Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 6, 1 June 1990 — Establishing the OHA legacy [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Establishing the OHA legacy

By Moses K. Keale Trustee, Kaua'i, Ni'ihau

Anoai kakou. As mentioned in last month's article, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has evolved over the last 10 years. As we begin to deal with the realities of the passage of our settlement leaisla-

tion, we must address our readiness. Make no mistake about it, the settlement is staggeringly large. One hundred million dollars in back rent, and eight million a year eaeh and every year, beginning this year. Is it enough? Will it be sufficient to address all the needs and concerns of our people? I think it is accurate to say that our needs will continue to grow as our program initiatives grow. This growth will overwhelm and exhaust our ineome if we do not look at other ways to produce meaningful ineome. We must, like all good business entities, address our financial requirements ihi terms of the expansion of our ineome base. How do we do this? We must become a viable business entity. The first step rests in thecreation of OHA, ine., a corporate entity organized to make inroads in businesses for the purpose of "profit making." As I visualize this, OHA ine. will become the "for-profit" arm of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. We should organize this entity by filing the appropriate paperwork and appointing the governing directors of this corporate board. Several years ago the board of OHA explored the steps to create such a corporate

body. Drafts of our paperwork already exist. All we need to do it is to implement the paperwork and appoint the directors and officers of the board. What will this corporate board do? The vision is to have a separate board engaged in business whieh will produce additional ineome for the ' office. All ineome would be turned over to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to supplement our program and investment requirements. There are many, many successful mode!s in a number of Pacific Island nations and Native American groups. The Pacific Island nation of Nauru, whose pnneipal source of ineome comes from mineral mining, has invested its money in various business ventures throughout the world including a major project in Hawai'i. The profits are used to fund many of their government programs within their nation. An organization whieh is even closer to our own model is the case of the Cook Island Inlet people who have formed the Cook Island RegionaI Corporation. They have been highly successful in turning their settlements into long term, large investment returns. As we approach the second round of entitlement settlements with the state and enter into the federal entitlements search, we should keep in mind that our greatest assets are in our land, the ability to develop this land and the necessity to create ineome from this land. We should preserve what needs to be preserved, develop what ean be developed, and save for the future generations what we ean set aside. We have seen the unrelenting force of development in our state grow over the years. But where have the Hawaiians been in this land development boom? We have not pro-

fited. Our eeonomie situation has not prospered. The profit-taking has not been by Hawaiians. We ean change all of this. With the formation of OHA ine . and the appropriate selection of directors with visionary financial goals. We ean begin to enjoy the profits from the changes taking plaee in our islands. We ean dictate the terms of the development including the quality and impact of these developments. But best of all we ean make valuable eeonomie gains whieh could expand our ineome for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The future of our expanded benefits programs to our Hawaiian people requires that OHA continue to look for lucrative avenues of business investments whieh will increase operational revenues. OHA's corporate business entity must reflect policies and practices whieh will increase our capital assets so that we ean approach independence from the need for taxpayer dollars to support our programs. In conclusion, what we are seeking is Iong term eeonomie independence. Through wise investments and management of resources we ean attain financial independence. We need not look too far for good examples of wise management of resources. The Lili'uokalani Trust and Bishop Estate Trust are prime examples of how a business entity ean provide a positive legacy for its beneficiaries. Let us join together in establishing the OHA legacy forfuture generations. Letus take the next step in attaining financial independence and sovereignty. A i manao kekahi e lilo i pookela i waena o oukou, e pono no e lilo ia i kauwa na oukou. Na ke Akua e malama a e alakai ia kakou apau.