Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 7, 1 July 2007 — Hawaiian values in business: Our net for the net [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiian values in business: Our net for the net

Aloha e nā 'ōiwi 'ōlino, nā pulapula a Hāloa, mai Hawai'i a Ni'ihau, puni ke ao mālamalama. On May 22 and 23, OHA convened the annual Hawaiian Business Conference and Eeonomie Expo. The general session, on the first day, included "Fostering Innovation in the Hawaiian Business Community: Aligning Cultural Values and the Bottom Line." McD Philpotts, environmental artist and craftsman of Mountain Wood Farm, talked on integrating eultural values in business to promote sustainable social and environmental opportunities. lulie Kitka, president of the Alaska Federation of Natives, infonned attendees regarding the Alaska Native perspective and experience in balancing cultural values and eeonomie activity. Maile Meyer of Kauhale LLC spoke of the philosophy and practice of the Hawaiian hui of retailers at Waiklkl and a brand as "community resource" not just "retail business." A second general session turned attention to "Sustainable Indigenous Eeonomie Development: Focus on Energy" with participation by representatives from Enersea Transport, Fresharaki Associates Consulting and Technical Services and the Hawai'i Energy Forum of the University of Hawai'i Research Corporation. The increasing need for renewable energy will bring success to innovative approaches that "find a need and fill it" in this area. Protecting native intellectual property rights; micro-enterprise development and how micro-enterprises ean grow to heeome mid-size businesses; use of eultural certification trademarks to protect native arts; Native Hawaiian youth development: entrepreneurship and leadership; expanding business boundaries: opportunity and challenges in government contracting and foreign trade; Native Hawaiian Organization (NHO) owned 8(a) firms, sole source contracting, a mentor program at Northrup Grumman for small businesses, and the value of HUB zone designation; federal procurement opportunities; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's

new disadvantaged enterprises rule; and individual presentations of NHO-owned 8(a) firms were additional areas of discussion and focus of the two-day session. Governor Lingle provided the luneheon keynote address in whieh she promoted "innovation" in the approach to eeonomie development. She talked about the MELE program collaboration between Behnont College in Tennessee and Honolulu Community College for accreditation in Music Business and the possibilities related to the expected $20 hillion of investment slated for the island of Guam over the next seven years. Presenting for the second year was Dr. Seiji Naya, distinguished visiting senior fellow at the East-West Center and professor emeritus of the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Department of Economics. Dr. Naya highlighted findings in data analysis on "Ineome Distribution and Poverty Alleviation in the Hawaiian Community." In his remarks he noted two facts: 1) Hawai'i has the largest percentage of millionaires in terms of households in the U.S.: "Of a total of 433,434 household units in Hawai'i, 29,423 or 6.8 percent, of households are millionaires (the U.S. average is 4.8 percent)"; and 2) "The poverty rate in Hawai'i is 9.8 percent, whieh is lower than the national average of 13.3 percent." These statistics suggest that Hawai'i has done better than peers, but closer examination of these statistics tells a different story for Native Hawaiians. Naya said: "Poverty remains the major obstacle and challenge to Native Hawaiians and the state of Hawai'i." He states further: "Despite high eeonomie growth, high poverty lingers on. It is conunonly cited in literature that eeonomie growth is important to reducing poverty. But as in many cases in the world, high eeonomie growth is not guarantee of lower levels of poverty. We must examine how eeonomie growth is achieved, how it is shared by different groups and what policies are adopted to alleviate poverty. It is important to assess how ineome distribution is related to absolute poverty and then design and implement programs to combat poverty." Wise discernment of these issues and their effect must guide implementing actions of the advocate, OHA, in advancing eeonomie development in the context of Native Hawaiian self-detennination. 32/48 ^

LEO 'ELELE ■ TRUSTEE MESSAGES

Haunani Apuliuna. MSW Chairpersūn, TrustEE, At-large