Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 6, 1 June 1993 — Workshops offer opportunities for budding Hawaiian entrepreneurs [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Workshops offer opportunities for budding Hawaiian entrepreneurs

by Patrick Johnston Microenterprise loans, the lending of relatively small amounts of money to fledgling entrepreneurs, have become increasingly popular around the country in the past few years. Many see them as a way of providing jobs, stimulating the economy, and rejuvenating neighborhoods ravaged by failed businesses and unemployment. OHA and the Department of Business, Eeonomie Development and

1 o u r ī s m sponsored three microenterprise workshops last April, one eaeh on Kau-a'i, Moloka'i and O'ahu, with the goal of introducing microenterprise eoncepts to Ha-

wai'i and encouraging resource groups to provide support. A microenterprise is a small business that takes relatively little money to set up. It is owned by an individual or individuals in the community, and helps rejuvenate the area by having money

circulate within that neighborhood rather than be outside it. Says Christine van Bergeijk, OHA eeonomie development specialist, "It (microenterprise) is a strategy for communities to recapture wealth and keep it in communities by creating small loeal companies whose owners live and spend their money there." Beverly Smith, executive direc-tor of the Association for Enter prise Opportunity, a microenter-

p r i s e u m b re 1 1 a group (see story page 12), eonducted the workshops. T h e y b r o u g h t together the v a r y i n g interests of eaeh island, focusing on their eon-

,cerns and how they ean be resolved using microloans for small business projects. On Kaua'i, discussion dealt primarily with rebuilding efforts after Hurricane 'Iniki, and how the community ean redirect the development of the island in

ways that are more compatible with their needs. Van Bergeijk, who helped coordinate the workshops said, "There was a lot of focus on the opportunities made available by the rebuilding and how the eom-

munity ean use the rebuilding to help shape the direction of development." Many voiced concerns about getting tourists back visiting Kaua'i. Others worried that the island was too dependent on

tourism and should use microenterprise to diversify the economy, making it less vulnerable to natural disasters and more self-suffx-cient agriculturally. On rural Moloka'i, participants placed less emphasis on tourism and more on gaining control of natural resources and maintaining their agrarian way of life (see story at bottom of page). O'ahu, because of its central location, large population and diverse economy, brought together the largest and most varied group of the workshop islands. Businessmen, community leaders, educators, and state agencies from all over Hawai'i gathered to discuss the potential of introducing microenterprise programs to Hawaiians. "There's growing interest in community-based eeonomie development," says van Bergeijk. "Federal agencies such as SBA (Small Business Administration) and HUD (Housing and Urban Development) through its CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) have found that federal legislation has been amended to include microenterprise development in their programs." Federal funds for microenterprise development eome from a variety of sources. SBA makes loans to organizations to be used continued on page 14

A microenterprise is a small business that takes relatively little money to set up. It is owneel by an individual or individuals in the community, and helps rejuvenate the area by having money circulate within that neighborhood rather than outside it.

Moloka'i taro farmer: Hawai'i agriculture has a lot of potential for microenterprise development. phoio by Patrick Johnston

Microenterprise workshops

continuedfrom page 13 as loan principal, the OCS (Office of Community Services) has been a source of operating grants for microloan programs, and the CDBG program may soon be including microenterprise programs in their eeonomie development strategy. The state, through its Department of Business, Eeonomie Development and Tourism, supports one microloan project in Hawai'i: a partnership between the loeal nonprofit Kalihi-Pālama Immigrant Service Center, the federal government, the state CBED program, and Liberty Bank. The project offers small loans to Vietnamese and Laotian refugees. To date, loeal foundations have not yet targeted microenterprise development specifically when making their funding decisions. Van Bergeijk believes there is tremendous potential for microenterprise loans in Hawai'i but a lot of work has to be done first. "People need to go back to their communities and examine what they would need to do in taking on a microlending project. ... They need to do an assessment of demand for loans, determine what size of loans are

needed, and whether they should do group or direct lending." On O'ahu, van Bergeijk suggested the agricultural lands surrounding the Waiāhole poi factory and the back yard aquaculture project in Wai'anae as good loeations for microenterprise loan projects. "We're a real microenterprise economy in Hawai'i," she points out. "A lot of people are already doing it on their own." The concept of microenterprise loans is relatively new to Hawai'i. The workshops helped introduce Hawaiians to the idea as well as the resources available to finance small business loan programs. Before returning to the mainland Smith made a presentation to a group representing banks, foundations, and government agencies, outlining the merits of microenterprise and encouraging them to consider support for programs. Van Bergeijk explains, "One of the motivations for the last presentation on O'ahu was to help resource people understand what microdevelopment is so they '11 consider allocating some of their resources to this type of lending." The final presentation was eosponsored by OHA, DBEDT, and the Bank of America.