Three Maui food entrepreneurs each have won $5,000 in a competition aimed at helping businesses compete in the global economy.
The competition was staged by the Maui Food Innovation Center’s Maui Accelerator Program at the University of Hawaii Maui College, with the winners named last week.
B Raw Bar founder Dawn Anderson creates energy bars containing no gluten, dairy, soy, peanuts or corn, in five flavors. The bars are available all around Maui, and on Oahu at Down to Earth and Whole Foods stores.
Cultured Macadamia Hummus by Waii Foods took second place. Co-owner Michelle Valentin sells the gluten-, dairy-, egg- and soy-free spread at Alive and Well in Kahului as well as at the Upcountry Farmers Market in Kula on Saturday mornings.
Third-place winner Mitzi Toro, aka the Maui Cookie Lady, locally sources many ingredients including mango, lilikoi, coconut, macadamia nuts, Maui sugar, Kona coffee and Molokai sea salt. Her cookies are sold throughout Hawaii, including by e-commerce online.
The accelerator program is led by Chris Speere, site coordinator and food innovation specialist, as well as Refugio Gonzalez, UH Maui instructor of applied business technology. It was supported by the Maui office of the Hawaii Small Business Development Center Network.
Intel CEO plugs into power of reality TV
LOS ANGELES >> Intel CEO Brian Krzanich is hoping to give the chipmaker a boost by being on national TV.
Krzanich is the central tech expert of the five judges who will pick a $1 million winner among technology startups on a new Intel-funded competition TV show, “America’s Greatest Makers.” The 10-episode series kicks off today on TBS.
Each team has to use Intel’s latest sensor-laden chip package, Curie, to make a Web-connected gizmo that wows the judges, a group that includes NBA star Shaquille O’Neal and Mike Rowe of the Discovery show “Dirty Jobs.”
Disney heir apparent leaving the company
LOS ANGELES >> Tom Staggs, the presumed front-runner to replace Bob Iger as CEO of The Walt Disney Co., is leaving the company next month.
The surprise announcement Monday means Disney will have to look further for Iger’s successor after he steps down in June 2018, a date the popular chief executive has extended twice.
Staggs, a 26-year Disney veteran and its chief operating officer, had been assumed to be on track for the top job after the next leading candidate, Jay Rasulo, resigned in June as chief financial officer.
Staggs was promoted to COO in February 2015, a promotion taken as a sign that he had won the internal competition to eventually take the Disney reins.
Disney said in a statement Monday that it would “broaden” its search for CEO candidates.
Probe sought into gun resembling phone
NEW YORK >> U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer on Monday called on the federal Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to investigate before a gun that looks like an iPhone comes to market, but the head of the company making it said concern over the two-shot weapon was misplaced.
The New York Democrat said the gun, being promoted online by a Minnesota company calling itself Ideal Conceal, “is just a disaster waiting to happen.”
On its website and Facebook page, Ideal Conceal has images that show something that looks like a phone in its case. But it can open into a .380-caliber gun. The site lauds its “high velocity, increased accuracy,” and the weapon has a list price of $395.
CEO Kirk Kjellberg said the gun would likely be ready for sale later in the year. He pushed back against the outrage, pointing out that there are already small, easily concealed guns with more firepower than two shots on the market, as well as a wide range of holsters for practically every part of the body.
“The idea that this is going to cause some new big threat is just not true,” he said, calling it a defensive weapon only. Kjellberg has a concealed-carry license. He said he came up with the idea for the gun after a young child in a restaurant caught a glimpse of his weapon and pointed it out.
Schumer said the gun posed a threat to law enforcement if it was allowed to be sold, because they could find themselves in a situation where they wouldn’t know whether a suspect was pulling out a phone or a gun.
On the Move
Kupu has hired Janice Kim as vice president of finance to direct the environmental nonprofit’s financial management. She previously served as director of strategic planning for Honolulu Coffee Co.
David Akinaka is a new principal at Ferraro Choi and Associates. He is currently the lead architect for the new Waimanalo Health Center and the Hawaii Technology Development Corp./Hawaii Community Development Authority Innovation Block in Kakaako. Akinaka joined Ferraro Choi in 2004.
The University of Hawaii Federal Credit Union was recently honored with a Diamond Award by the Credit Union National Association Marketing & Business Development Council, recognizing its marketing and business development achievements in the credit union industry.
McDonald’s Restaurants of Hawaii donated $45,000 to the 26 Hawaii robotics teams participating in the 2016 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) in Hawaii Robotics Regional Competition. The five Hawaii schools (Baldwin High School, ‘Iolani School, Kapolei High School, Kealakehe High School and Waialua High School) that will be advancing to the FIRST world championship competition in St. Louis each received an additional $1,000 from McDonald’s.
