 Welcome to Think Tech on Spectrum OC16, Hawaii's weekly newscast on things that matter to tech and to Hawaii. I'm Amy Anderson. And I'm Anna Jimenez-McMillan. In our show this time, we'll visit the 2019 SBA Awards and Editor's Choice Awards Ceremony at the Hawaii Prince Hotel on May 3rd. It was called Big Awards and Small Biz, where 32 awards were presented honoring top businesses, lenders, entrepreneurs, and advocates from around the state. This program is presented annually by the Small Business Administration and Hawaii Business Magazine. It is Hawaii's largest Small Business Awards program. The ballroom at the Prince Hotel was filled with well-wishers who made it clear in their enthusiasm how much they appreciated the efforts of the businesses receiving these coveted awards. We were particularly interested in the program because Think Tech Hawaii was honored to receive one of the awards presented. The SBA Award for Small Business Advocate for Media and Journalism. It was great to be there and greater yet to receive the recognition for such an important community award. In all, 32 awards were presented to recipients from across the islands. The SBA Hawaii Small Business Awards included the Small Business Person of the Year, the Entrepreneur's Success of the Year, the SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year, the SBA Family Owned Business of the Year, the Small Business Exporter of the Year, the Small Business Advocate Business and Industry, the Small Business Advocate Women in Business, the Small Business Advocate for Veteran Small Business, the Small Business Advocate for Minority Small Business, the Small Business Advocate for Innovation, the Small Business Advocate for Media and Journalism. That's the one that went to Think Tech. And then there was the SBA Special Award for Lifetime Legacy, the Small Business person of the year, the SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year, the SBA Family-Owned Business of the Year, the small business advocate for business and industry. From Maui, we had the Small Business Person of the Year, the SBA Young Entrepreneur of of of the Year. From Kauai, we had the Small Business Person of the Year, the SBA Family-Owned Business of the Year. The award went to Edward Kawamura of M-Kawamura Farm Enterprises. We're going to film him in Kauai next week. From Hawaii Island, we had the Small Business Person of the Year, the SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year, the SBA Family Owned Business of the Year, the Small Business Advocate Financial Services, the Small Business Advocate for Innovation, the Small Business Advocate for Business and Industry. Of course, we filmed the presentation of all these awards, and here is the footage we took. Now, of course, anyone who works with small businesses, they know how difficult it is to put an enterprise on the path to success and really keep that trajectory for the long term. Many entrepreneurs would, of course, not be able to thrive without all of the commitment, the resources, the providers and advocates who share their ideals of free enterprise and the American dream. Let's see. For the County of Hawaii, I'd like to congratulate you to the Small Business Advocate for Financial Services, Jacob Burrell, the Small Business Advocate for Innovation for the County of Hawaii is Jim Wyman, founder of HivePlanes, our winners, Omar and Tart, Sultan of Sultan Mentors, Icelerate UH and Icelerate Hawaii. The Advocate for Minority Small Business for the State of Hawaii has long been guiding small disadvantaged business owners to resources and tools to increase their share of government contracting work and strengthen their likelihood of success. A big congratulations to Melody Martin. The 2019 State of Hawaii Small Business Advocate for Veteran Small Business Ownership randomly shares her experience as a small business owner with those following in her footsteps. A big congratulations to Noella Napoleon, Business Consultant and Chamberlain Patsy, the team's main center for business and leadership at the wider ACA. The Small Business Advocate for Women in Business for the State of Hawaii has been working to advance the status of women for more than two decades. Let's give a big mahalo for that service to Leslie Wilkins. The Small Business Advocate for Business and Industry Honors, those individuals who work tirelessly to inform and connect small business owners and entrepreneurs with the tools that they need to succeed. For the City and County of Honolulu, a big congratulations to Kieran Polk, the Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce of Papua Bay, the Business and Industry Advocate for the County of Hawaii. Actually, he's on a family reunion. That's for Miles Yoshioca. He had a big family reunion, so not currently on Island. He's the Director for the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce. Now, he is an incredible advocate assisting in small business with what he does typically at the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce. The Small Business Advocate for Business and Industry for the State of Hawaii. He's a big champion and got for our small business communities for more than 30 years. Today, we recognize that dedication with the 2019 award for Mary Bushier of Mary Bushier Realty on the Island of Hawaii. The Makana Ho'oko Noakewa Special SBA Award honors a lifetime legacy of support for small businesses and free enterprise. The 2019 honorary is Naomi Casuno. The Small Business Advocate for Media and Journalism Award is presented to an individual who works to improve awareness of the critical issues that impact small businesses and highlights the contributions that they bring to the community. A big congratulations to Jay Fidel, who is the Founder and CEO of the State of Hawaii. Congratulations to all of the advocacy award winners, the exporter of the year for the State of Hawaii offers a unique product that's the favorite of many travelers from the East. Part of it's cachet is that this beverage is only produced by two companies in the entire U.S. Please welcome the exporter of the year, Hawaiian Sochu Company of Haleiva. SBA's Family Owned Small Business of the Year Award is on our business that's been owned and operated by a family for at least 15 years. Now in Hawaii, there's a long tradition of successful family-owned companies and we ask this year to many of those award winners. For the City and County of Honolulu, join me in congratulating the family of dentists that comprise the Honolulu and Dental Associates doing business by Dr. K. B. Chun and Sons in Kaidua. Now presenting the County of Hawaii in the Family Owned Business category is Rant Auto Specialist from East Hawaii. The SBA Family Owned Small Business for County of Kaua'i is a well-known landmark for Kaua'i's rural communities. The year 2019 was more than 60 years of operation. Edward Kawamura manages the daily operations with the help of his two sons. My guess is that if you've ever owned a car, if you're on Kaua'i, you know that the 2019 Family Owned Small Business of the Year is the State of Kaua'i. Of course, someone very well known. Let's congratulate Craig and Max Yoshikawa of SBA. SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year honors individuals who have demonstrated strong business and entrepreneurial skills by the successful operation of a small business for at least three years before reaching the age of 35. The Young Entrepreneur Award for the City and County of Honolulu goes to an enthusiastic team of high school pals who turned up tangible ideas from a reality when they started at Fizan. Congratulations to Staxbury, Nasiha, and Ruth Anderson. The owner of AP Construction and Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the County of Kaua'i. The SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year of County of Maui started his company in 2010 as a one person operation. Today, this entrepreneur has almost 50 employees and contracts on three islands. Let's celebrate this achievement with Ray Michaels, owner of Maui Plumbing. Please welcome the state of Kaua'i SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Crystal Nuit, the Entrepreneurial Success Award for the State of Kaua'i. Honors individuals who own and operate a business that started out by SBA size standards and with the assistance of SBA programs has grown into a larger business, no longer eligible for a SBA assistant. A big congratulations to Ross and Anna Scott, the small business person of the year for the City and County of Honolulu. A big congratulations to Tracy Lockney. Joining us today from this look of Honolulu, we congratulate Delin Bokbatah, the owner of Volcano Binary for his selection as the small business person of the year for the County of Kaua'i. Now to the Sandy Shore of Kaua'i. The small business person of the year for the County of Kaua'i, mom and 15 friends of French-English brothers. The small business person of the year for the County of Kaua'i is a standout in a busy and very competitive business. A big congratulations to Angela Agnioni, owner of Kaua'i. Our final award of the day is the 2019 SBA Small Business Person of the Year Award for the State of Kaua'i. And today that goes to a very dynamic duo who's committed to excellent in knowledge, sales, and service, has allowed them to compete with much larger corporations. Self-leadership and management from Kaua'i and Bonson have provided a competitive advantage to differentiate what the energy systems from other electrical and mechanical constructions are. There were five Hawaii Business Editors' Choice Awards. The Long-Term Success Award, the Green Business Award, the Toyota Business Award, the Women-Owned Business Award, the Best U Business Award. These Editors' Choice Awards honor five great local companies that everyone in the whole nation knows about because they represent some of the very best characteristics of achievement, longevity, sustainability, innovation, and diversity. Our first award is her long-term success and the winners are Il-Man and Sam Soo-Chung, the retired founders and owners of Kaua Pancake House and Kaua Cafe, and her son, Juno Chung, is now the president. Best Green Business, and that goes to Pona Home and to founder and CEO of the stock community. Next up, the Editors' Choice Award for most innovative company goes to Nalu Scientific and it's founder and CEO, Isar Mustapaneja. Best New Business, and the winner is the restaurant, work-and-solid Maui, and its co-owners Travis Moran, and Cody Christopher. Next up, we have the Editors' Choice Award for Best Women-Owned Company and that goes to Manna Up, its co-owners Milly Chang, and Brittany Hall. And three cohorts were inaugurated into the Hawaii Small Business Hall of Fame. They were Tan Lam of Latour Bakehouse, Kent and Lori Uttarman of Pictures Plus, Tim Moore, Mike Moore, and Robert Aguiar of Old Lahaina, Luau. And the very first member of the inaugural cohort of the Hawaii Small Business Hall of Fame, is Tan Lam. Tan Lam is a true American success story. He came to the U.S. as an immigrant from Vietnam. He opened Bali Sandwich in 1984 and since growing an island empire. Kent and Lori Uttarman founders of the art source Inc., which has several divisions, including Pictures Plus. These days, the art source has money galleries, custom cabinet and a bathroom, and storage systems, which even is shipped in to shawls, playing in the name of the new footwear and opening island soul slipper stores. Our third group of honorees are a trio of entrepreneurs from Maui. We have Tim Moore, Mike Moore, and Robert Aguiar, the founders of Old Lahaina. Old Lahaina is not an art limited, whose business includes Old Lahaina Culinary Center, the Overmands, Luau, Aloha makes plates to our noodles, Leotas Kitchen, and Pie Shops, and Old Lahaina Farms. All right, wow, you guys, that makes 34 honorees today. Truly the best of small business in Hawaii. A big congratulations to all of our winners in every part of the program. Let's give everyone another round of applause. As we always do, we also walk the floor to talk to the people who were there to get their views on the program and its implications for the community. We are really looking at a growing number of businesses who qualify for this award. They are growing, they're creating jobs, they are innovative, and it's really exciting to be here. Brittany Hyde and I have a women-owned business of the year, really thrilled with all the great things that we've been able to accomplish since we started Mana Up two years ago. I think it's fantastic, and I'm here to win an award from the SBA as a small business advocate in innovation from the Big Island, and it's because of my non-profit high plan. Yeah, this is amazing. I mean, it's really all my parents that deserves this award, so we won the Long Term Success Award, so it's really my parents because they've been doing it for so long. I've only come in only in the last five years to run the business, so it's really just them. We've been working a long time, but finally now my son took over, so we have enough time for relax and later for our rest of the life. This is a business that goes back to 1954 when our father started the business under K. B. Chun. This shindig is going great because everybody here is really good-looking, and they got flowers on them, and they're having a good time, and their families are here. We won the Old Timers Award, so if you stay in business long enough and then there's nobody left, you win the award we won. Certainly, yeah, we have like a farm-to-table philosophy and started in a food truck, just us three and one other, and now we're about to build out our fifth location. 95% of it is kind of a challenge, especially when you go into business with your two best friends, you know, most of the time it sucks, you know. Yeah, seriously, you're just kind of seeing these guys face every single day, but yeah, you find the joy in it. I thank the people that come there and support us, you know. I think they're very important. Most also, I do a lot of veteran work and supporting, you know, veterans and getting their benefits. I'm a Vietnam veteran there, and I believe that, you know, it's time, it's past 50 years and now helping veterans. What's happening in Washington? Well, it's the big national business week. All the winners from across the nation is going to show up, including Puerto Rico and Guam. I think the Virgin Islands, I'm not sure if American Samoa is going to be out there. Yeah, we're representing Hawaii. It's the we, not the me, exactly. I mean, that's, that makes good business sense. It's not all about us, you know, we're providing jobs. We're getting rid of the small stuff that shouldn't be worried about, like, healthcare for employees, so I'm just so proud that I could do that for all my guys. It's great, great for business, great for business in Hawaii, so keep up the good work, Jay. Same to you. Congratulations to Jay. He truly deserves it. Good job, good health to you. See, a company that's been around for 50 years, and like McKinley Carwash doing so well and getting honored and recognized and then watch those guys go off to DC tonight. Pretty exciting. Juno's a friend of mine through EO Hawaii, and his family was recognized for Coa Pancake House and they were one of the first ones announced as an immigrant family. This was great, fantastic. I mean, the program was really well put together and they did a really good job of introducing everybody, giving them a little paragraph spiel, so I heard mine, which was really kind of nice and accurate, and I heard others, which was really nice, so now I can put a picture next to the type of work that they're doing, so really exciting. So if you want to see what happened last year in Hawaii, I think this is just read the program. We started in Maui in 1979, came from Alaska and went into the boat business. And then I think I told you the story. My older son started college and I said, we got to have a second job. That's when we started Sunshine Helicopters. This was so much fun. I mean, it's an incredible opportunity to be able to be around so many great entrepreneurs and business owners and just to be able to honor them, right? Because a lot of them give back to the community in such big ways. So it's a really cool thing to be able to recognize them and to be able to give them awards. I'm not the one giving it. I was just reading the scripts right now. I was just the one welcoming them to the stage, just so great to be able to be a part of this opportunity. It was a wonderful experience. A great group of people, excellent businesses and advocates who do great service to the state of Hawaii. We just have a strong group of committed individuals that are all working to better the community and people's lives in general. I think it's awesome. What we need to do as a community is celebrate all of these victories big and small. And today was a great one, yeah, for all of us. Congratulations to you. I've learned that the future is bright. I learned that there's a lot of great stuff happening across all the islands. And we as a community need to rally behind it and continue to support it so that we can continue growing our ecosystem. This is basically a Shochu Maita. It has a variety of fruit juices and the Shochu which is made out of sweet potato and rice. We have an entrepreneur of the year. So pretty exciting. My son is over there. He's representing. I'll be in Mongolia. Representing that. Next to him. Are you going to go to Washington with him? Ah, no. I'm not invited. Congratulations to you. Yeah, my wife. Congratulations to you. Thank you so much. Thank you. I'm proud of my son. So they're all baked here fresh daily every day and they're all hand-dipped. So that's what we brought here today for First Hawaiian Bank. So she's showing you how to hand-dip it. That's exactly how they do it in our factory. As you can see, a few important things were obvious. First, entrepreneurship is alive and well in Hawaii. Second, there are many startups being organized by many exuberant, charming and very promising entrepreneurs young and old. Third, it's wonderful to see many local family and multi-generational businesses thriving in Hawaii. And finally, it's thrilling to see the SBA, Hawaii Business Magazine and so many banks and well-wishers vigorously supporting and encouraging the development of small businesses in Hawaii. Want to know more about the SBA? Check out the Honolulu section on SBA.gov. Want to know more about Hawaii Business Magazine? Check out HawaiiBusiness.com. Who knows? Maybe you can be an entrepreneur and start up a business. And who knows? Maybe you can win an SBA or Editors' Choice Award next year. After all, we need all the entrepreneurs and small businesses we can get. In so many ways, they represent the future of our state. And now, let's check out our ThinkTech schedule of events going forward. ThinkTech broadcasts talk shows live on the Internet from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Then we broadcast our earlier shows all night long and on the weekends. And some people listen to them all night long and on the weekends. If you missed the show or if you want to replay or share any of our shows, they're all archived on demand on ThinkTechKawaii.com and YouTube. For more on this stream, go to thinktechkawaii.com. And because all of our shows are broadcast on Fridays, visit ThinkTechKawaii.com for our weekly calendar, live stream, and YouTube links. Or better yet, sign up on our email list and get our daily email advisories. ThinkTech has a high-tech blue-skinned studio at finer classes. If you want to see it or be a part of our live audience or if you want to participate in our shows, contact shows at 20techkawaii.com. If you want to post a question or make comment during a show, call 808-374-2014 and help us raise public awareness on ThinkTech. Go ahead. Or send us a tweet at thinktechhi. We'd like to know how you feel about the issues and events that affect our lives in these islands and in this country. We want to stay in touch with you and we'd like you to stay in touch with us. Let's think together. We'll be right back to wrap up this week's edition of ThinkTech. But first, we want to thank our underwriters. That wraps up this week's edition of ThinkTech. Remember, you can watch ThinkTech and Spectrum OC16 seven times every week. You can't get enough of it, just like Anna does. For additional times, check out OC16.tv. For lots more ThinkTech videos and for underwriting and sponsorship opportunities on ThinkTech, visit thinktechhawaii.com, be a guest or a host, a producer or an intern, and help us reach and have an impact on Hawaii. Thanks so much for being a part of our ThinkTech family and for supporting our open discussion of tech, energy, diversification, and global awareness in Hawaii. And of course, the ongoing search for innovation wherever we can find it. Thanks so much to the SBA and Hawaii Business Magazine for giving us this important community award. In any event, you can watch this show throughout the week and tune in next Sunday evening for our next important weekly episode. I'm Amy Anderson. And I'm Anna He-Manus McMillan. Aloha, everyone.