Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 6, 1 June 1989 — Revolving Loan Fund Directors Adopt Loan Policy [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Revolving Loan Fund Directors Adopt Loan Policy

OHA's Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund (NHRLF) is now officially open for business. The project is a $3 million, four-year, low interest loan program for Hawaiian businessmen and women. It targets Hawaiians who want to start, expand or improve their own business, but are unable to qualify for loans at conventional financial institutions. Funding is provided by the Administration for Native Americans (ANA), with administrative costs bome by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. On April 24, ANA's acting commissioner

Dominic Mastrapasqua approved the composition of NHRLF's ten-member board of directors. The board at its first formal meeting on May 8 adopted its operational plan and major loan policies. This step was necessary to allow loan processing and approvals to begin. The NHRLF office opened early this year under the direction of project manager Chester Cabral who has responded to over 700 loan inquiries since the project was announced. The recently adopted policies and procedures provide for a loan maximum of $100,000 to any

single applicant. However, the preferred loan range is $25,000 to $50,000. Loans of under $10,000 ordinarily will not be considered. Loans will be granted only if the applicant is unable to obtain financing from other sources and only if there is a reasonable prospect that the loan will be repaid. Eligible applicants must prove that they are of Hawaiian ancestry or that the business or organization requesting the loan is entirely owned by individuals of Hawaiian ancestry. Loans may be made to acquire fixed assets such as equipment and machinery or to provide working capital for inventory and operation. The 90 questionnaires already returned requested a total of $6,003,000 in loans. The amount of the individual requests ranges from $2,000 to $500,000 with the average being about $67,000. Applications were received from businesses and individuals including farmers, fishermen, truckers and wholesalers, doctors and lawyers. Most of the questionnaires eame from O'ahu (59). Hawai'i was next with 17. There were seven from Kaua'i, six from Moloka'i and one from Maui. All applications will be screened by project staff and a three-member Loan Review Committee. The NHRLF board of directors approves and monitors the loans, and eaeh recipient will receive technical business assistance geared to their specific needs. The men and women who comprise the NHRLF board are: Ex-Officio Members of the Board: Moses Keale, Sr., trustee, Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Masaru Oshiro, president and chief executive officer, Alu Like, ine.; and BobFujii, vice president and small business advocate, Bank of Hawai'i. Regular Members of the Board: Walter Yim, chairman — president and principal broker, Walter see Revolving Loan, page 2

The Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund Board of Directors and Loan Review Committee (clockwise from bottom); Bob Fujii, Chester Cabral (Project manager), Beverly Kamahele (Secretary), James Moikeha (vice-chair), Dee Crowell, Walter Yim, Dexter Taniguchi, Betty Dower, Thomas Kam, Allan Yee, and Moses Keale. Missing are Board members Masaru Oshiro and Al Brown of the loan review committee.

Revolving Loan

from page 1 Yim & Associates, Ine.; James Moikeha, vice chairman— business development specialist, University of Hawai'i Pacific Business Center; Beverly Kamahele, secretary — president and owner, OnLine Hawai'i; Dee Crowell, vice president and principal architect, Urban Works, ine.; Betty Dower, president and principal broker, Dower Realty, ine.; Dexter Taniguchi, president, Pacific Venture Capital, Ltd.; and Alan Yee, project director, Honolulu Minority Business Development Center. Loan Review Committee Members: A1 Brown, certified public accountant and financial eonsultant, Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, ine.; and Thomas Kam, certified public accountant and assistant professor of accounting, Hawai'i Pacific College. Project director Cabral expressed satisfaction at the prospect of actually making the first loans at the end of May and described the program as a "first step toward providing Hawaiians with a mechanism to help achieve eeonomie self-suffi-ciency." For more information about the Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund program, eall 9446571.