A new mobile-friendly website is making it easier for residents and visitors to support Native Hawaiian- owned businesses.
Kuhikuhi.com, searchable by category and location and complete with customer ratings, lists everything from restaurants, lomilomi practitioners and lei stands to attorneys, Realtors, marketing agencies, auto detailers, financial services consultants, bike rental shops and a cheese boutique.
It is a collective project of the Native Hawaiian chambers of commerce on Hawaii island, Maui, Oahu and Kauai, and the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association, with funding provided by the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Kamehameha Schools and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
“The economic hardships experienced by communities across Hawaii 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 Hawaii,” said Kirstin Kahaloa, president of Hui ‘Oihana, Hawaii island’s Native Hawaiian chamber of commerce, in a news release. “What was missing was a platform for consumers to identify these oihana oiwi.”
Malia Sanders, executive director of Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association, said in the release that the group has long worked to keep more visitor dollars in Hawaii. She said the new online directory is a “key resource to uplift our communities” that will “keep dollars circulating in Hawaii’s economy while supporting Native Hawaiian-owned businesses.”
The website was built through a collaboration with Movers and Shakas, a program that recruited mainland professionals to work remotely in Hawaii for short stays during the pandemic in return for volunteering with local nonprofit organizations. NaHHA was paired with Dante Moore, a web designer in the financial sector from New Jersey who stayed in Makaha during his monthlong stint earlier this year.
“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 in the release.
Listing a business on Kuhikuhi.com is free.
