CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Sharon S. Narimatsu, president of the Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce, wants to broaden the group's membership.
Japanese Chamber head
looks to expand group’s baseWhat are your goals for the chamber?
Sharon Narimatsu
>> New post: President of the Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce. She replaced Ronald Ushijima, who retired after serving as president for 15 years
>> Previous experience: A 25-year faculty member and administrator at the University of Hawaii, Narimatsu served as provost for Leeward Community College beginning in 1998 until she resigned in 2000. She then served as deputy director for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism until 2002.
>> Employer: The chamber, founded in 1900, promotes opportunities and seeks solutions to business and community problems.
Basically, I serve at the pleasure of the board and receive my directions from the board, but a couple of things they have shared with me was to increase opportunities for business-to-business relationships within the chamber and its members. The second thing we'd like to do is increase the diversity of the membership. We'd like to encourage more women and other ethnic groups to enter the chamber. The chamber is not limited to Japanese businesspeople. I am the first woman president in the chamber's 104-year history, but we started to recruit women members in the 1970s. We have Filipinos, we have Caucasians, we have Chinese members. They've been members within the past 50 years. My goal is to better reflect the workplace of today. The chamber actually is a result of activities related to the bubonic plague that hit the islands in 1899. The authorities decided to do systematic burning of buildings that were victims to the plague. The fire ran wild and burned theaters and businesses and 7,000 people were left homeless and business-less. About 50 percent of the 7,000 of the homeless were Japanese.
Who are the major members?
We have banks, we have insurance companies, we have retail, construction. We have utilities, visitor industry, agriculture. While our focus is on Japan ... it is not an exclusive focus. Two of our firms were just in the paper recently, architects Group 70 International and Hawaiian Host, both of whom are doing business in China. We've had Central Pacific Bank and City Bank, both have been longtime supporters, as have been Bank of Hawaii and First Hawaiian Bank.
What are some current efforts under way?
We have networking functions that will bring our members together. Doing business in Hawaii is about building relationships. It's about building trust and friendship. It allows members who may not know one another to get to know one another. Because we represent a broad spectrum of businesses, individual members can avail themselves of the goods and services that other members can provide. We have 675 members. We are going to embark on a trade mission to Hiroshima. What we want to do is enable Hawaii businesses to have one-on-one meetings with counterparts in Hiroshima. This trade mission will take place May 17 through the 22nd. We have a state-to-prefecture relationship and the City and County of Honolulu has a city-to-city relationship. So our chamber is the business component. What we're doing is looking for businesses in agriculture, aquaculture, tourism, retail and health. The notice of all of this will be going out in a week or two.
How is membership holding up?
We're on a membership drive right now and have a long-term goal of reaching 1,000 members, so we're starting a building campaign.
In your two years at DBEDT, what were your impressions about the department's mission and performance?
Basically, the department looks at the macro level in terms of business sectors, industries, to provide support and to encourage activity with the various counterparts. With the chamber we're dealing on the micro level, with actual business entities. We are in line with DBEDT in the macro view of business. As far as DBEDT is concerned, I think it's important, essential. I think it plays an important role in making sure Hawaii stays on course within the global arena. Otherwise we would be on the micro level and would be busy with our particular businesses, and not staying up with global trends. We're working with the health area, the tech areas, the film industry, as examples, all trying to find ways to grow these. Those kinds of initiatives are very difficult for individuals or businesses to do without having an entity like DBEDT to assist in opening these doors. I think one of the critical roles that DBEDT plays is to provide research capabilities, to provide the data on which analyses of Hawaii's economy are possible.
Last word?
I'm a history major, so I have a tremendous appreciation for tradition. As we make changes within the chamber, we have to always be mindful of our rich traditional past, that we cannot let go of our past as we go into the future. We have some basic activities that we do that are based in our Japanese tradition, cultural events. Ties to Japan must be maintained as part of our tradition as the Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce. In addition to reaching out to Japan, we would like to begin thinking about reaching out to Japanese communities in South America and the mainland United States.
Inside Hawaii Inc. is a conversation with a member of the Hawaii business community who has changed jobs, been elected to a board or been recognized for accomplishments. Send questions and comments to business@starbulletin.com.
