Business Development and Support Division

By Erika Engle, June 26, 2015, Honolulu Star-Advertiser The goodies handmade in Ko Bakery’s Kauai kitchens can be found all over  the Garden Isle, and with a little effort, on the other major islands.“We only do very premium, excellent products; our brand is all about that,” said S. Morris Wise, a partner in the four-member business. ...
Read More Ko Bakery on Garden Isle has plenty of sweet deals

By Jaimie Kim, Senior Writer, MidWeek, June 24, 2015 It was Dec. 26, 2013, in Meliandou, Guinea, when an 18-month-old boy developed a fever. Two days later, Ebola had taken his life. This, says World Health Organization, is where it all began. In the weeks that followed, the illness spread rapidly to become what the ...
Read More UH vs. Ebola

“Launch Your Dreams into Reality”   On Saturday, August 8, 2015, DBEDT will co-host the 2015 Hawaii Small Business Fair, “Launch Your Dreams into Reality” at Honolulu Community College. We expect more than 300 small business owners and entrepreneurs to attend this free one-day event, which will feature 30 business resource and informational training workshops; ...
Read More 2015 Hawaii Small Business Fair

Lt. Governor Shan Tsutsui greets Vice-Governor Sun Jing Miao of Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government, who is in charge of the Zhoushan New Area, a growing tourism and resort area. Vice-Governor Sun extended an invitation to Lt. Governor Tsutsui to attend the Zhoushan Tourism and Resort Conference in October, 2016, to speak about Hawaii’s resort and ...
Read More Visit by Vice-Governor of Zhejiang Province

Kapolei, HI—It is a common experience for nonprofits to struggle with maintaining staff or programming year after year depending on what grant funding is available or actually awarded. Knowing the value of the programs that these organizations run on behalf of their respective communities, DBEDT’s Community-Based Economic Development Accelerator is looking to mentor and support ...
Read More Community-Based Economic Development Accelerator Program Looking for State-wide Nonprofit Applicants

Hilo, Hawaii, May 22, 2015 – State Director Chris J. Kanazawa today announced that $30 million available to farmers, ranchers and food entrepreneurs to develop new product lines. Funding will be made available through USDA’s Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program.   “The Value Added Producers Grant (VAPG) program not only enables farmers and ranchers with ...
Read More Value-Added Producer Grants Available for Ag Producers

The Hawaii State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) has again applied for a grant from the State Trade and Export Promotion (STEP) program of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to increase the number of local small businesses that want to export as well as the value of exports for those small businesses that currently export. Hawaii’s State Trade and Export Promotion Program, known as HiSTEP, is built on a multifaceted approach that begins with comprehensive export assistance, readiness, counseling and training that leads into a menu of targeted activities designed to generate new export sales for participating small businesses from key industry sectors.
The previous grant we received, $703,505, allowed for a total HiSTEP budget of $1,012,333, as the state and its partners provided the additional $308,828 in cash and in-kind services. With this grant, we assisted Hawaii businesses to achieve $21 million in new exports; creating a total economic impact of $32.25 million; generating $13.8 million in state taxes; and creating 220.5 jobs.

Courtesy of UH Hilo Stories Mrs. Ige, first lady of the state of Hawaiʻi, visited the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo on May 8 and learned about several innovative science and technology programs. After visiting several high schools earlier in the day, Dawn Amano-Ige arrived at the UH Hilo campus in the afternoon and met ...
Read More Hawaii’s first lady visits UH Hilo, learns about science and technology programs

Courtesy of University of Hawaii News The Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT) congratulates the University of Hawaiʻi, the University of the Ryukyus and Meio University on the signing of a memorandum of a understanding that proposes to  form an international network—the International Consortium for Okinawan Studies—for studying and teaching about Ryukyu and ...
Read More International Okinawan studies agreement signed