Conference brings Terrence Hart, international marketing director of Manoa-based Safe Water Systems LLC, has already seen more of a return than he expected from participating in the Global Pavilion.
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The company builds devices that harness the sun's energy to purify water. After manning a booth during yesterday's events at the 34th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank, Safe Water Systems has several new business proposals on the table. One came from a fellow booth operator, who conveyed an interest in a project in India that could purchase up to 10,000 units from Safe Water Systems at $2,000 apiece, for a total of $2 million.
On top of that, Safe Water Systems officials spoke directly with several mayors of cities in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, who were able to spell out the exact water conditions and needs of their respective home countries. Safe Water System already has distributors in 65 countries, and yesterday's encounters with potential customers easily offset the cost of attending the meeting and setting up a booth, Hart said.
"Today's only Tuesday. I don't believe it," said Frank Larkins, director of government affairs for Safe Water Systems.
The company was not alone in its enthusiasm.
John Craven, president of Common Heritage Corp. on the Big Island, said he got the same positive results from setting up a booth at the conference's Global Pavilion as he would have had from flying visitors to his facilities in Kona.
At the state's Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority at Keahole Point, Common Heritage takes cold water pumped deep from the ocean and turns it into fresh water.
Craven's vision is to take the same system and sell it to third-world island nations. The first customer, so far, is the government of the Marshall Islands.
Craven says his biggest problem is convincing people that the vision is more than fantasy. "What we're doing is so successful, it's not credible," he said. A major hurdle for the company is convincing contractors to build the facilities, which the company would turn around and manage. Yesterday's events provided lots of new interest, although no solid commitments, Craven said.
Jeffrey Morrell said his company came to the conference to gather basic information about doing business in Asia, and came away successful. Morrell is operations manager of the Honolulu office of Emeryville, Calif.-based hazardous waste cleanup firm LFR-Levine Fricke. The company, which began operating in Honolulu in 1991, is known for clearing the site of the former Hawaiian Western Steel at Campbell Industrial Park. The failed company was subject to a federal lawsuit over lead and cadmium samples found near plant buildings.
LFR's local office, which employs seven people, has done only a little work in Asia and wants to do more, but is still formulating a specific strategy, Morrell said.
One particularly useful tip that came out of yesterday's events was the fact that natural arsenic has become a major hazardous waste problem in Bangladesh. The company has experience in treating arsenic, and plans to follow up, Morrell said.
Asian Development Bank