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Thanh Quoc Lam doesn't agree with a recent magazine report that calls Hawaii one of the worst places in the country to do business. Some thrive in Hawaii’s
business climateBy B.J. Reyes
Associated PressThe article in the May 27 issue of Forbes magazine said Hawaii's high taxes, high cost of living, strong unions, mandatory employer-paid health insurance and tough environmental and conservation laws earned the state the publication's "booby prize for economic development."
"That's maybe a little too much," said Lam, who turned a single Vietnamese sandwich shop into an empire of 22 stores. "It's not that bad."
But Sam Slom, president of 2,500-member Small Business Hawaii, says successful businesses such as Lam's Ba-Le chain are "the exception rather than the rule."
"Why is it that so many people are still having a difficult time and so many more have gone bankrupt, or sold their business or been forced to move out of state?" Slom asked.
Lam started out in 1984 when he arrived in Hawaii and opened his first Ba-Le Vietnamese sandwich shop. Since then he has grown his business every year and now employs 75 workers for his 22 stores.
Earlier this month, he was honored in Washington as the Small Business Administration's national small business person of the year.
"When I started the business, I just wished I'd make maybe enough to live on," he said.
But once he got going, "it's just like when you get into the small boat on the river -- you just keep going and going."
Some argue it's not possible to keep going and going in Hawaii's business climate.
The Forbes article by writer Lynn J. Cook -- "Why doing business in Honolulu has become nearly equivalent to suicide" -- criticizes the state for hampering business.
Gov. Ben Cayetano called the piece an election year "cheap shot" that shows how far to the political right Forbes is.
Similar editorials critical of Hawaii's business climate appeared in other publications including The Wall Street Journal and Investor's Business Daily, said Slom, who is also the Republican minority leader in the State Senate.
"Either all of those economic publications are what the governor says they are -- ultra right-wing publications -- or we're the only state that is so completely and totally out of step that we don't show up on the business radar screen anywhere else in the country, he said.
"Yes, we still have successful people," said Slom. "The question is, how many more successful businesses and how many more job opportunities would there be in this community if we had a hospitable business climate."
Entrepreneurs in Hawaii often complain about the combination of high taxes, regulation and the mandated benefits employers must provide for workers, Slom said.
Despite that, others remain optimistic about the business climate, especially in the technology sector.
"I think that there is a commitment in the business community and the government to really work at diversifying the economy here," said Leigh-Ann Miyasato, executive director of Hawaii Business Entrepreneur and Acceleration Mentors, or HiBEAM, a nonprofit organization that helps Hawaii entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector connect with venture capital funding.
Since its start in 2000, HiBEAM has helped four Hawaii high-tech companies -- hotU, Hawaii Biotech, AssistGuide, and Hoana Technologies -- raise more than $10 million in funding. In March, HiBEAM announced the signing of its fifth client, Hoku Scientific Inc., a company developing technology for fuel cells that will be able to power homes and automobiles.
"They're very optimistic about being in Hawaii and the climate for building the technology industry here," Miyasato said. "I can't speak to the overall economy, but certainly in technology I think there's a lot of hope for improvement."
One key element to survival is persistence.
Lam said he struggled at first when trying to grow and expand from his single bakery and sandwich shop in Honolulu's Chinatown district.
So in a climate criticized by many as antibusiness, what's the secret to success?
"I don't have any secrets," the 43-year-old Lam said.
"I don't know, people say Hawaii is very bad for doing business. But for me, as long as its in the U.S. it should be all right," he said. "I lived with the communists for many years, so I know the value of freedom."