In 1991, Andy Poepoe retired from the Dole Packaged Foods Co. after nearly 30 years of service. Seventeen years later, the 73-year-old is about to retire again as district director of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

This time he means it. Well, sort of.

"I'd be willing to look at a 20-hour-a-week job, but I'd like to work less," said Poepoe, who will be leaving the SBA at the end of the year. "I'm actually finishing a working career of 51 years. That's usually fairly long for most people."

For most people, maybe. But for Poepoe, possibly not.

Although he won't be going to his office each day, Poepoe said he isn't ready to just sit back and watch the world go by.

He's active with the Kaumakapili Church and will continue to help it raise funds and sing in its choir. He also wants to travel and see as many of the country's national parks as possible.

KAMEHAMEHA GRAD

Poepoe graduated from Kamehameha Schools and went on to earn engineering and business degrees at Yale University. He later received a masters in business administration at the University of Hawai'i.

He began his professional career in 1962 as an executive with Dole before retiring in 1991. In between, he held elected offices in the Honolulu City Council and state Legislature.

When Dole announced that it was closing its cannery operations, Poepoe retired. But at 56, he said he wasn't ready to stop working.

Poepoe saw a job opening for the top post of the SBA in Hawai'i and decided to give it a shot.

"I was always interested in doing something like this," he said. "I ran the small businesses under Dole Food Co., so this was an interesting shift and I'm really glad I made it. It gave me an opportunity to contribute to the community."

Poepoe quickly discovered that heading a federal agency was as complicated as the many layers of bureaucracy that he had to deal with.

Luckily, he said, the staff that he inherited was "highly competent" and helped him through his transition.

One of his first goals was to take existing SBA programs and improve them.

The SBA increased the number of partnerships with other agencies, such as the Small Business Development Center Network, and got more involved in the community by increasing the number of workshops and counseling sessions.

"We walked door-to-door, visited businesses, carrying our cards and explained what we do on a one-on-one basis," Poepoe said. "We're not allowed to advertise, so we do it all by personal contacts or by using our partners to get the word out."

'GO-TO GUY'

The SBA Hawai'i office, which also covers Guam, has consistently met the goals set by the national SBA office, including small business loans. Despite the downturn in the economy, the local office provided a record number of loans in the year ending Sept. 30, an achievement matched by only two other SBA district offices.

The loans topped $57.9 million, up 6 percent from the previous year.

Bruce Thompson, administrator for the SBA's Region IX, which includes Hawai'i, praised the work of Poepoe and called him the "go to guy for anything involving small business in his district."

"In a very tough economic climate the past year, Andy Poepoe is one of the few district directors nationwide who's actually exceeded all his goals, including lending to the small business community," Thompson said. "His leadership and experience will be missed."

The SBA will advertise for a replacement for Poepoe.

NATIVE HAWAIIAN ISSUE

As he's about to leave his post, Poepoe said one achievement that he's most proud of was the implementation of regulations that allow businesses owned by Native Hawaiians to qualify for federal contracts of unlimited value under the government's 8(a) program for disadvantaged enterprises. Similar programs are available to Native Americans and Alaskans.

In September, the Navy awarded a contract worth $52.9 million a year to Hawai'i-based firm Manu Kai LLC under the 8(a) program.

The contract, the largest 8(a) contract in Hawai'i, calls for Manu Kai to provide base operations and support services at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua'i.

Poepoe believes this is just one of many large contracts to come that will help Hawaiian-owned small businesses.

"8(a) is a business development program and we help to start their companies through federal contracting and other contracting," Poepoe said. "It's not a give-away. They have to meet the budget demands of the federal agency. They have to meet whatever specs for quality and timing and everything else. But it's a chance for them to build their company."

Poepoe said he would have retired sooner, if not for this program.

"I started to retire in 1999 because I turned 65 in 2000. But this program came up and I said, 'This is somebody's brilliant idea. This is good. Let's go,' " he said.