15 local entrepreneurs to compete for $25,000 in venture capital
Having made the cut in the first round, 15 entrepreneurs move to rounds two and three in competition hosted by UH Hilo.
Fifteen local entrepreneurs are vying for a $25,000 prize in venture capital to launch a new business. The start-up money will come from the Hawai‘i Island Business Plan Competition or HIplan, a competition for the best business plan, hosted by the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo and administered by the Hawai‘i Island Chamber of Commerce.
Co-chairs, originators and organizers of the HIplan project are aquaculture entrepreneur Jim Wyban and realtor Kelly Moran. Moran says the goal of the competition is “to stimulate an entrepreneurial ecosystem here on Hawai‘i Island.”
“There are too few bridges between the island’s business community and the university,” says Moran. “Our long-term goal, shared by all of the participants, is to establish an island-wide entrepreneurial ecosystem that includes business people and UH people. Too often, university graduates cannot find work here. We want to expand their opportunities.”
Wyban adds, “The business communities of East and West Hawai‘i tend to be separate, so we feel that the HIplan competition will stimulate collaboration. The Silicon Valley experience shows that networking is the secret sauce of successful places.”
Round One
During the first round of the competition in Sept., the contestants, who come from all over Hawai‘i Island, were selected from 49 who submitted seven-page detailed business plans.
Some of the plans are in diversified agriculture: an ulu (breadfruit) producers’ cooperative, cultivating wasabi (horseradish), domesticating ohelo berries, raising queen-bees for export, and growing hydroponic vegetables for local restaurants.
Others are in technology or service fields: doctors taking a new approach to health-care delivery, training young people in film-making and animation, manufacturing affordable housing from shipping containers, and building a commercial application of the Hawaiian lunar calendar.
Round Two
On Saturday, Oct. 22, the competitors will make 15-minute presentations of their plans, with PowerPoint visuals, to a team of judges:
- Kona Moran, vice president of Hilo Brokers.
- Ron Gordon, chair of the UH Hilo communication department.
- Jack Jackson, owner of the Volvo Hawaii dealership.
- Bill Walter, CEO of W.H. Shipman Ltd.
- Dave DeLuz, CEO of Big Island Toyota.
- Lorraine Shin, a Hilo-based entrepreneur.
- Robbie Melton, CEO of Hawai‘i Technology Development Corp.
The judges will score and select about half of the entrepreneurs to be finalists.
Round Three
The finalists will then compete on Nov. 5 for the $25,000 prize. The competitors will demonstrate three skills that HIplan’s sponsors deem critical to obtaining venture capital nowadays.
“They will submit a seven-page detailed business plan, fine-tuned from feedback they’ll have received in the previous rounds,” says Wyban. “They will make 15-minute oral and PowerPoint presentations. And they will deliver a two-minute elevator pitch, so-called because being able to explain, brief but succinct, what you want to do and how, is often vital to obtaining financing in the real world.”
The judges for the final round of the HIplan competition on Nov. 5 are:
- Howard Dicus, business reporter for KGMB.
- Murray Clay, managing director of the Ulupono Initiative in Honolulu.
- Don Kosak, a venture capitalist with The Technology Exchange.
- Scott Ferrell, a business attorney who recently moved here from Southern California.
- Chenoa Farnsworth, president of Hawai‘i Angels and CEO of Blue Startups.
- Chuck Erskine, Hilo-based vice president of First Hawaiian Bank.
Both competitions will be held at 9:00 a.m. at the University Classroom Building, room 100, and will be live-streamed online on the Hawai‘i Interactive Technology System website.
Contact
Jim Wyban: 808-938-2840; jim@HIplan.biz
-Media release
