Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 6, 1 Iune 1993 — Molokaʻi residents talk microenterprise [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Molokaʻi residents talk microenterprise

by Patrick Johnston Moloka'i represents a unique challenge for microenterprise development given its rural environment, scattered population, and native Hawaiian character. The OHA/DBED-sponsored Moloka'i microenterprise workshop brought together farmers, ftshermen and small businessmen and women from the area and focused less on moving "forward" than maintaining a more traditional way of life. Control of land and water was a primary eoneem for workshop members, in light of increased foreign ownership of real estate on the island and the slow paee of the Hawaiian Homes applications process. Jeff Tumer, a Kona accountant who does work on Moloka'i, said, "What we have going on here is an eeonomie strip-mining of Moloka'i where all the money is leaving the island because of foreign ownership of land." Foreign ownership also threatens the rural Hawaiian way of

life by bringing in developers and speculators that speed up the modernization process and alter the island environment. Colette Machado, director of Moloka'i based Ke Kua'āina (see story page 12), mentioned that they were fighting a developer who had bought land in Kaunakakai and wanted to build a modern shopping plaza. "With all the traffic that building would create, we would have to start putting in traffic lights in town. We don't want that." Beverly Smith, executive director of AE O (the Association of Enterprise Opportunity), conducted the workshop and suggested that residents organize a microenterprise loan fund program to address some of the concerns they're facing. "The community is getting ripped off because you don't understand money. ... if you build your own small businesses through microloans then money gets recirculated back into the community, improving the lives

of everyone." She added, "You have enough talent in this eommunity to put a program together." Smith said residents could build food processing plants, marketing services, transportation operations, even help seamstresses set up shop through the use of small microenterprise loans. She explained, "You're not going to hire attorneys, to control your own businesses, to make your dreams eome true without credit: without access to it, without creation of it, and without control of it." Some people at the workshop reacted to the commercial tone of the presentation saying they did not want to use money and greed to disrupt their traditional Hawaiian way of life. Walter Ritte, longtime Hawaiian rights activist, said in response to the money emphasis, "Does this mean I have to become haole?" Smith responded that in today's world "you need money to afford your lifestyle." She added, "The

problem is people are taking money from the community and not putting it back in. ... That's no reason for you to dislike money." To get things going, most agreed that they needed more know-how, community participation and loeal partnerships, in addition to cash. A small minority suggested polhieal revolution. Education was seen as particularly important but only if it taught practical and business skills. "Education is nothing unless it is relevant and people ean see

results," Smith said. Many of the concepts introduced by Smith were new to the Moloka'i group and several participants appeared to resist some of the proposals she was making. One member responded to her suggestion to create a eommunal borrowing team (a feature of microenterprise lending, see story page 12) that it would be impossible to find anyone they trusted enough. However, most agreed that the next step was to take the ideas home and see how they could be applied to their own communities.

Moloka'i workshop: Maintaining traditional activities was a priority. photo by Patrick Johnston