Ryan Ouye recalled his family had only one store on Maui when its construction equipment rental business expanded to Kauai to be a part of the rebuilding of the island after Hurricane Iniki in 1992.His business, Service Rentals & Supplies, now with six stores statewide, received the 2021 Mayor’s Small Business Award for Lifetime Achievement for Maui County - an honor, Ouye said, that brought a smile to his father Richard, the business founder, who passed in 2022. Like many enterprises that have been honored by the Mayor’s Small Business Awards, small businesses like Ouye’s demonstrate resilience and an ability to successfully meet challenges.
The Chamber anticipates that the gala event celebrating the 2024 Mayor’s Small Business Awards, to be held on September 19, will feature some extraordinary nominees as we have seen in the past, and those who have overcome phenomenal challenges due to the wildfires in Kula and Lahaina.
The 2021 Exceptional Small Business award winner Mitzi Toro, owner of The Maui Cookie Lady in Makawao, grew her mail-order boutique business despite the COVID pandemic. Her Lilikoi Cookie was selected for the Food Network Gift Guide, and the French magazine Bon Appetit named her business as among the top cookie companies in the world based on taste tests. Toro’s business has been the subject of stories in Forbes, Men’s Health and O magazine and has appeared on Good Morning America, and on QVC.
Michelle Heller, whose business, Da Kine Paints, received the award in 2022, said she owes the idea of starting the business to her late father who was a painting contractor on Maui. Heller is also the chair of the Chamber’s advisory board to the Construction Industry of Maui trade council. The trade council, representing more than 100 businesses, sponsors the Bob Poulson Scholarship, and awarded three college-bound recipients $25,000 this year.
Venture Physical Therapy owners Ted and Ann Anderson, who received the 2022 Exceptional Small Business Award with 11 to 39 employees, brought scores of employees to the gala event. Ted Anderson told us that Chamber has opened us up to “multiple opportunities to get our message into the community.” Venture Physical Therapy has grown to operate four physical therapy clinics and offers an outreach service that includes visits to a client’s home. They also donate their services to help raise money for Imua Rehab Maui. Ted Anderson continues to volunteer serving as a guest speaker about chronic pain, stroke recovery, and falls.
The awards recognition event began with the Maui Chamber of Commerce in 2002 and expanded to include a partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development in 2004. At that time, the event was renamed the Mayor’s Small Business Awards and broadened to incorporate our sister islands of Molokai and Lanai. Regardless of the winners chosen, all nominated businesses will be recognized at the event with a large poster commemorating their nomination and work, in addition to having their photograph taken with the Mayor and accolades they will receive during the event program. Nominators will be recognized as well for taking the time to showcase these outstanding businesses and highlighting how they contribute to the community.
Nominations for the 2024 Mayor’s Small Business Awards in various categories are being accepted on or before Aug. 15, 2024. For more information and entry forms, click here: https://www.mauichamber.com/cpages/mayors-small-business
For tickets to the Mayor’s Small Business Awards event, click here: https://www.mauichamber.com/events/2024-mayors-small-business-awards
