Native Hawaiian Chambers, NaHHA Launch Online Directory of Hawaiian-Owned Businesses

Hawaiʻi’s Native Hawaiian Chambers of Commerce and the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association are proud to announce Kuhikuhi.com, a project to help direct more customers to Native Hawaiian-owned businesses.

“The economic hardships experienced by communities across Hawaiʻi during the pandemic, coupled with the concurrent national calls for racial justice, brought light to the importance of supporting Native-owned small businesses and keeping hard-earned dollars in Hawaiʻi,” said Kirstin Kahaloa, President of Hui ʻOihana – Hawaiʻi Island’s Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce. “What was missing was a platform for consumers to identify these ʻoihana ʻōiwi. From restaurants to boutiques, lei stands to lawyers, lomilomi practitioners to physical therapists, Kuhikuhi.com gives consumers the information they need to choose to support Hawaiian-owned small businesses.”

Kuhikuhi.com is a mobile-friendly website, searchable by category, by location, and with ratings all to help potential customers find businesses. Listing a business on the website is free.

Building upon a shared commitment to growing local, Native Hawaiian-owned businesses in Hawaiʻi, Kuhikuhi.com is a collective project of the Native Hawaiian Chambers of Commerce on Hawaiʻi Island, Maui, Oʻahu and Kauaʻi, and the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association. Funding for the effort was provided by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, Kamehameha Schools, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

“NaHHA has long worked to connect kamaʻāina businesses with the visitor industry as a way to capture more visitor dollars and keep them in Hawaiʻi,” said Mālia Sanders, Executive Director of NaHHA. “When we realized the opportunity to work together with the Native Hawaiian Chambers of Commerce to build an online directory that could keep dollars circulating in Hawaiʻi’s economy while supporting Native Hawaiian-owned businesses, we knew this was a key resource to uplift our communities. We encourage all Native Hawaiian-owned businesses to sign up!”

Construction of the website was through a collaboration with Movers & Shakas, a program that recruited professionals to work remotely in Hawaiʻi for a time during the pandemic, in return for volunteer service with a local non-profit organization. NaHHA was paired with Danté Moore, a tech entrepreneur and design consultant in the financial sector from New Jersey. During his time in Hawaiʻi, he and his ʻohana stayed in Mākaha, Oʻahu.

“As a black entrepreneur, I’ll go the extra mile to support minority-owned businesses. Platforms like these are so important as they reveal opportunities to connect, collaborate and problem solve on a broader scale,” Moore said. “While working alongside the Kuhikuhi team, I learned to surf from a Hawaiian instructor, ate at several ʻono Hawaiian-owned restaurants, and took gifts from Hawaiian-owned shops home. Now with the launch of Kuhikuhi.com, everyone can find those authentic experiences and support Hawaiʻi’s native economy.”

Recent census numbers show us that there are over 10,000 Native Hawaiian entrepreneurs that make up about 11% of Hawaiʻi’s self-employed workers, according to a DBEDT report published in January – and those numbers do not account for entrepreneurs with other full-time employment. The data also shows Native Hawaiian entrepreneurs tend to be younger than other entrepreneurs in Hawaiʻi. 

“Businesses across Hawaiʻi struggled during the pandemic,” said John Kaʻohelauliʻi, owner of Sole Mates in Kapaʻa, Kauaʻi and HawaiianCheckers.com. “As people begin to visit again, and even as our kamaʻāina start shopping again, resources like Kuhikuhi.com are important to help people find our businesses.” Kaʻohelauliʻi is also the president of the Kauaʻi Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce. 

About the Native Hawaiian Chambers of Commerce

Hui ʻOihana – Hawaiʻi Island Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce seeks to be the voice of the Native Hawaiian community at the intersection of culture, community, and commerce. Hui ʻOihana is made of members, businesses, and organizations on Hawaiʻi Island and across the paeʻāina that believe in building a thriving, sustainable economy where Hawaiian language, culture, and aloha are the foundations.

The Maui Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce is the home of Hawaiian culture, Hawaiian values and opportunities for success in business and education.

The Oʻahu-based Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce is a member-based nonprofit organization whose mission is “to mālama Native Hawaiians in business and commerce through leadership, relationships and connections to economic resources and opportunities.” The Chamber’s programs and events are designed to facilitate connections and promote business growth, professional and economic development, and sustainability.

It is the goal of the Kauaʻi Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce to strengthen its membership by building relationships within the Hawaiian community and ​outside of the Hawaiian community, because we are all in this canoe together.

About the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association

The Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association was founded in 1997 by Sen. Kenneth Brown and Dr. George Kanahele, two iconic Hawaiian leaders who understood the implications, opportunities and impacts that Hawai‘i’s largest industry was having on the people of Hawai‘i, Hawaiian culture, local ways and our state’s natural and cultural resources.

Inspired by a shared vision of Hawai‘i, Brown and Kanahele co-founded NaHHA to shape the future of Hawai‘i tourism by utilizing Hawaiian cultural values as the foundation for business development and leadership. NaHHA promotes Hawaiian culture, values, and traditions in the workplace through consultation and education, and supports those who advance this mission.

NaHHA’s work is guided by the vision of its founders, the strategic plan of the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, the priorities of our community as expressed in the Destination Management Action Plans, Hawaiʻi’s sustainability goals in the Aloha+ Challenge, the global UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the guiding principles of the ʻĀina Aloha Economic Futures Declaration, of which NaHHA was an original signatory. Learn more about NaHHA’s programs and available resources at NaHHA.com.