonderful stories in that regard. And that is the cheering section, you know? I mean, if you want to build an industry, if you want to build the economy of a state, you have to have the cheering section. The cheering section says, yes, go do it. You know, we're behind you, we'll help you. We care about your success. We will give you a big cheer if you are successful and all that. That's what this program is about. I think, I really think that a lot of people where they did not have a cheering section would not stay in it or would not go into it. So- Because it's not easy. No, and when you think about it, you can think about it. We think together for a minute, okay? This is stink-ticking. How many cheering sections do we have to encourage small business in Hawaii? We might have to think a long time. SBA is really doing a tremendous job here. Oh, thank you. It's a federal agency operating so well, so nutritionally on the state level. And another award that we're starting this year too, I mean, as you earlier said, SBA is known for what we do to guarantee loans, help people get money to start and grow and invest back into their companies with our 504 program, our buying property and developing that warehouse. But we also have contracting programs to help people really stabilize their business, grow their businesses through government contracting. We wanna make sure that small businesses are well represented in that sector. And we do very well. We've got lots of opportunity here in our district, in our region, and working with the federal government. Including federal, yeah. So we're very, very strong in that area. And we wanna make sure that people know what they can accomplish and what resources are available. We also do capital contracting, consulting. And so that's another area where we have tremendous technical assistance problems. So if you do get started, get encouraged, you're motivated to go, we have tools to help you. Yeah, yeah, we have a lot. And they're readily available. Hosts that come down here on the Adventures in Small Business Show, Thursdays at 11 o'clock, did I get that right? Okay. And they're all consulting people. They all go out of their way to help small businesses thrive. And they're very nice, all of them. They're all nice. They're nice and they're expert. You know, that's what they've experienced it. They're trained consultants. A lot of them have great credentials. And they're interested in nominating people too because they tell the story. I'm gonna tell you a little bit more about the nominations process. We get about 80 to 100 nominations. So there's a lot of work that goes into sorting through them when we come back after a break, okay? Aloha, I'm Mellie James, host of Let's Mana Up. Tuesdays, every other Tuesday, from 11 to 1130. This show is meant to dive into stories of local product entrepreneurs and how they're growing their companies from right here in Hawaii. I'm so thrilled to have our show kicked off. And so please join us on Tuesdays at 11 o'clock as we talk to local entrepreneurs and hear their stories. Hi guys, I'm your host Lillian Cumick from Lillian's Vegan World. I come to you live every second Friday from 3 p.m. And this is the show where I talk about the plant-based lifestyle and veganism. So we go through recipes, some upcoming events, information about health, regarding your health and just some ideas on how you can have a better lifestyle, eat healthier and have fun at the same time. So do join me. I look forward to seeing you and Aloha. Aloha, thanks for sticking with us for the next section of our Adventures in Small Business. We're talking with Jay Fidel here about small business in Hawaii and how we can recognize more small businesses for the great things that they do for our community, creating jobs and giving back. We're starting, we're opening the nominations, launching nominations for the SBA Small Business Awards. You can find more information on this by contacting the SBA District Office or by looking at www.sba.gov. Backslash HI for Hawaii and get more information about the program. We're opening them up now. They'll be available for about two months. They'll be due in the office on November 4th. So we start to go through and screen them and learn more about these businesses, what they've done, if we've helped them through one of our programs or not, not necessary, but we're looking for exporters, young entrepreneurs, businesses that have grown to be large and successful small businesses. All sectors. All sectors, we look for advocates for media and journalism, we look for advocates for veterans, we look for advocates for women in business. Last year we also launched an advocate for business and innovation. So we had some great candidates in that area who are really doing a lot of things to help us keep our small business community vital, which is really what SBA's role is all about. So if I admire an entrepreneur, innovator, if I admire a small business, I can contact SBA, SBA.gov slash Hawaii. Yes. And I can nominate that person of that business. We'll get you the cover sheets and the information that are usually four or five criteria that we evaluate. And so because it's a heavy lift with so many people to score and evaluate, we try to give you an outline to tell you what we need to talk about. So we get an overview of the business. If it is a business, we'll look at how long they've been in business. We'll look at their increases year to year in sales. We'll look at their response to adversity, their innovativeness in business practice or technology. We'll look at increases in employment. Have they created jobs? So we do ask for some information on the businesses like three years of basic financial information. We keep these under wraps. They're very, very confidential. Even headquarters says we can't accept them electronically because we don't want the PII to get out there. So they usually stay in my office or in a contained room at SBA. And I make all the judges come to me. It's like a great power. Can a business nominate itself? Yes. Because some should. Scouring around to find somebody who will nominate you at your request. Sometimes it's better to cut right to the chase and nominate yourself. Yes. I mean, I think there are a lot of businesses who do that. One of our greatest source of nominations are lenders, are bankers who are working. I noticed that at the luncheon. That was quite remarkable. Because they're very supportive of the small business community. And it's also easy because they're working with their clients and they're invested in their success as well. They know things like are they struggling with payroll? I mean, are they making money? Oftentimes a clue is that they have gotten a loan and they're actually realizing that growth and putting that proceeds to work. So they bought a new location. Their sales are going up. All those different kinds of things that can happen. They've started a new location. They've started to export. We're looking for exporters as well. The banks know. And the banks actually, the banks care. Because it's business for the banks. When the banks come down to these awards ceremonies, they're all in. They're all invested. They're their huge presence from the banks. And I wanted to talk about banks for a minute. So I started practicing law. Not too long after statehood. Believe it or not. And until 2010 or so, I practiced law. And that was a time when small business was a very important feature in the development of the Hawaii economy. I mean, I would have preferred to see more tech. But there was a lot of business, a lot of sectors always happening. And it reflected the development of the state in that very critical period of growth. So if I wanted to start a small business, well, yes. I have to form a corporation. There's plenty of that. And later in LLC was plenty of that. And I would go through these checklist of steps. One of the steps was getting money. Was getting a loan. And that was very important. But the reality is in that period of time, most banks in this state would not make a loan to a small business unless what? They had a guarantee from SBA. So the SBA in that whole period, how many years is that? You know, 50 years. That whole period of time, it was in a small business, was function triggered, conditioned on that approval, that guarantee of the loan. Only then would they be able to get the start-up money they needed from a bank. Therefore, you played a tremendous role in development of the state in my personal observation. Yeah, well, I think people are often surprised when they look back and learn more about who has been an SBA client or customer before. And oftentimes people think, oh, if you had to go to SBA, you must not be up to snuff or you're not cutting it or something like that. And there is nothing further from the truth. In many ways, we're a best kept secret that people really don't know about because we help small businesses with funding at almost any step in the life cycle of their business. We can help you buy a business. We can help you get started. Of course, you still need to qualify. You need to be credit. You need to be maybe not bank ready, but you need to have a good plan in place. You need to have character. You need to fill all those criteria. You need to have decent credit. So it's also important as for a young business who is expecting to need capital, if not immediately in the first couple of years of getting the business going, you will, and it is appropriate to get some financing or get a loan to grow your business at some point in time. You can't grow a business on a credit card. Right, no, it's people have tried. It's a pretty dangerous step. You can't do it only so far. Right, you know, those interest rates can kind of compound and grow really pretty quickly and it's only one little misstep that triggers that, triggers something like that. So how is the business environment right now? I mean, you know, in reviewing all of these candidates, you know, you really cut a swath into the economic life of the community, of the state. And so every year you see how things are going. Who's coming, who's not coming, who's developing, what kind of business, how successful they are, their P&L and all that. How are we doing, Jane? You know, I think right now, businesses have been doing pretty well over the last couple of years. We're seeing, you know, growth, not at, you know, outrageous rates, but we're seeing steady growth. We're still seeing concentrations in some of the more typical industries in Hawaii. Tourism is still very, very strong and with it that drives then hospitality and retail trade. We are still some strength in contracting on, you know, smaller levels, but we're also seeing big development go on. And it's interesting that some of those companies that you see out there working on those and the contractors and the subs are still considered small businesses. And so we're very strong in that area. So we're seeing a lot of contractors coming in and grow. But by contractors, I'm also referring to those people who do say, last year our winner was a company that does building air conditioning and control systems. So it's combining all of that to be a smart building. And they've grown by leaps and bounds and they're a very strong company and they're the leader in the Pacific. But they're still considered a small business. So they were very excited to go and represent Hawaii and Washington last year. So we're seeing technology companies moving up and stabilizing in many, many ways too. We're seeing growth in, you know, by a lot of different demographics. Younger people coming in. Our young entrepreneur of the year last year started just in making, you know, refreshing snack, you know, banana. And now they have multiple locations in Japan. There are three buddies from college who I kind of had an entrepreneurial bent and they've decided they're onto something so they're continuing to grow. One of the partners entered into SBA's Emerging Leader Program for growing businesses. Not for new businesses, but this is kind of like our mini MBA program. They stepped back and came to SBA to augment what they're already doing by getting consulting assistance with the Hawaii Small Business Development Center at UH. That's part of the DNA thing for Hawaii. I mean, you find classmates go to school together. Their buddies, their teammates, they know how to work together, play together. They know how to enjoy each other. They trust each other all that. So when they, you know, decide they're gonna do a business, two, three, four of them, what not, the chances of success are much greater because they really know each other down to the core. And that's exactly why we should care about small business, because we have a better prospect here because of the local culture, the local way of dealing, the local way of staying together in a team play. You probably see that all the time. We do see it a lot with many of the businesses who come in and sit down with my team at the SBA office. So we, you know, our contractors come in because we do a lot of business development work with that. And again, contractor doesn't mean, you know, hammer and nails. They are doing information systems. They're doing human resources. They're doing marketing, advanced planning, strategic development for other companies. And even, again, with branches of the government and heaven knows we need to be strategic there and deploy our resources well. Yeah, and what you said before, I think really rings true for me, export, the magic word export, real success for the state. To make the state more resilient than it has been is to develop companies that are conscious, globally conscious, nationally conscious, who are looking to export, you know, their intellectual property, their products and the like. And you see that too. You know, so last year we recognized as our small business exporter, the fella in Alieva who came here. So why was the purpose perfect place for him to make his shochu? And now he is developing it here, growing it here, creating kind of a whole new agricultural niche with what he's doing. And we're seeing distilleries and breweries and things like that pop up all across the islands. We did an export workshop yesterday and another brewery fella came in from Maui to visit and learn how, how do I legally start exporting this stuff and what do I have to do? So exporting brings new dollars and new attention to Hawaii. And also Hawaii offers back that special cachet that I'm a made in Hawaii product. Yeah, yeah, I like that big festival. I'm sure your companies were well represented in the Made in Hawaii festival just two weeks ago in Blaisdell Center where thousands of people showed up and hundreds of booths and lots of action, lots of commerce going on. I can see your name written all over. Incidentally, who gives you the award, Jane? Maybe you should get an award too. What a thought, no. Well, my reward, my true reward is to get to know all of these businesses because I do. We collect that information, I get to pour over it and learn more about these businesses and hopefully then be able to tell that story to encourage and inspire more people to follow that same path. So we wanna hear from more businesses, we wanna have the bankers, the Chamber of Commerce, we want to have everybody nominating people recognizing your favorite local store if you're just even a customer can nominate somebody. But there are things that you know and love and I bet that your favorite retail shop or company at the farmer's market or whoever would love to have a nomination can tell you their story. So let us know, come and get a nomination form. We have lots to choose from and sit down with that business owner or their team, one of their key people and learn that story so you understand more about small businesses. We may then also learn about a business that we can help to reach that next level. So your radar then, isn't it? Even if it wasn't on your radar before. So these nominations and our veteran small business awards our nominations are open now. Call SBA and find out. You've got a couple of months to put the nomination together but thank you for joining us for Adventures in Small Business and keep going to small businesses. Bye bye.