The City and County of Honolulu has launched a new online platform that aims to help small businesses find resources. The site, oahubusinessconnector.org, is part of the Office of Economic Revitalization’s Oahu Business Connector program, which provides services to small businesses across the island.
According to an announcement earlier this month by City officials, the site lists more than 70 local business support organizations that “can provide small businesses with free or low-cost assistance with essential skills including digital marketing, business planning, securing capital, financial strategy, recruiting, talent management, and more.” Resource providers listed in the site include Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Pacific Gateway Center and Oahu Economic Development Board, to name a few.
“These are all organizations that share our mission of supporting small businesses, and this website and this program is a way to make it easy for small businesses to find the help they need,” Patrick Williams, communications manager at OER, recently told Pacific Business News.
The Oahu Business Connector website allows users to search within various industries and for specific areas of assistance — including, for instance, starting a business, sales and marketing, manufacturing, legal needs and more. Users can also tailor their search to specific needs and the stage of their business. Each search will then generate suggestions of various resource organizations relevant to their needs.
The site also features how-to videos on topics such as finding funding and an online calendar highlighting business-focused events, among other features.
“We are hoping to reduce what is essentially the cost burden of the business owner and taking the time to go and find these resources,” said Kym Sparlin, deputy director of OER. “… In many cases, our business owners are the owner, the supply clerk, the janitor, the security guard, and they just don’t have the time.”
Sparlin said OER contracted a Missouri-based company called SourceLink to build and maintain the website for two years at a total cost of just under $100,000. The funding came from the city general fund for fiscal year 2023.
While the website is a new feature, the larger Oahu Business Connector program has its origins in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sparlin said, when OER created what it now calls resource connectors.
“We have a team of resource connectors that went out to small businesses to check on them and see how they are doing and help them navigate all of the changing orders that were coming out — mask mandates, vaccinations and all of that stuff,” she said. “… We kept hearing very similar things over and over again, and we thought okay, we have got to start building some tools for folks.
“The more we had those conversations with folks, they all agreed that there really needs to be one place where somebody can go and find out where these resources are,” Sparlin added.
Over time, the program grew to include a weekly newsletter, support via phone and email, and monthly Small Business Connection hubs in West Oahu, the North Shore, Honolulu, and Kaneohe, where business owners can drop in for one-on-one chats with OER staff.
Since its inception in 2020, the Oahu Business Connector has worked with 4,700 small businesses, Sparlin noted.
Among those is Hawaii Pacific Drone Solutions, which provides drone services for construction and infrastructure projects. Owner Gabe Hanohano said that working with OER has been “a cornerstone in the development” of his company.
“Embarking on this business venture in 2023, I found myself navigating uncharted waters, transitioning from a decade-long hobbyist drone pilot to the construction industry — a field entirely new to me,” Hanohano told PBN in an emailed statement. “Their face-to-face support was invaluable, offering guidance that was both more focused and tailored than anything I could have found through a simple online search. Their personalized approach helped me set a clear direction for my business from the outset. In fact, it opened the door to a network of companies and professionals I would not have encountered otherwise.
“Without their support, I might have been overwhelmed by the vast amount of information available, struggling to sift through what was relevant to my venture,” he added.
“The guidance I received from OER has not only saved me from potential information overload but has also provided a sense of confidence and focus that I lacked before that first meeting.”
Williams emphasized that the Oahu Business Connector website — and the larger program — is designed for companies at any phase of the business lifecycle.
“Whether you just have an idea or you’re getting ready to launch your startup … or you’re a mature company and you’re looking to diversify, or you’re looking to transition out of your business, the website and the program are built to support businesses at every stage,” he said.
