FILLING NEED FOR BUSINESS INFORMATION

Q. How would you characterize the state of Filipino-owned businesses?

A. They are pretty good. Most of the businesses are geared toward the Filipino community. Like any small business, some of them still need to have information on how to run a business because when they started they just went into it. That's why we're starting this Entrepreneurship Academy to give some ideas on how to run a business or how to start a business. Areas like taxation, hiring employees, practices that will make them more successful. It's being launched under our foundation. We are putting our syllabus and lesson plans together, and we're supposed to launch it next month.

Q. What are some of the issues facing Filipino and other minority-owned businesses?

A. The biggest hurdle for a small business here is tax and insurance. Sometimes it's very expensive for small business, especially the workers' compensation insurance. We have a legislative breakfast this coming January, which we had last year, and we normally present to the legislators our legislative agenda. One of them will again be taxation and insurance, but it's such a big topic that sometimes it's very difficult to whittle it down and make it more actionable. But businesses that I talk to and have discussions with are always concerned about how expensive it is to run a small business in Hawai'i.

Q. How many members does the chamber have?

A. We have between 200 and 300 members. It fluctuates. We just have to follow up with them, because sometimes they forget to renew.

Q. How old is the chamber?

A. The chamber has been in existence since 1954.

Q. How have things changed since then?

A. It's changed quite a bit. One of the main changes is the membership used to be only for Filipino business people, but about three or four years ago, it was changed to include other ethnic groups, so it was opened up to everybody. If you look at our directory, we have so many different names in there, not just Filipinos. It becomes a bit richer for us to be able to get other business people to join, and also, we try to be more mainstream. We're not just an exclusive group, and we try to be as inclusive as possible. We interact with other business people.

Q. What are the advantages of being a member?

A. First of all, we're able to get partnerships with some businesses, like restaurants, other types of businesses ... We have about 50 of them. The other is joining the trade mission. We normally have a trade mission every year to the Philippines. We give (members) discounts when they join the trade mission. Another benefit is we have a monthly meeting, and we invite speakers to talk about business. Some are motivators and some are informational speakers on how to run a business.

Q. What are the trade missions about?

A. The trade mission is basically to establish a partnership or alliance with the businesses in the Philippines, and also, to promote Hawai'i business to the Philippines. Some members were able to establish partnerships, especially in the areas of business-process outsourcing, and in technology, like call centers. The normal numbers of participants are between 20 and 30.

Q. Who's going to run the academy?

A. We put a committee together, and the chairperson is the incoming president. The one who is really running the program is Stephen Callo, who is the immediate past president, with the help of Bennette Evangelista. Last year, we did seminars and workshops, and we had it for one day. We had a pretty good attendance, and that's why we decided to have this academy, which is more organized, in a way. We have a series of topics, and we're partnering with the Small Business Administration and the Hawai'i Women's Business Center. Those eligible would be those who are planning to start a business and don't know how, and also for those who are already in business that we'll be able to give them ideas on how to grow and how to expand their business. The Entrepreneurship Academy is under the foundation so we can get grants, and in that way we'll be able to help more.

Q. You also head the Chamber's foundation, what is the purpose of that organization?

A. Proceeds raised by the foundation goes to scholarships. Our golf tournament is always sold out.

Q. How successful has the chamber been with its legislative package?

A. We didn't have it for the last three or four years, and last year we kind of revived it. We were successful on two fronts. We're able to get the independent contractor for care-home operators. We also were able to do the revitalization project for Kalihi. That's when we came up with the "Taste of Kalihi." That was part of our legislative agenda. It so happened that it also was the program of Mayor Mufi Hannemann to revitalize Kalihi, so we were able to partner with the City and County of Honolulu. But our main purpose was to revitalize the business district of Kalihi. It was a good experience for us, and we might do it again next year. That was a lot of work, but it was fun. It was satisfying after you see the results. We didn't make a lot of money, 50 percent of the proceeds went to the Weed and Seed program.

Q. What's your biggest challenge?

A. The challenge is in any volunteer organization, it's always trying to get people to be on the same page, to motivate them and to encourage them to do more and to work together. One of the challenges also would be raising money for the organization and having that reserve fund, because we have so many activities, a lot of times we'll run out of money and have to ask for help and support.

Q. What are your goals as president?

A. The goals that I have are to make the Filipino Chamber of Commerce relevant to the business community, and that means that if they want to know how to start, how to grow and how to maintain their business, they would first think of the Filipino Chamber of Commerce as a go-to organization for information, to really play a key role in any business endeavor in Hawai'i so that it will be in their consciousness. I want them to think of us first as a business organization rather than a social organization. There are so many Filipino organizations in Hawai'i that a lot of times we're caught up in this, "Oh, this is just another social organization." We're trying to emphasize the fact that this is a business, professional organization and our main purpose is stated in our slogan, "Promoting Hawai'i's business community." My other goal is to raise funds for the chamber so that we can do more in our activities, get grants for the foundation so we can support our programs.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.