SBA honors Hawaii
business leaders
Peter Robson and Randy Finlay of Unlimited Construction Services Inc. were named Hawaii's Small Business Persons of the Year yesterday at a luncheon hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Robson and Finlay teamed up in 2000 and have led the Kauai company to exponential growth in the years since. Revenues grew 131 percent from 2000 to 2002 and continued strong last year, according to the company.
The state's Small Business Exporter of the Year is Virginia Cho of Campus Music, a Kona firm that distributes reggae music to Japan. Cho mentors other entrepreneurs interested in doing business in Asia, according to the SBA.
Financial Services Advocate of the year Rann Watumull and Minority Small Business Advocate Robin Puanani Danner took those titles for both the state and Region IX of the Small Business Administration.
Watumull runs the Family Wealth Management Department for Bank of Hawaii Corp. Danner is founder of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.
Other winners included:
State of Hawaii
Small Business Journalist, Cathy S. Cruz, PacificBasin Communications
Small Business Research Advocate, Ruth Corn, Hawaii Business Research Library
Women in Business Advocate, Phoebe Lambeth, Hawaii Island Radiation Oncology Ltd.
City & County of Honolulu
Small Business Person of the Year, Michael Fox, Hawaii Modular Space Inc.
Small Business Exporter, Thomas Reed IV, Oceanic Imaging Consultants, Inc.
Financial Services Advocate, Larry Lee Anderson, Fiducial
Minority Small Business Advocate, George Toyama, General Trades & Services Inc.
Small Business Journalist, Rick Blangiardi, Emmis Communications
Small Business Research Advocate, Pearl Imada Iboshi, State Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism
Women in Business Advocate, Tyrie Lee Jenkins, Tyrie Lee Jenkins MD Inc.
County of Hawaii
Small Business Person of the Year, Gerald and Wendy Yamada, Yamada Paint Contracting Inc.
Minority Small Business Advocate, Judith Fox-Goldstein, University of Hawaii at Hilo Conference Center
Small Business Journalist, Jim Wilson, Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Small Business Research Advocate, George Yokoyama, Hawaii County Economic Opportunity Council
County of Maui
Small Business Person of the Year, Clyde and Glenn Hamai, Hamai Appliance Inc.
Financial Services Advocate, Sharron Courter, Sharron Courter CPA LLC
Minority Small Business Advocate, Cielo Molina, State of Hawaii Department of Taxation
Women in Business Advocate, Jeanne Skog, Maui Economic Development Board
County of Kauai
Women in Business Advocate, Geri Gallagher, Hale Kauai Ltd.