 Aloha. Good afternoon, everybody. This is SBA America, but again, we're focusing on small businesses in Hawaii. Thanks for joining us today. August is proving to be a very, very busy month, and you can see by our panel with us today we have two guests. That's just how much activity is going on and how much information we have to share with you about small businesses in Hawaii and just how well they're doing, how we can do even better. I'm pleased to have Reg Baker with me. Many of you know Reg. He is a prominent member of our small business community and active with the Chamber. CPA, running his own business, specializing with small business. Reg also serves on our Region 9 Regulatory Reform Board, helping bring issues that small businesses have to the attention of the SBA and also making sure that your voices are heard. We also are very fortunate to have Yvonne Lee here, who is visiting from our regional office, our Office of Advocacy in San Francisco. She has some very special meetings planned and some different things to tell you about that SBA's Office of Advocacy is doing here for businesses across the country and for small businesses here in Hawaii. We're lucky she's going to be able to visit twice this month because so much is going on. Some of the important things that we're seeing happen, even this week, we've got a special activity that's a partnership of SBA and AARP. It's part of our summer of mentoring and it's called Encore Entrepreneur, your next best venture. And that is for people who are looking or have started a business venture here in Hawaii. And they're a baby boomer. Maybe it's their second career. This is happening on Saturday or maybe just people maybe haven't started yet. Maybe you're just thinking about, should I take my hobby or my interest and make a business out of it? So this program is to help you do just that or explore the possibilities. It'll be this Saturday from 9.30 to 11.30 and it will be a ward warehouse on the second floor in the kakaoko room. You'll hear from people who have done exactly that. You know, retired from our early career, started a small business and been very, very successful. What did they face? How did they make the change? And where are they going from that point on? So this is on Saturday, August 13th. You can call our office at 541-290 or contact AARP to get more information or register. But this group is a fast growing group. One of the faster segments. And they've added about 23% growth in this demographic over the last several years. So we can help those businesses get your idea on paper, figure out which way to go, and help you launch your business with the skills that you've learned and gained in your first career. We also have an event going on this week on August 11th. And this is with our Chamber of Commerce and discussing small business financing. Where do you find money? Really important question. And Reg, I know you're involved with that. Maybe you want to tell us a little bit about what you expect to go on with the Chamber of Commerce. Sure, I'd be happy to. I'm the Chair of the Small Business and Entrepreneurial Committee of the Chamber of Commerce. And this is an event that we do maybe every other month, you know, once every two months. And this is on August 11th. This one is going to be about, you know, focusing on the financing piece of what small businesses need to have. So we're going to have a Central Pacific Bank out there. We're going to have a Y National Bank out there. We're also going to be talking a little bit with the SBA. They're going to have some information. All about obtaining the capital and the resources, the financial resources you need in order to either start the business or take the business to the next level. And that's usually one of the bigger challenges that most small businesses experience is that access to capital. Access to capital? Where to find the money? How do I get money? Where's my credit? I mean, it's a complicated but critically important question for small business. So I'm glad you're going to be doing that and we'll be happy to support that. Most people know that financing is one of SBA's most important programs. And it is the lifeblood of small business. So we need to make sure that small businesses know what they need to do, where to find it. And so I'm glad you're offering. What time is this? This is going to be in the morning on August 11th. That's a Thursday. It's going to start registrations at 8 o'clock and then about 8.30 we'll kick the program off and then for about an hour we're going to have a series of speakers come out and talk about how, you know, what their process, what their procedures are and how to get money and what the SBA's role in all of this. SBA's not necessarily a lender but they are active in securing that funding in different ways. Yeah. I really always liked writing those big checks. No. SBA isn't a lender but we do guarantee a lot of loans and we have funds available to lend this year and a lot of different programs. So I think it would be great and very interesting for people to hear how we can make that happen for small businesses. And I just wanted to mention, you know, this entrepreneurship that you're going to have on August 13th, it's amazing to me how many people that normally would be retiring in their 60s are actually showing up for these events and trying to find out exactly how to have a business and start a business and there's a lot of reasons for that. But today people are living for another 20, 25 years and they want something to do. This is an exciting time for them to try out something they've been thinking about. And some of them are interested in supplementing a retirement income or creating a legacy or some idea that they've had and want to start with their families for example and maybe nobody's had the time or the availability to do it and now's the opportunity. We also see in a lot of people that will start kind of a socially conscious venture. They want to be able to give back and a lot of those companies as small businesses are finding a lot of success. So we hope some of you will come out and join us for this activity even if you're just exploring the idea or the concept, should I do this? Should I take my hobby like jewelry making or cupcake making or, you know, all of these things that people do, consulting, graphics. There's so many opportunities and we are seeing a lot of people succeed in that area. So please come down and join us and learn a little bit more. Whether you're in business and looking to grow or it's time to, you know, just get started with that idea. There's also a small business growth expo going on on Thursday. So it's hosted by PBN. SBA will be there again to talk about our entire range of programs. So it will be down at the convention center. You can check out at PBN's website to learn more information. There will be some free seminars and other activities. I expect over 90 vendors and 600 small business people. So it could be a great opportunity to learn more about finding customers or meeting other people in your industry as well. So we encourage you to get that. The attendance at this is incredible. They'll have literally hundreds of people going through there. The energy in the room is just over the top. I mean, there's a lot of very motivated enthusiastic people there. It's a great place to meet folks. Yeah. And I think that's what we want to talk about with this program, too, are the resources and networking and connections you can make through some of these small business activities. You know, we also have an important meeting. We were all involved in discussing this morning. Yvonne as well, because we have a regulatory reform hearing that will be happening here in Hawaii later this month. And that will be coming up on August 23rd. Yvonne, as I said, as our regional advocate is involved in this effort, we'll have folks from Washington D.C., our national ombudsman office, and of course, Reg is a member of our regulatory reform board is helping us frame up the issues that are important to small businesses in Hawaii and need some attention on the national landscape as well. So we talked a little bit about our agenda and ideas this morning. So maybe you'd kind of like to weigh in and mention that. Elonde, do you want to take a crack at that first? No. Well, since you are the board member, go ahead. Maybe tell them a little bit about what your role is as well. Well, I'm a member of the national board for regulatory reform for the Small Business Administration. I'm the chair of the 9th region, which is the western United States. And part of what we're doing is trying to solicit companies to come in and share with us some of the challenges that they may be having with some rules and regulations at the federal level that maybe we can help them with. And the process is very simple. Give us a couple of examples of what kind of issues we might be discussing. One of the areas that we have a lot of success with in the federal contracting area, if some of the companies or the agencies within the federal government are a little bit slow in paying or there's a little hiccup in there that they're preventing a payment to be made, we can help with that. And we've helped collect millions of dollars across the country in expediting the collection process. And so sometimes stuff happens and sometimes they need a little bit of help. And we've got direct access to the folks in D.C. Our administrator at the SBA sits on the president's cabinet. And so we've got some pretty high-level visibility and we can get things done. So this is a chance for people to come and talk about some of the issues they may be facing, or it could be labor issues, it could be labor employment, it could be payment, it could be government contracting, it could be access to capital issues as well. Just about anything that deals with federal agency or government. Overtime rules that are coming up. I think this morning you had mentioned that maybe healthcare might be something that people are still concerned with. Yes, definitely. My office is the Office of Advocacy, which was created by Congress about 40 years ago, specifically as an independent entity within SBA to represent the interests of small business within federal government. So our job as regional advocates is to bring back what we hear from the ground, the small businesses, their concerns, the three Bs, what are the barriers that's keeping them from opening or expanding the business? What are the best practices? Are there rules that help them? Or despite rules and regulations, they continue to excel? And what are the big ideas? Because the folks who really know how to grow the U.S. economy are the small businesses. So our job is not to speak for them. Our job is to amplify what we hear, their voices, back to Washington before the administration, before Congress. And most importantly, work with federal agencies as they put together these regulations. My purpose of coming to Hawaii this week is to participate in a couple of very important roundtable discussions with Hawaii small business stakeholders. Earlier today, Reg and I were involved with a meeting hosted by the Chamber of Commerce bringing together food small businesses to talk about the updates on the new law, the FISMA law, which is Food Safety and Modernization Act, which is a five-year-old law. The first time in about 50 years that we have a public health and safety regulation and law that was enacted. The purpose is to really keep consumers with safe food products, import and export products, and more importantly, to really have the ability to trace back the food from the farmers to the processor from the manufacturer from the folks who transport things and to the stores and the restaurants that the consumer will consume those products. So that idea of FISMA is to keep American consumers safe from food-borne activities. But more importantly, to really help food-related businesses to keep the business growing because if we have safe products, then the businesses will do much better. People will have more confidence in them. So that was our first roundtable earlier today. It was a really robust discussion that we had with the community. And since we do have groups for food manufacturers, associations, and we're looking at developing diversified agriculture and value-added products, what kind of things did you hear this morning? What is the response that you might be getting from our local folks? I think the one thing that I will bring back to Washington is that the businesses, because we have over 2,000 food-related businesses in Hawaii, and they're all small businesses. So the key that they want me to bring back is that they need more information anytime when Washington put together new laws or regulations, they need to be connected. They need to know what it is so that they can prepare to comply with those rules. And sometimes it takes more than just hiring a staff. They need to really look at their operation to really comply. And our job as advocacy is at the front end when the regulations are being proposed to make sure that their experience and their voice will be included so that they can say, this doesn't work because we talked about why regulations sometimes are not business-friendly because oftentimes people say, we don't like regulations, too much regulations. Because most of the folks who drafted these rules and regulations they themselves have never run a business. Right. So they would know it sounds good and it looks good on paper, but when it's being practiced, it may not work. So that's why it's so important for the small business owners and the stakeholders to tell us why it would work, why it won't work. And more importantly, their recommendations, how to make it work, so that it meets the spirit of the regulations. But more importantly, it keeps the small business growing and not to hinder their operations. So it's almost like reverse engineering to get back to the good intention of what a regulation was. Right. So what I think we'll do, we'd love to hear about some of your other activities. We're going to take a quick break, but then we'll be back with you on SBA America, focusing on Hawaii, and talking more about how our Office of Advocacy can help small businesses succeed. Hi, I'm Chris Leitham with The Economy in You and I'd like to invite you each week to come watch my show each Wednesday at 3 p.m. Hello, I'm Marianne Sasaki. Welcome to Think Tech Hawaii, where some of the most interesting conversations in Honolulu go on. I have a show on Wednesdays from one to two called Life in the Law, where we discuss legal issues, politics, governmental topics, and a whole host of issues. I hope you'll join me. Aloha. I'm State Senator Russell Ruderman. I represent the Pune and Ka'u District on the Big Island and the host of Ruderman Roundtable. We're here on Think Tech Hawaii every other Tuesday at 2 p.m. You can join us at ThinkTechHawaii.com. You can find a link there to a page where you can see past episodes. And we talk here about good government, environmental issues, and issues of the day facing the state of Hawaii. I'm Russell Ruderman. Please join us for the Ruderman Roundtable. Mahalo. Hi there. We're continuing again our discussion with Yvonne Lee from the SBA's Office of Advocacy and Reg Baker, our favorite local CPA, and member of our regulatory reform board. We've been talking about some of the activities that will be happening while our regional advocate is here. SBA's Office of Advocacy is an independent voice for small business and just wanted to kind of revisit this a little bit because a lot of people are like, why are they separate or what do they do? But the Office of Advocacy does remain independent and they're aligned very closely with SBA and the interests of small businesses. It can sometimes sound pretty dull and boring, particularly maybe you go to their website and you look at regulatory reform and some of these things. But the place of the website and what the office does, rich in research and economic statistics, a lot of data that's very, very helpful for small business. So some of these hearings that are going on or roundtables that are happening this week are very, very informative in a number of different industries. So this morning was looking at FSMA and food production and small businesses dealing with value-added foods, et cetera, here in Hawaii. Tell us a little bit more about what went on and some of the interests or comments that you got from small businesses. Well, I want to emphasize the key independence because small business often felt that they don't have a voice in Washington when decisions are being made, policies, regulations and laws. My office really emphasized the importance of independence even though we were very closely with SBA. We are part of SBA. The reason why we're an independent entity is SBA also promulgate rules, such as the size standards, such as other things like the loan package and everything else. So we want to make sure that the small business community knows that we serve the small business. We do not serve other federal governments. So when size standards come, even though we are brothers and sisters with SBA, we continue to say these are the things that we hear. So ultimately, we want the small business community to know that we are amplifying their voice. We do not want to convince them of what is happening. We want them to convince the decision-makers what their needs are to grow and start the business. So in addition to the FISMA rule, that is really going to impact Hawaii's business, we also recognize that in Hawaii, there's a really growing innovative technology movement here. The ecosystem is really growing really fast, and we are here Thursday to attend an innovation showcase that is co-hosted by the University of Hawaii as well as Senator Hirono for the purpose of bringing together innovation technology entrepreneurs to talk about Hawaii's ecosystem, what make it work, and what can the federal government do to really help build the system not only for the current entrepreneurs but to grow future startups and future entrepreneurs to make Hawaii a really innovative technology center. I think probably at the meeting you're going to hear a lot of things about what is happening here, and I think most people are generally surprised, amazed, and we're looking at how do we continue to build that and nurture that along as well. So where is it happening at UH? It's going to be at the iLab. The new iLab? The new iLab. I'm looking forward to visiting it. And it's going to be at the Manoa campus. So it's going to be at 8 o'clock. Is it open to 9 to 11? Is it open to anybody? Or you have to pre-register? It's open to the public, and we welcome everyone to come because this is a great opportunity for us to learn from their experience. Again, to learn from the three Bs. Great, great. I guess if somebody wanted more information, they can contact my office. I know we have some information about it, but if they wanted to call in your contact, have you been up there, Reg? No, I have not. I've been to the Innovation Center a number of times when I went to the new iLab. That sounds exciting. So what are some of the topics that you're looking at exploring with that session? Maybe you can tell us a little more. Well, in addition to the Office of Advocacy, we will also have the Regional Director for the U.S. Patent and Trade Office. As many of you know, the USPTO had created four satellite offices to ease the burden of applicants for patents and trade. So the Silicon Valley Office was open a couple of years ago. That would really help folks in the West Coast instead of having to go to Washington D.C.'s office. Because hop on the plane, go to Silicon Valley, and meet with the examiners, because as we all know, patents drives technology. And it really helps entrepreneurs and startups to really secure the necessary investment, capital investments. So the purpose of the showcase is also to share information of what the government has to offer to really help not only startups, but also establish businesses, to make sure that they have an easier path to secure the business, protect the business, and expand the business. Does the experience or the results show that those four offices are making a difference? I can definitely understand, let's get rid of the bottleneck. Having experienced been a bottleneck yourself. Just to see the experience is that they're helping, and it's encouraging more people to get in and turn around patents. It really has helped within the last couple of years looking at how the Silicon Valley office has really helped not just the California applicants, but people can really, they feel much easier. Like for Hawaii, it's a six-hour difference to call for any kind of information. So right now, you can either hop a plane, or you can just call with a three-hour, or sometimes two-hour difference. The information is readily there, so people don't need to waste time or sweat out what could happen, and I need this information right away. So the fact that these are more entrepreneur-friendly and in response to what the entrepreneurs are telling us, that especially in the technology field, time is money. They cannot waste time to wait for answers. So by having the satellite offices in Denver, in Dallas, Detroit, and Silicon Valley, it really helps the entrepreneurs to get the information right away, get the support, get the service, and as a result, their patent applications will be done more proficiently, and they can get the answers sooner. And thereby, they can attract their investors much easier. And that's an important part of the access to capitals, to make sure that if people are investing in these companies, that the intellectual property that they have, that they're trying to monetize, is protected. And in the innovation sector, these things move very quickly. And so having multiple patents in a series to protecting intellectual property rights is not uncommon. And so the faster you can get this turnaround, the better. And it's perfect. It's really what they needed. Right. Because under the New American Investment Act, one of the major changes is instead of the first to invent, now it's the first to file. So time is really of the essence, especially for folks in the biotech, high-tech, clean-tech sectors. So we hope that people can come and learn more about this. Yeah, it sounds like awareness then becomes, and knowledge of the process becomes critically important as well. Because we know sometimes some solutions or processes are developed in different areas almost simultaneously. So they need to be... It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that in some respects there is a race going on to who's going to file the patent and get it first. You know, it is a fast-moving industry, and they need to expedite the process. Yeah, I think we are seeing that happen across the country and probably around the world as well. So we've got STEM you were looking at, innovation, other topics that are going to come up at UH, or some of your other meetings. Maybe you can tell us some of your other research or ideas that are going on with the Office of Advocacy. Well, besides our regulatory and policy work, we also have an economic research team. Their job is to produce reports and data collection to really inform the legislative leaders as well as the public of the state of the U.S. economy. Where are we heading? Where are some of the opportunities? And what can we do together, private and public sector to get to that happy place? Right. So we have issued several issues brief on trade, because Hawaii is the closest, next to Guam, is the closest U.S. state to a huge consumer market in Asia. So we have issued a report, issues brief on small business role in international trade. So we welcome folks to visit our website, to look at our products, and we also welcome you to give us feedback. So we can go to anybody who's interested, can research some of the different topics. I know there's information on women on small business, veterans business, the state of economics, and anyone in the 50 states. But what are some of the other topics, different kind of data that you mine? I mean, you fund a lot of research too, to see where the trends are, innovation, or how sometimes rules and regulations are actually working out. Right. Well, because there's so much attention on diversity in STEM, so we've been putting together a report on gender gaps in STEM, immigrants in STEM, because both in Hawaii and most part of my region, there is a growing population of immigrant entrepreneurs who are in STEM fields. And so we put together the report on where they are, and how they have contributed to the U.S. economy, and how we can all help them grow. Wow. And so to wrap up our conversation, if somebody is interested in looking, where do they go to find your website? They go to SBA, because we're part of the SBA network. SBA.evocacy. We can go to a whole bunch of our research, our comment letters. We make comments on a lot of regulations. They are welcome to review them. And again, the key is we need to hear from the small business community. Otherwise, if the voice is not being heard, then decisions are made without the input. And that would not be a good thing. So there's another good reason to look to SBA Office of Advocacy to help you with your business, to even find some of that market research data that you may need to support a proposal, to support your idea, to convince your spouse that you are going to take your innovation commercial. But we thank you for joining us today. We wish you well with your trip, and thanks for helping us be the voice of small business. Thank you. Aloha. Thanks for being here.