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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Small biz development
agency is thinning its ranksThe Hawaii Small Business Development Center Network will close its West Hawaii Center in Kailua-Kona, cut two directors and lay off three administrative assistants Oct. 30, citing a long-term funding crisis. A sixth position, currently vacant, will not be filled. "So we're down six people," said Darryl Mleynek, state director. Staffing will fall from 23 positions to 17.
The West Hawaii Center's director and administrative assistant will lose their jobs as will the Honolulu Center's director and one administrative assistant each from the Maui and Hilo offices.
It's sad news for clients, some of whom abundantly praise the network for its help.
"You'd need a lot of pages," laughed Nancy Gove, owner of Hawaii Kai Salts. Its Hawaiian sea salt products are for health and beauty applications.
"Business grows by tiny little steps and they can help direct us to those areas," especially with its research library, she said.
"They're so enthusiastic and so supportive on so many fronts. They really understand business where most of us as entrepreneurs, pardon me for saying this, are flying by the seat of our pants a lot of the time."
Gove didn't want to think about where she'd be without the network's help.
Safefood Solutions Inc. President Ed Fernandez moved to Hawaii from New Jersey two years ago and wanted to set up a food safety consultancy business.
"I didn't know which way to go, how to go about it," he said. He started by contacting the SBA and the Small Business Development Center in Kona, the one that's about to close.
Now Fernandez takes his company's National Restaurant Association-certified training program around the state for work with five-star to casual dining food service professionals.
The Small Business Development Center Network is a partnership for economic development, established in 1990, between the University of Hawaii at Hilo and the U.S. Small Business Administration.
From a high of $650,000, its state funding is now at $638,000. "It's not a huge decrease, but the problem is the program has never been adequately funded," said Mleynek. Grants are sought for special projects but can't be used for operational costs.
It's not just a matter of the centers getting a taste of the times-are-tough-all-over marketplace realities.
"The difference is, we're a publicly funded entity and our mission is economic development," he said. "We return to the state $6.73 in taxes for every dollar the state puts into our program. So we're an investment that the state makes and they get a 673 percent return for that investment. That's a pretty good return. And yet they are not funding us at a level that will support our program."
The SBDC network is a little orphan agency, he said. "The state sees us as a federal program. By law, we must be attached to the university, but we're an economic development program and that does not fit the mission of the university. In the state Legislature, which is where we get our funding, they often see us as competing with the university for funding, so there's a series of problems around the fact that we are not part of the normal state bureaucracy.
"Therefore, it's difficult to find people who would champion our program," Mleynek said.
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Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at: eengle@starbulletin.com
