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Interview with Meli James of Mana Up

By George Yarbrough

We are so excited to be a part of the #startupparadise that is Hawaii. We share a vision with many accelerators, businesses, organizations, and individuals to expand business opportunities here in the islands, and beyond.

One such visionary, whom we are proud to call a friend and a partner, is Meli James. She’s the President of the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Venture Capital Association and the Founder of Mana Up, an accelerator for packaged goods and brands in Hawaii. She’s a leader in the business community here in Honolulu, and she had some awesome thoughts to share during a recent conversation at her offices in Honolulu.

Meli understands that connecting Hawaii’s business leaders at locations like Impact Hub HNL is vital to the growth of our startup ecosystem, and is helpful to connect entrepreneurs with each other. Along with alternative workspaces, she’s excited to see the type of investment campaign we’re running. She says these different types of investment – beyond the traditional bank loan or angel investors– can create a lot more opportunity in the islands.

Take a peek at the video below to learn more about her thoughts!

Death or Taxes?! How You can Plan for a Successful 2019 Tax Season

You’re probably familiar with the saying, attributed to Benjamin Franklin in 1789, that ‘nothing can be certain besides death and taxes.’

We are in the shadow of 2018’s tax season now, and based on conversations with friends and members, it certainly seems like most people still seem to treat taxes akin to death: something to be avoided and even ignored!

Yet, of course, paying our Federal, State, and for small business owners and freelancers, GET taxes in Hawaii, is something that we simply must do – even if many of us take to the task at the last minute, kicking and screaming.

Lucky for us, we have a tax expert at Impact Hub HNL that can help individuals, freelancers, and small businesses make sense of taxes and – gasp – even make it enjoyable (yes, really)!

Milton Drageset, who has been a guest speaker twice previously at Impact Hub HNL events, is coming back as the guest expert for our May Freelancer’s Network meeting. At this event, held Wednesday, May 22 from 12pm-1:30pm, Milton will offer a tax season roundup, a discussion about how to make your 2019 taxes more organized, and help you create better and more effective financial management strategies.

What else will Milton talk about during this Freelancer’s Meeting?

  • 2018 tax code changes: How did the 2018 changes affect both individuals and businesses?
  • How to plan ahead for 2019: How can you better strategize and organize your expenses. Tips to help you pay estimated taxes on time, organize your Hawaii GET filings, and better manage money so that you’re ahead of the game next tax season.
  • How many extensions he filed this year – and why. How late is too late to do your taxes? Many people wait until the very last minute to file – what is the psychology behind this type of procrastination, and what habits can you build to be more timely?
  • What’s behind money behaviors: Why are taxes are so scary, why we avoid them, and how you can cultivate a better relationship with money generally.

Miton has been working in the financial services industry for almost three decades. He currently works with self-employed individuals and small business owners for the preparation of their income taxes, and offers tax and business strategy services during the year to help individuals and businesses reduce their tax liability; he also offers financial coaching services to those looking to dig deeper into their money story.

Built in Hawaii: Creative Entrepreneurs Share their Business Stories

Built is Hawaii is back! We hosted another successful Built in Hawaii event October 18 featuring two unique entrepreneurial voices from Oahu.

Our Built in Hawaii events are unique storytelling events based on the podcast,”How I Built This” and coordinated in partnership with Hawaii Public Radio’s Generation Listen. This interactive event features local success stories. Whether you are interested in entrepreneurship or not, these stories inspire, motivate, amplify and celebrate community strength.

This event was built from conversations around the idea that Hawaii is uniquely positioned geographically and culturally to incubate ideas in a way that could only happen here. What are those stories? What can we learn from them? What can we replicate to motivate new leaders?

At this event, José A. Fajardo, President and General Manager ofHawaii Public Radio spoke with two creative entrepreneurs, Robert Stehlik from Blue Planet Surf and Katherine Tuider from Honolulu Biennial. Robert shared the story of building a small clothing brand, which year after year grew from a few t-shirts into a thriving small business, moving into retail stores, then board sales, and then Stand-up paddle board design. You can learn more about Blue Planet Surf here.

After years of working in international business, art, and development, Katherine Tuider came back to Hawaii to co-found the Honolulu Biennial, an arts organization that seeks to share the work of Hawaii’s artists with the world and boost our local art scene. She discussed the challenges of getting a creative organization funded on Oahu, and the joy of seeing how enthusiastic the Honolulu community can be about art in public and private spaces. Honolulu Biennial 2019 is happening March 8 – May 5, 2019.

Watch this awesome video recap from Reel World Films!