Small Business Grant Awards Announced

County of Maui News Release

The Mayor’s Office of Economic Development (OED) and Lokahi Pacific recently announced that a total of $48,303 in Small Business Revitalization grants has been awarded to businesses in Hana, Molokai, and Lanai. These areas have been identified as the areas in Maui County hardest hit in their ability to recover from the economic downturn of the past few years.

The matching grant program requires the business owner to contribute 40 percent to the project, with the grant covering the remaining 60 percent. The grant awards are intended to provide assistance to businesses for projects they did not have funding for, such as purchasing new equipment, renovating, creating or enhancing websites, purchasing marketing materials and other purposes that will help the businesses grow, prosper and sustain jobs.

Some examples of the projects applied for include the purchase of a specialized sewing machine, repair of a warehouse packing facility roof, the purchase of a used truck, and the purchase of a new laptop computer to replace an 8-year-old model.

Grant awards were made to the following companies and owners on Molokai:

Molokai:
•    Edwina Pico/Red Dirt Construction LLC; $3,000
•    Taryn Waros/Rockstead, Inc., dba Kalele Bookstore & Devine Expressions; $1,434
•    Suzette Kahana/B&S Kahana Corp. dba Kalapaki Girl Dezigns; $2,946
•    June Kapuni-Denison/Kapuni Farms, LLC; $4,800
•    Harmonee Williams/Trees of Molokai LLC; $3,500
•    Michael Kahinu/Na’ike (sole prop); $597

Mayor’s Office of Economic Development Director, Teena Rasmussen, said that in each case, “these projects are a terrific way to infuse a small amount of cash into a small business and get big returns.”

Lokahi Pacific was selected by OED as the master grantee and manager of the Small Business Revitalization grants. Susie Thieman, Lokahi Pacific Executive Director, said this has been an exciting project for the agency.

“It’s not about the size of the grant; it is all about what the grant can do for the businesses,” Thieman said. “Following our workshops in these three communities, we could see the valuable opportunities this grant offered small businesses. We are helping 13 such businesses with various needs and the benefits will be felt not only by them, but the customers they serve as well.”

The Mayor’s Office of Economic Development has a variety of grant programs targeted to different sectors in the economy. For more information on grant availability, visit the OED website at www.mauicounty.gov/OED. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/MauiOED.