Over $130,000 will be made available to students starting this Fall
(Honolulu, Hawaiʻi) — The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Shidler College of Business and College of Engineering are working together to implement the Hoku Scientific Microloan program to support aspiring young entrepreneurs. Hoku Scientific, Inc. and its Chairman, President and CEO Dustin Shindo donated over $130,000 to establish the Microloan Fund that will be administered by the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE) at the Shidler College of Business, UH Mānoa.
A total of $20,000 per semester, ranging from $500 to $5,000 loans, will be awarded to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at the University of Hawaiʻi to start their businesses. To receive a loan, students must submit an application, attend a workshop and prepare a business plan. Loans must be used for working capital, supplies, equipment and inventory. Priority will be given to undergraduate students enrolled in the engineering and entrepreneurship degree programs.
At the end of the one-year term, students are required to give a presentation before they can request additional funding or closeout their projects with full repayment.
"We are grateful to Dustin Shindo and Hoku Scientific for their generous gift to encourage entrepreneurial ventures at UH Mānoa," commented V. Vance Roley, dean of the Shidler College of Business. "Our goal is to provide students with relevant entrepreneurship courses combined with real-life experiences so students can develop the skills and knowledge to start their own businesses. We want to encourage students to embrace new opportunities and this is a perfect way to do this."
"We're excited to have this unique funding mechanism which will spark students' interest in entrepreneurship, especially in engineering students," said Peter Crouch, dean of the College of Engineering. "This fund enables them to take the next step in becoming an entrepreneur. This is a great opportunity for our students and we look forward to working with the Shidler College on this and similar ventures."
Co-founded by Dustin Shindo in 2001, Hoku Scientific is a diversified clean energy technologies company with three business units: Hoku Materials, Hoku Solar and Hoku Fuel Cells. The company is known for its environmentally friendly hydrogen fuel cells and is devoted to sustainable, clean energy. Hoku Scientific is one of Hawaiʻi's most promising technology startups companies in recent years. Today, Hoku Scientific is a multi-million dollar corporation, publicly traded on the Nasdaq under HOKU.
Shindo graduated from Waiakea High School on the Island of Hawaiʻi in 1991. He received a BA in business from the University of Washington in 1995 and earned his MBA from the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia.
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About the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Established in 1949 as the College of Business Administration, the College was named in 2006 after alumnus Jay H. Shidler, founder and managing partner of The Shidler Group. The Shidler College of Business is renowned for its expertise in international management education and is ranked among the nation's top 25 graduate schools for international business by U.S.News & World Report in 2010. Long recognized for its Asia-Pacific focus, the College is a professional school, offering a wide variety of degree, certificate and executive programs. The College places a strong emphasis on the development of management skills, entrepreneurship and the management of business information technology. The UH Shidler College of Business is the only graduate program in the State of Hawaiʻi accredited by AACSB International. For more information, visit www.shidler.hawaii.edu.
The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Engineering has launched thousands of successful careers in Hawaiʻi and throughout the world. Graduates occupy key roles with engineering firms, government agencies, defense contractors, and as entrepreneurs. Many of its 9000 alumni have made significant engineering contributions to the state's infrastructure and are now set on accomplishing similar tasks abroad. The College's respect for the Hawaiian culture is reflected in its successful mentoring program for under-represented science and engineering students. As the College celebrates 100 years of engineering education at Mānoa, it is focused on becoming a major contributor to Hawaiʻi's renewable energy and sustainable future.
The University of Hawaiʻi Foundation, a nonprofit organization, raises private funds to support the University of Hawaiʻi System. The mission of the University of Hawaiʻi Foundation is to unite donors' passions with the University of Hawaiʻi’s aspirations by raising philanthropic support and managing private investments to benefit UH, the people of Hawaiʻi and our future generations www.uhfoundation.org.
