Annette M. Pauole-Ahakuelo is the head of the Moloka'i Kuha'o Business Center.

Q. What is the Kuha'o Business Center?

A. The Kuha'o Business Center started back in the late 1900s when a group of local Moloka'i business people and the SBA and Bank of Hawaii, as well as American Savings, found that there was a need for a business center here on Moloka'i to help the entrepreneurs or people who were looking for information on how to start a small business. A lot of partners who were involved locally got together to start this. In 2004, Moloka'i Rural Development Project picked up the center, and I was blessed enough to be hired. The Kuha'o Business Center was under the RDP and was a nonprofit for a little bit, and then we were blessed enough in 2006 when we became an extension project of the County of Maui and the Office of Economic Development.

Q. Are there advantages to being part of the county government?

A. I came from a for-profit organization, and I found that there's a big difference between for-profit and nonprofit organizations, where a lot of your time you're looking for funding, as well as capital to maintain your programs. Being under the County of Maui has great advantages, not only to the community, but as far as running the center, it allows me more time to really service the community.

Q. What is the mission of the center?

A. Kuha'o means to stand alone and be independent. We serve as an advocate and a vehicle of empowerment for the Moloka'i families to achieve financial independence and abundance and the formation of a healthy and sustainable business. We are a resource for new and existing business owners who need assistance.

Q. How many businesses or individuals do you serve each year?

A. We have helped educate people with workshops and classes. I would say this past year we helped more than 1,000 people. Our focus this past year also has been helping with financial literacy education, because the mayor is really an advocate of helping our local residents achieve some independence, not only with their businesses but also with their homes. We're going a lot into the schools, trying to teach the youngsters how to make wise choices before they get caught up in the credit card type of things.

Q. How would you characterize the state of the Moloka'i economy?

A. Moloka'i has always had many challenges, even prior to the closing of Molokai Ranch. We don't have that many jobs available here, and the unemployment was high, so with the closing of the ranch, it only compounded the existing situation on Moloka'i. During these difficult times, the financial economical crisis that we're facing, more so it's really impacted Moloka'i. We have more layoffs besides the ranch because of the cost of fuel, as well as food. The challenges for my position in helping the Moloka'i community is finding capital ventures and resources to assist Moloka'i entrepreneurs in their efforts and projects, and education for a healthy business, as well as making sure they can maintain their sustainability. That to me is the biggest challenge for them. It's great to have an agency, but it takes capital. The lending institutions, even for small-business loans, are being very cautious, not only for mortgage loans but startup business loans.

Q. Have you worked in other places besides Moloka'i?

A. I lived in California for 12 years and on O'ahu for quite a number of years. I had been away from Moloka'i for 37 years.

Q. What's your business background?

A. When I lived in California, I worked for one of the largest furniture retailers in the nation. I helped with the conversion when they expanded to the West Coast. I ran their largest retail store in the nation in Huntington Beach, and that gave me a lot of on-the-job training and skills. That actually opened doors for me to get a position with C.S. Wo & Sons. C.S. Wo is a great company, great family. I learned a lot about patience and persevere.

Q. Had the island changed much in the time that you were away?

A. Yes and no. The people are still very humble, full of aloha, and that hasn't changed. But I saw some changes in the development of the type of homes that are being built. More high-end homes, and I've seen real estate as very unaffordable for the locals, even before this economic crisis.

Q. Do you approach your job differently on Moloka'i as opposed to when you were on O'ahu or the Mainland?

A. Absolutely. My family had told me when I first started this job, "We hope you're not going to bring all of your high-end kind of lifestyle that you had on the Mainland and O'ahu to Moloka'i." I said absolutely not. Here, you have to know the community and what works. We say, "e komo mai." We don't say, "You want to make an appointment?" We say, "Why don't you come on in and let's talk story?"

My approach for the center has been more on an informal basis, but it works very well. I'm able to get the most rural person to come in who might feel uncomfortable in another setting.

Q. What is your outlook for businesses on the island?

A. It's worse than the Depression because of the amount of money people have lost, the retirees who are depending on that money to live off of, and that includes people on Moloka'i.

A lot of people are being affected by the crisis and their 401(k). But hopefully with the new administration, although it's not going to happen overnight, I'm very optimistic. I'm hoping by the end of 2009 there will be a more positive upswing of the economy.

But in the meantime, what we're doing here at the center, we're trying to really keep people abreast and educated, and we feel that entrepreneurship is still the strongest type of attribute for the community to grow. That and education, teaching them about financial education, credit restoration and all of the things that can bring them together to be more independent, more self-sufficient.

Q. Is there room for more businesses on Moloka'i?

A. I think so, but there has to be a balance of what the community wants, and of course, we always need jobs for our young people.

Moloka'i is really different from any of the other islands as far as economic development because we have people who want to retain our lifestyle, but we do need jobs. So it's the right kind of healthy jobs that we need on Moloka'i that's a win-win situation, and we don't lose our identity as an island while maintaining our culture and heritage here.