Group seeking expertise of retirees

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

A decade ago, the Hawai'i chapter of the Service Corps of Retired Executives, or SCORE, had 100 counselors donating their time to helping small businesses, but the number of volunteers has since dropped to just 30.

"I know retired business people want to play golf and do all of the other things they're entitled to, but if they're willing to put in a few hours a week that would be wonderful," said Richard Hoag, the chapter's vice president who volunteers to counsel nonprofit groups at the Small Business Resource Center, in Chinatown. "We're all volunteers but we could use quite a few more. Actually we could use a lot more."

Several of SCORE's 389 chapters have seen similar drops in volunteer counselors, said D.J. Halcro, the chairman of the Hawai'i chapter.

"Your baby boomers are working more now, that's a factor," Halcro said. "They're not retiring at 59 or 60 or 61 like they used to."

Smart, motivated people with time on their hands are also in high demand, Hoag said.

"There's just more competition for volunteers than there used to be," Hoag said.

With Hawai'i's economy heating up, more and more small-business people are coming to the Small Business Resource Center — and SCORE — looking for free help on everything from keeping the books to writing a business plan.

Kat Hurtubise had spent the previous 10 years raising money for nonprofit groups — and most recently had been the state director for the Muscular Dystrophy Association — when she went looking for help to start a new events-planning business.

In February 2003, Hurtubise showed up at the the Small Business Resource Center, which is run by the Small Business Administration, the city Office of Economic Development, the Hawai'i Small Business Development Center Network, the Hawai'i Women's Business Center and SCORE.

"I was definitely searching for solutions to succeed in business because I had never been a business owner," said Hurtubise, now 35. "I knew I had to start someplace where I could find experts. SCORE seemed like a logical choice."

Hurtubise was paired with volunteer counselor Mike Herb, 67, whose background included an MBA in marketing from Harvard and subsequent careers in corporate planning for Alexander & Baldwin and work as a stock broker for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.

"It was a perfect fit because Mike has an extensive background in marketing," Hurtubise said. "We were a great match."

Herb helped Hurtubise fine tune her business plan, gave her lots of business contacts and offered plenty of feedback on her Web site, www.gourmetcookinghawaii.com.

After their initial one-hour session, Hurtubise followed up with about eight more hours listening to Herb's feedback.

"Through Mike I met some instrumental people in helping me move my company forward," Hurtubise said.

It was just one of dozens of people Herb and the rest of the volunteers meet through the resource center.

But they're often overbooked.

Herb is scheduled for two 1-hour counseling sessions every Friday. But last Friday he squeezed in another hour because he had back-to-back sessions with a man who wanted to start a janitorial firm; a couple looking for new ideas for their light bulb business; and an information technology and software development firm with government contracts that wants to broaden to civilian clients.

"Each of us, I think, needs to be very flexible and very facile, broad-based and knowledgeable," said Herb. "It's all pro bono so we don't get paid anything. So why do people do it? It's interesting, and I meet a lot of interesting people."

The Hawai'i SCORE chapter has retired — and even working — business people with backgrounds in engineering, accounting, non-profits and buying and selling businesses. They each average 30 years of business experience, Hoag said.

But the organization particularly needs people with experience in small retail, tourism, marketing, exports, technology, wholesale and distribution, Hoag said. SCORE also needs guest speakers, coordinators for special events, mentors, an office manager, fund raisers and people to fill various leadership positions.

In return, SCORE promises to take up no more than four hours of the volunteers' time per week.

"We need everything from committee chairmen to people just to help in the day-to-day running of SCORE," Hoag said. "Basically we're just looking for people who have been in business and want to return something to the community."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.