HAWAI`I SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER NETWORK

1998 ANNUAL REPORT - MAUI CENTER REPORT
[ Case Study ]

Shown below: Sonjie Thomas and David Fisher

Maui is the second largest island of the Hawaiian chain, having an area of 727 square miles with a population of 91,000. Its beautiful white sand beaches and scenic vistas have made Maui a favorite tourist destination. The county of Maui includes the islands of Moloka`i and Lana`i. With a strong tourist trade and an active business climate, Maui has the strongest economy of the neighbor islands.

The Maui Center of the Hawai`i SBDC Network is locate in the Maui Research and Technology Center (MRTC) in Kihei, which is also the location of the Hawai`i SBDC Network's Business Research Library. Maui Center Director David Fisher and his secretary, Sonjie Thomas, manage the Maui Center.

Leveraging both public and private sector investment in Maui's technology park, Fisher has been a leader in successfully introducing Maui's businesses to the use and power of the world wide web. The Hawai`i SBDC Network web site, the first SBDC web site in the nation, was developed by Fisher. Also, Fisher was responsible for introducing the Hawai`i SBDC Network to the use of an Internet-based conferencing system, which has been invaluable in the development of good communications among the dispersed offices of the Network. In addition to stand-alone workshops on the Internet, including a 5-session series on web design, Fisher promotes the power and innovative possibilities of the Internet by including components about the Internet in all of his counseling and training workshops.

Fisher identified the opportunity and actively participated in the development of the Hawai`i SBDC Network's involvement with the newly created TigrNet. TigrNet is a web site at <http://www.tigrnet.org/> developed by City Bank in cooperation with Hawaii Business magazine as an economic development program designed to match seed-capital investors with Hawai`i entrepreneurs developing businesses in seven industries identified as having high potential for growth in Hawai`i. The role of the Hawai`i SBDC Network, which has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with City Bank, is to provide Internet-based consulting to the entrepreneurs.

The Maui Center has been very supportive of the statewide Hawai`i SBDC Network initiatives on developing high quality performance and alternative capital resources for clients. With the other center directors, Fisher attended the three-day training session for examiners held by the Hawai`i State Award of Excellence program and then participated as an examiner in that program. This was for Fisher the culmination of a long standing interest in the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for quality performance, as well as in a number of other continuous quality improvement programs espoused by others. These concepts have now been incorporated into much of the counseling and training he offers. Regarding capital formation, Fisher helped launch a micro-loan program developed by the Maui Office of Economic Opportunity, which has now made loans to over 50 individuals ranging from web designers to the Hawaii Taro Company (see Maui Case Study).

In 1998, Fisher was honored by the SBA as Maui County's Minority Business Advocate of the Year. In other awards, Maui Center clients, Roger Stout and Fern Garcia of Maui Global Communications (featured in the Hawai`i SBDC Network's 1995 Annual Report), were ranked and honored as Hawai`i's third fastest growth company for 1998.

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MAUI CASE STUDY
Hawai`i Taro Company
Shown below: Robert Mitnick (left) and David Fisher

A natural in sales and marketing witha passion for island ecology, Robert Mitnick decided to develop food products out of cencern that most of Hawai`i's food is imported that most food consumed in Hawai`i is imported, he wanted to help make a dent in the trade deficit wit the mainland. Mitnick began to investigate other business opportunities.

Mitnick worked with several chefs todevelop his concept of a healthy, tasty taro patty free of any wheat or animal products. Mitnick worked with David Fisher, Maui County Center Director, with whom he had consulted with on a variety of ventures in the previous six years.

Fisher was concerned that there might not be a reliable supply of taro and referred Mitnick to a University of Hawai`i professor, Jim Hollyer, auhor of a book on the economics of taro, and to program director Robert Chase of the Rural Economic Transition Assistance - Hawai`i Program (RETA-H). RETA-H is a federal grant program administered by the Hawai`i SBDC Network. Assisted by Dr. Hollyer and Dr. Chase, Mitnick soon learned everything there was to know about taro, and in the process, formed alliances with two RETA-H funded taro growers to guarantee his supply of taro.

Fisher assisted Mitnick in producing a business plan along with an application for a $129,000 grant from RETA-H, which became the first RETA-H project on Maui to be approved. With his business plan and the RETA-H approval letter, Fisher directed Mitnick to the Maui Economic Opportunity's micro-loan fund from which he received $5,000 a week later to purchase taro. This loan, along with an additional $10,000 from the Hawaii Community Loan Fund, combined with the revenues from selling batches of taro burgers, financed Mitnick through the planning and development phases.

Having a reliable taro supply, Mitnick began focusing on Maui's community of hotel and restaurant chefs. The taro patties, which can be prepared in a variety of ways, have been well received from vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. Sales werwe already going well when Mitnick established a relationship with an O`ahu food distributor. THe "Maui Taro Burgers" are now being sold to restaurants and supermarkets on O`ahu.

Mitnick currently makes about 2,000 taro patties per week and will be increasing to 4,500 patties per week next month. Mitnick employees three part-time workers while completing the construction of his new food processing facility. When the facility is ready, Mitnick hopes to increase his production to 72,000 burgers per week and his staff to 14 workers. With two shifts producing 7-8 million patties per year, an additional investment of $250,000 to $275,000 will be required.

The taro patties have sparked a lot of interest from within the state and on the mainland. As part of the lunch menu for Haiku Elementary School, Mitnick's taro burgers were featured on the KGMB TV news. The school was recognized by the National Advocate for Healthy School Lunches for using more vegetables and less animal protein in their school lunches. Mitnick hopes to not only supply Hawai`i with his taro patties, but also to export them to the mainland. He is also looking into other taro value-added products. Mitnick says that the supply of Hawai`i grown taro will be a key factor.

Says Mitnick, "The Hawai`i SBDC Network is the first place that started to make it happen. The help received is gigantic! It's big and good. David Fisher immediately put me in touch with all the right people and everything began to fall into place smoothly and quickly."

With its great taste and its healthy ingredients, without the use of wheat or animal products, restaurants are saying that Mitnick's taro burgers could replace a large share of the $50 million per year U.S. market of the popular "veggie burgers."

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