Business Development and Support Division

Honolulu – On Saturday, February 22, 2014, the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) co-hosted the 2014 Hawaii Small Business Spring Fair, “Launch Your Dreams Into Reality” at Leeward Community College in Pearl City. The free one-day event featured more than 30 workshops and exhibits from Federal, State and local agencies and participating organizations.

Sponsored by a partnership of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism with other Federal, State and other local organizations, the free workshops and exhibits provided a great opportunity for small business owners and future business owners to learn how to grow or start their businesses. More than 350 individuals registered for a wide range of workshop topics including: Show Me the Money: Financing Options, Forming and Registering Your Business, Secrets of marketing, The 24/7 Salesperson: Your Website, Getting FIT: Federal Income Taxes, and many more. In addition, SCORE provided one-on-one business counseling to more than 100 business and future business owners.

Partnering with DBEDT to bring this successful free one-day event to Hawaii’s business owners and entrepreneurs were the US Small Business Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, Leeward Community College, Small Business Development Center (SBDC), Bank of Hawaii and the Business Action Center.

Providing information and assistance were more than 30 exhibitors including agencies such as DBEDT, SCORE, State Department of Transportation, USDA Rural Development, State Department of Taxation, State Department of Health, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Patsy T. Mink Center for Business and Leadership, Hawaii Health Connector, local banks and many more.

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