Ben Godsey, the president and CEO of HR administration company ProService Hawaii, and his wife Yvonne Chan have donated $250,000 to the University of Hawaii's RISE project.
The investment into the live-work-study facility on UH's campus — which stands for Residences for Innovative Student Entrepreneurs — is to "to encourage student entrepreneurs to dream big and turn those dreams into successful businesses."
“Hawaii is run by small businesses — and small business is entrepreneurship, whether it’s a brand-new business, or it’s a business that’s been around for 50 or 100 years,” Godsey said in a statement. “Entrepreneurship and small business are at the heart of making Hawaii a more livable place.”
This latest donation to RISE, which costs $70 million and is set to open in the fall of 2023, joins a growing list of gifts from members of Hawaii's business community including $500,000 from the First Hawaiian Bank Foundation and former FHB chairman, president and CEO Walter Dods Jr; $250,000 from Island Insurance Foundation; and $500,000 from Hawaiian Electric and American Savings Bank, among others.
The RISE programs will be operated by the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship at the UH Manoa Shidler College of Business.
“What’s exciting about the RISE project is that with the new building comes new opportunities for enhanced programs and greater learning and education,” Godsey said. “It’s really going to be fantastic.”
