Hiilei Aloha LLC was named the top, $10,000 prize winner at today’s Hogan/American Savings Bank Nonprofit Business Plan Competition.
Hiilei Aloha plans to create a mobile certified kitchen and poi mill to go to taro farms, to help farmers make their taro into poi. The plan would allow farmers to get a higher price for their poi and, because of its preparation in a certified kitchen, would enable broader distribution to food and retail outlets.
There were four other winners in the competition.
HOPE Services Hawaii was awarded $6,000 for its “Malama Our Kupuna” recycled housing project; Kanu Hawaii won $4,000 for its “Engage Donors” project; the Waikiki Health center won $2,000 for its “Next Step” janitorial school job training program, and Full Life Hawaii was awarded $1,000 as well as 80 hours of free consulting services from public relations and marketing firm Olomana Loomis-ISC.
The remaining three finalists, Business Law Corps, BizGym Foundation and the United Cerebral Palsy Association and its partners, were awarded $1,000 in the fifth year of the business plan competition staged at Chaminade University’s Hogan Entrepreneurs program.