Hawaii FoundHer, a business accelerator for female entrepreneurs of Native Hawaiian, Asian American and Pacific Islander ancestry, has announced the members of its second cohort of five female founders and their companies.
Like 2021’s group, this year’s cohort is again drawn entirely from islands other than Oahu.
Operated in partnership with Purple Mai‘a, the first cohort kicked off in October and culminated in March.
I was able to check in with HawaiiFoundHer Director Darien Siguenza — recently elevated from program manager and now joined by new program coordinator Angel Permito-Kaheaku — to get an update.
“I was so excited to see how well our first cohort has done,” Siguenza said. “We saw a lot of business success as well as a number of individual achievements.”
During their six-month intensive engagement, the first set of five women-led businesses achieved an average of 270% growth. In addition, 12 more jobs were created, most filled by Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander employees.
Beyond the training in business basics and mentorship from industry leaders, Siguenza said, the bond between the founders was incredibly important.
“They’re all very different and have very different backgrounds, so they were able to share their skills, give different perspectives and support each other,” she said. “Just being able to talk about the daily stresses of juggling a business, being a mom and being busy with a million different things … I know that for all of them, that was one of the top things that they said had the highest value for them.”
As the second cohort comes online, the alumna will be able to pay it forward as newly minted mentors.
The call for applicants went out in June, and more than 200 teams applied. About a quarter of the applicants met the core criteria, and after dozens of interviews, 11 finalists were selected.
And while it wasn’t a conscious decision, none of the cohort members who were chosen were from Oahu.
“It was just based on the strongest companies, so it was just awesome to see all the innovation on the neighbor islands,” she said. “We were just super impressed by that.”
The five companies and founders selected for the second FoundHer cohort:
>> Iwi Nails (Molokai) by Lihau Willing: Hawaii-inspired designs on gel nail strips that are easy to apply and long- lasting
>> [Ep-ik] Style (Molokai) by Sydney Kalipi: Breathable, skinlike activewear for women
>> Kamuela Gourmet (Hawaii island) by Dore Centeio: Small-batch handcrafted granola and muesli
>> Island Swim (Hawaii island) by Lilinoe Wedemeyer: Handmade Tahitian pearl swimwear made with natural rubber elastics and recycled materials
>> Ha‘a and Co. (Kauai) by Maliana Hamada: Nostalgic scents of Hawaii. Light and aromatic, nontoxic and vegan room sprays
“All the women are very different personality-wise, background-wise, and their reasons for starting a business are very different, but at the same time, I feel like they’re really at complementary stages in their development,” Siguenza said.
“They’ve seen that organic growth, they have a following, they love what they’re doing, but they need like an influx of capital and mentorship to figure out how do they scale,” she continued. “They want to do good for their families, their communities and for Hawaii.”
The second FoundHer cohort just had its first virtual orientation and will focus on business basics through September, with one-on-one time with HR professionals and accountants. The main program gets underway in October and runs through March.
“This has just been a really life-changing role for me, being able to witness a woman starting off with an idea, just wanting to support her family, and then it ends up turning into something so much bigger,” Siguenza said. “It’s just so exciting to see them go from a point of survival mode to creating something that’s abundant for themselves, for their families and for their community.”
To follow the progress of the latest FoundHer cohort, visit foundher.org.
Ryan Kawailani Ozawa invites anyone interested in science, technology and the arts to the 13th Hawaii Geek Meet, a free, casual, family-friendly STEM festival taking place Sunday at Magic Island. For details, visit hawaiigeek.com.
