Kauai’s Chang
named 2003 small
business award winner

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Star-Bulletin staff

Jeanette Otsuka Chang, who took over a Kauai furniture business after her father, Wallace Otsuka, died in 1999, has been recognized as Hawaii's Small Business Person of the Year for 2003.

Her business, Otsuka Furniture & Appliance, was honored in 2001 by the Retail Merchants of Hawaii as Kauai Retailer of the Year. The business, which started as a Studebaker dealership, was founded by Wallace Y. and Jay J. Otsuka in 1935 and is the largest furniture and appliance store on Kauai.

The award, from the U.S. Small Business Administration, puts Otsuka into the competition for national Small Business Person of the Year.

The SBA said four other Hawaii winners are in the national competition. They are:

>> Violeta Arnobit, president of Ace Medical Inc. in Waipahu, chosen as Home-Based Business Advocate of the Year.

>> John Fink, general manager of KFVE television, Small Business Journalist for Hawaii.

>> Tung Bui, of the University of Hawaii College of Business Administration, Small Business Research Advocate.

>> Bill Daves and Fred Ballard, of the Oahu Veterans Council, Veterans Small Business Advocate.

The state winners go on to regional competition, where they will be weighed against entries from California, Arizona and Nevada.

Last year, Thanh Quoc Lam, founder of Hawaii restaurant chain Ba-Le Sandwich and Bakery, was named U.S. Small Business Person of the Year.

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Small Business Administration