Hilo center has 'significant' role in economy, study says

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — An economic analysis has concluded that the Hawai'i Small Business Development Center based at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo is a "significant player at generating economic activity."

The center's 21-member staff provided 6,342 hours of consultation to 950 small business clients in the past year, a spokeswoman said. The Hilo center opened in 1990 and has branches on Kaua'i, Maui and O'ahu. A center opens Monday in Kona.

The study by James Chrisman of Alberta, Canada, and UH-Hilo economics professor David Hammes projects that every dollar invested in the program results in $8.48 in additional state tax revenue.

"The accelerated pace of economic activity in turn generates more jobs and higher incomes and greater tax revenues," Hammes said.

In 1999, the base year for the study, Hawai'i Small Business Development Center clients produced an estimated annual economic impact of $46.5 million, an increase of 172 percent over the comparable 1994 figure of $17 million.

"The finding in the study may look suspiciously large," said Darryl Mleynek, state director of the center. "Keep in mind that the Hawai'i SBDC network utilizes each dollar it receives from the state to attract approximately 11 additional dollars from external, out-of-state sources."

Chrisman was hired to do a national analysis of small business centers, underwritten by federal money.