 This is Think Tech Hawaii, Community Matters here. Aloha, and welcome to Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We broadcast live from the Think Tech studios in downtown Halalulu. We have some very sophisticated technology and technicians that are helping us broadcast today. We are a show that focuses on positive stories, success stories of individuals and companies in Hawaii. And we learn a little bit about them and their secrets to success. Before we get into that, I just wanted to mention that last week I was not able to host the show, but I was busy in Washington DC at the SBA's regulatory fairness board hearing, provided testimony, and also participated in the board meetings. We've got some excellent opportunity ahead of us with the new administration to address some of the regulatory challenges that small businesses have throughout the country. So far, we've got about 300 in the pipeline of changes that we want to make in order to make things better for the small business to thrive and be profitable. If anybody has any suggestions for more regulatory change, please let me know. And you can email me at reg at regbaker.com, and I'll reach out and we'll get something going. Now, without any further ado, I'd like to introduce Dennis Wong, who's the senior vice president of Hawaii National Bank. He is here for, I think, the third time. So welcome back. Thank you, Rich. And we've got Leah Hunt Young, who is the president of Goldwing Supply, who's been a company in Hawaii for many years. And she's going to give us a little bit of history on that. And I guess we've got a history with Dennis as well. So you guys have worked together for a while, correct? Yes, we have worked quite some time yet before myself, my dad. Right. So Dennis, you worked with Leah's father for a while? Yes, Frank Young, dating back to, well, the mid-1980s. So over 30 years. Wow. It's nice to have that kind of relationship. Very blessed, and it's very unique. And I guess you've been able to see him pass the torch on to Leah, and Leah, and you picked it up, and you're running with it now. Yeah, yeah, it's, I mean, you make it sound so easy. In fact, this is just part one. Part two is going to be next week when I add on to your 300 that you just gave us. Oh, OK, well, look forward to that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you know, I mean, my dad laid the foundation for the business, and that was a number of years ago, and he had a very specific set of skills in aviation mechanics. And when he came back home to Hawaii from San Francisco, he started a parts business and specializing in aircraft parts, and then we moved over to lighting, and then we expanded into renewables. Lighting in an airport environment, or? Correct, yep. So lighting anything that goes on an airfield, so that includes the taxiway, runways, signs, navigational aids, such as windsocks, PAPI devices. So everything that goes on an airfield, that's FAA-approved. Dennis has seen some of the projects that we've worked on in the past, which includes the traditional lighting that you see out on an airport, in addition to some more innovative solutions that we've provided for our military bases as well. Hmm, that's amazing. We've, I don't know how many we have, but I would imagine there's quite a number of airfields in Hawaii. Some we are knowledgeable about. We can see every day, and others we may not. Yeah, you know, I have to say that a part of it is what is attractive to me. I prefer to work below the radar, and working in an airport environment is you just kind of keep your nose to the ground and you do what you do, and it's not a big flashy environment, but what we do is very important for the Hawaiian Islands especially, but also the aviation industry in general worldwide. It's connected to aerospace and the development of that on a scale is massive. All the connections of people that are involved, how truly a butterfly in Tokyo can cause a tornado in Texas. But just think for a moment, not that it would ever happen, but what would happen if we didn't have aviation anymore and there was no more lights on the runways? I mean, everything would just grind to a complete halt. Halt, right, and you know what is interesting is that I actually was in Los Angeles during 9-11, and I was on one of the first flights to get back to Honolulu, and the only reason why I was allowed on that flight was because I had an FAA designated badge, but I tell you it was the most eerie thing going through Los Angeles and it was completely... Blackout. It was a blackout, and there were only seven people on that flight coming in. And then Hawaii actually had a moratorium for quite an extended amount of time, more than the mainland US. I think we were down, even our helicopter threw down for about seven days thereafter. So you could hear a pin drop, which is unusual. It didn't get hit on the economy when that happened. That, and it was just eerie and unusual, and something I'll never forget, of so much respect for flight and the maintenance of flight, it's, yeah. You don't really miss something until it's gone, and I guess it's significant when it's not there. Yeah, yeah, it is. I mean, I think it's something that is addressed at Verge, Hawaii every year too. The leadership and state get together and talk about the importance of aviation and the connection of fuel and all that impact that it has in the state and also the environment. Now, we could probably talk about aviation in Hawaii and the world for that matter for quite a while, but let's look back a little bit back to the business. When you began to transition into the role of president at the company, that must have been an interesting process for you to go through. You know what it was? And it was a process that took a number of years because I am my father's daughter first, and so there's a whole set of other challenges that come with that, and being in the aviation industry as well. So it's a very male dominated industry, and I also work with a lot of military officials as well. So I had to find my way through these sorts of dynamics. After I went to college at Santa Clara, I went to mechanic school, and that's where I really earned the certification of being an aircraft mechanic, and then I went on to get my pilot's license, and that was kind of a direction I thought I was gonna go. Aviation was home to me, so I really felt like that this is where I would be. I then pivoted into playing professional beach volleyball, which was fun. That took me to a lot of places, and that was really cool, but I also returned for a large portion of the year to the company, and in the earlier years, like in 2004, then I really decided that I'm gonna sink my teeth into the business, and I'm gonna really have on my stake in it, and that's when my dad really said, okay, well, hey, listen, take this renewables division and do what you wanna do with it and see what you can do. So that really was the first time he extended something to me that was my very own, and that developed, but I mean... And how did that work out? When he gave that to you and said, here, run with it, let's see what you could do. Was it really all hands off or how? It was like, oh, never mind, oh, but I can do or what you can do, but so I mean, there was a lot of patience for both sides, because you have the second generation coming in, but truly you have to respect the foundation of the first generation, what they did, but also mind your long game, which includes the evolution of your marketplace, your audience, which in our marketplace, it was the FAA regulations, military procurement regulations changed as well, and all of that had to do with how we are gonna survive in this industry, and also the leadership changed as well, being from my dad who was known throughout the industry for all these 20-something years. And it must have been hard for some people to, well, wait a minute, I'm supposed to go to Leah now, not the dad. Yeah, you know. So it took a while. It did, but I have to say that my dad was, he had the foresight, first of all, to set us up as a women-owned small business, which is amazing, because in the 80s, that wasn't really the cool thing to do, so he did it in industry that was male-dominated, he had the foresight to at least set it up that way. You know, I was one of my only sisters that decided to pursue it, and it was a very natural fit for me. I really enjoy my clients being in industry, and the passing of the baton was at a good time too, because his strengths were different from mine. So I mean, when your company evolves, you have to look at how does the personnel, what are the strengths of the personnel, and what are the challenges of now that personnel in this industry. And I think for us, the fact that I did go to aircraft mechanic school, that I could actually help our customers, because some of us, you know, we still do like a Napa Parts store for aircraft. You know, so I still am able to help the customers in that way, but. You can talk to Lingo, you know what they're talking about. I mean, it's gotta give you some credibility. Well, in aviation, it has to, because it's not an easy invitation to the industry, and you really have to earn your keep, you know? And so I truly respected what my dad did, and yet I had this fire in me where, you know, I wanted the innovation, the entrepreneur in me, where I was like, you know, I wanna do more with this, and I can see us doing more with this, and when we partnered with some of the greatest companies because aviation is the gold bar, you know, within all the industries, we deal with a lot of cutting edge innovation solutions and manufacturing, and so being able to cross that over into other industries was fun for me to do. Well, and we talked a little bit earlier. You've got some experience with the University of Hawaii, too, and they have a little component over there that kinda helps with that. Yes, yeah, thank you for mentioning, because that actually was an integral part during the transition. I'm actually the membership chair of the University of Hawaii Family Business Center, and that is, I know, close to your heart, and it's been wonderful because that network allowed me to meet individuals that were very similar to us, even though they are all in different industries. We're the only aviation industry, aviation company, but you know, the challenges are very similar across the board, and it makes you feel normal, and it gives you patience, and also insight as to what are other people doing? You know, you don't have to invent the wheel when you're in a environment like that. And you don't have to make the same mistakes. I mean, if people can share what they did wrong, that may be better ways of approaching it, you can learn from that and save a little heartache. Yes, tremendously, and the resources that I had, utilizing those connections were very vital to us at the time of our transition as well that really helped us. Now, Dennis, I don't want you to go to sleep over there, so, you know, you were there this whole time where the transition, you know, working with the father and then working through the transition with Leah. I mean, what's an outside person looking at this? What did you see that was going on? My perspective is I saw the founder who loved his business and loved his craft and customers, yet having to transition and wanting a successful, successful transition to his daughter and having them come together with different thoughts, different skills, and having to work together as a family. I saw, on the other hand, Leah coming in with the background, the knowledge, the training. It was a perfect fit. It wasn't like trying to take somebody to succeed a business, but actually having somebody come in with the love and passion for this type of business and wanting to take over and build more for the next generation. I thought the combination matched very well and both wanted the same thing to succeed. Well, and they wanted the legacy to continue. Yes. You know, and that's a common goal that they could work together to make sure that it happens, but it takes a special guy, not, you know, a special person to have the confidence to be able to pass the paton on to the next generation, you know, and stuff. And having somebody with the background to succeed in that, to not try to fit a square pig in a round hole. That's what I'm saying. True, yeah. Well, we're gonna have to go on a short break. And when we come back, what I wanna do is take a little bit of time and explore what your vision for the company is going forward. So, this is Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We're here today talking with Leah Hunt-Young of the, she's the president of the Gold Wing Supply and with Dennis Wong, who's a senior VP over at Hawaii National Bank. We're gonna continue this conversation in about 60 seconds. Aloha, I'm Marcia Joyner, inviting you to navigate the journey. Spend the time with us as we look through and discover all of the ins and outs of this journey through life. We're on Wednesdays at 11 a.m., and I would love to have you with us. Come, navigate the journey. Aloha. Hello, everyone. I'm DeSoto Brown, the co-host of Human Humane Architecture, which is seen on Think Tech, Hawaii every other Tuesday at 4 p.m. And with the show's host, Martin Desbang, we discuss architecture here in the Hawaiian Islands and how it not only affects the way we live, but other aspects of our life, not only here in Hawaii, but internationally as well. So join us for Human Humane Architecture every other Tuesday at 4 p.m. on Think Tech, Hawaii. Aloha, welcome to Hawaii. This is Prince Dyches, your host of The Prince of Investing. Coming to you guys each and every Tuesday at 11 a.m. Right here on Think Tech, Hawaii. Don't forget to come by and check out some of the great information on stocks, investings, your money, all the other great stuff, and I'll be your host. See you Tuesday. Aloha, and welcome back to Business in Hawaii. We're here with Leah Young Hunt, who's the president of the Gold Wing Supply Company and with Dennis Wong of the Hawaii National Bank. We were gonna transition into a discussion a little bit about, now that you've got the baton and you've got some control over what's going on, where do you plan on going with this company? Well, it's been an exciting last few years. Definitely, as I mentioned before, my dad set us up as a woman-owned business back in the 80s. And I continued to set up important corporate milestones for us. We actually received our certification as a woman-owned small business, as a disadvantaged business enterprise. Those are big advantages. That opens some doors for you. It does, it does open the doors. We do a lot of business with the federal government, so DBE has an impact there. And then we also went on to go after our 80 certification, which is also within federal contracting as well. And we set our sights a little bit more aggressive and we went ahead and got our GSA schedule recently. All right, and explain to me what that means. The GSA schedule allows you to sell products or a service on the federal forum. So it allows anyone within the federal government to purchase directly from your company and you already negotiate pricing. So pricing is generally fixed. They can just submit a P.O. without even having to request for a bid. And that's anywhere in the country? That's anywhere in the, yeah, country and then also any military bases abroad. So, you know, any of our bases that are in Osan, Japan, Germany. Yeah, all over. And so does that create any special challenges for you? Have you started doing that yet or is that something that you're about ready to start? You know, it was, I've actually been researching the program since 2001. So your company definitely has to be in a certain position with corporate structure-wise, but also just the documentation and your company's ability to take on contracts or to work on that scale. So you have to have the manpower and the expertise, the talent and all those things. So it took me a lot to figure out, you know, when is that for our company? And it took our company a little bit of time to mature into that. So we've actually only had that contract for just over a year and we were just recently, well actually a few months ago, we're still negotiating it, but given our first sole source contract through the program, which is wonderful. And it's within our wheelhouse, which is fantastic, it's within aviation. So thank you, thank you. Yeah, that's very good, congratulations. And I guess some of these other certifications too, you're still gonna continue to explore how you can make the most out of those. Yeah, the last certification that we're going for is our HUBZome. So that is really kind of an interesting one for us within the aviation industry and being native Hawaiian women-owned. So we're actually the only native Hawaiian women-owned company in aerospace in the world. In addition, we have a lot of other services that we're adding on, including renewables. We actually morphed into a technical solutions company where we truly go after hard to get, kind of the in-getable gets. And people come to us really interesting challenges. So it's really fun. Well, one of the real interesting things that I learned from talking with you is that you invented a word or almost like an industry. Can you explain a little bit about that? Yeah, I did, that's really fun. So a number of years ago back in, I think 2001, I mentioned to you, my dad kind of handed over the renewables idea and was like, I don't wanna deal with that, that's too techie, right? For let the young buck go after that. So we worked with a manufacturer that at the time was a pretty small manufacturer out of Canada and they were creating standalone, self-contained solar devices. And if you look around, they're on our US Coast Guard buoys. We actually helped bridge that connection with aviation for them. And in 2007, we actually did the world's largest solar remote controlled airfield over at Pacific Missile Range on Kauai. So that was really super cool for me. I mean, if you can imagine, actually proposing the solution and demonstrating the technology and going up in training, and it was really fantastic. And actually, Kauai National Bank was with us the entire time. So that was our first really big, big, big award. And for me, it was the feather in my cap. I think I needed that. And what was that word you created? Oh, yeah. So that word was a solar collagen. Solar collagen. Yeah, and that word actually, I just trademarked that, or registered that word a few years ago. And that had to do with how we pitch solutions to our clients. So whenever we pitch a solution to our client, we always talk about the educational process. So we would always talk about why our particular solar-powered product was essential and why the components were essential, et cetera. So it was just natural for me that I should create the word for it. So solar collagen means a self-contained, stand-alone solar-powered device that has a battery and smart technology. So in itself, it's pretty simple. It's basically a tiny microgrid, you know? That definitely sounds high-tech. But, and Dennis, like Leah mentioned, you've been there, you've been working with them. And I guess as this business grows and expands and gets bigger and starts getting these contracts and have to deliver the product, Kauai National Bank is there to support and help with that, right? Yes, it's great because Kauai National Bank is an SBA-preferred lender. So we actually can approve loans in behalf of the SBA. In addition, you know, we have other products that we deal with, the USDA, and we actually customize or tailor-make our products to the certain project, job, or circumstance they're in. So they just come to us with what they're looking for and we will design something that'll fit them. Good. And that's what's nice about dealing with a bank that focuses on that segment of the market that's a little bit, they're nimble, they're quick. You have to be responsive because to be a small business and be successful, you gotta be able to be quick and be able to pivot and take advantage of opportunities. Relationships has got to be there and you have to be updated and to communicate with each other, right? Where do you see the future for your company, for you and your company? Well, it's, like I said, it's been pretty exciting these last few months in particular, last couple of weeks, actually. And we are getting a lot of interest in partnerships and that's kind of coming out of a few different places within the aerospace industry, within even the defense side as well. So we're really exploring, you know, what is our, and really hunkering down because the last few years, we've really focused on achieving these corporate milestones that we wanna take a breath and just go, okay, who are we? What do we wanna do? This is the scope of opportunities, which is wider than I thought it was really gonna be, which is exciting. It could be wider and it could also be deeper. I mean, this could call the catapult you right up into a whole different level. So I've heard, yeah, so I've heard because it's interesting, you know, when I went to that conference last week hearing that a company is very similar to us. Now, you know, fast forward, you know, 10 years, 15 years and it's quite amazing. And, you know, I mean, it always sounds so like, ooh, that's so sexy, it's such a buzzword. It's so warm and fuzzy, but you know, for me, I truly feel like, you know, we're connected. My workers are connected, we're connected to the industry. We have to have both a short and a long game and that's really important to me, not internally, but where we sit in the marketplace and that's changed really quickly over the past few years. So we kind of wanna take our time. Well, and that makes sense. You don't wanna rush into something and then regret it. You gotta make sure that what you're gonna be doing, you're gonna be serious about making it work. Yeah, and be a part of it too, like truly be a part of it. This didn't happen by accident. This took a lot of planning, a lot of strategy and a lot of hard work, not only you, but your entire team to get you to where you're at today. You know, as far as sharing any knowledge to people that are out there and they're maybe looking forward to having something like what you've done. I mean, this is a real success story for Hawaii. But there's a lot of people out there that wanna try and replicate or do something similar in their own industry. What do you recommend for them? I mean, how should they approach this? Well, I think you can never overlook bridging connections and it sounds very simple and it sounds very vanilla, but truly that means that looking at connections at who you are in your company, who your talent is, what the, you know, the swat strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats just within your company. And then look at how is your company in relationship to the industry and how is that industry evolving as well? And where with those strengths, can you put yourself in the industry to succeed? And, you know, working smart versus working hard and really being patient about opportunities that are presented to you and, you know, counting on your team because, you know, for me, even though I was part of the aircraft part side and all that and I really worked from the ground up, you know, I know that what I do on a daily basis is not the same as what my workers do on a daily basis. And we have to maximize that efficiency sometimes just in front of us all the time with one another and then also, you know, be able to present solutions to the customer, gathering that information, posing questions because a lot of times the customer may think they know what they want. And we have to say, well, what about this or what if you did that or what's next on your and try to bridge those connections for them. And for us, it's interesting. We sit in a very unique place in the industry because we are connected with airport operator, the operating staff in addition to engineering and the electricians. So because we sit in a different position, we see all of these little industries within their organization operating, we are able to bridge connections for them and say, well- They're like little silos out there and you have to provide the bridge to connect them. Right. And that's one thing that I can say that we do really well is we connect the communication between them and then we also do that with other airports. So oftentimes we're giving a workshop and we've got Wheeler talking with Pacific Missile Range and we've got them talking to K-Bay and Anderson Air Force Base even. So lots of sharing of information and expertise which is the networking that we're talking about, bridging connections on all different levels. It's fascinating. And I think we probably have enough to talk about for another entire show on some of this. But Dennis, we've got about 30 seconds left. Any final thoughts about what Hawaii National Bank does to help support small businesses and make Lea successful? Well, what attracted me to the bank originally at Hawaii National Bank was its involvement with the small to mid-sized business. We like to refer them to locally owned, closely held businesses. It's a relationship value that we have, the closeness, the connection. And I like dealing directly with our customers. So it's been a great career with me with 35 years at the bank. Very good. And it's nice to have those relationships. If you mentioned, we've all mentioned the value of those relationships and how that is one of the keys to success for any business, large or small. So, but thank you both for being on the show this week. I'm looking forward to having you back again. Dennis, as always, you can come back whenever you're ready to talk again. And Lea, please, let's have an update as things unfold and you explode into this global marketplace. We'd like to hear all about it. Thank you so much. This is Reg Baker, business in Hawaii. We broadcast live every Thursday from two to two 30. And we highlight individuals and their companies in their successes of doing business here in Hawaii. It is challenging, but there are people who can make it work. Until next week, aloha.