UH Community Colleges Partner for Entrepreneurship Program

Entrepreneurs engaged in a business development workshop facilitated by Impact Hub Honolulu. Photo credit: Jonathan Swanz, cofounder of Impact Hub Honolulu.

A partnership between the University of Hawai’i Community Colleges and Impact Hub Honolulu will create and grow an entrepreneurship program to engage enterprising students across the system’s seven community college campuses.

Grant funds totaling $100,000, part of a $10 million Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career Training Grant to UHCC’s from the United States Department of Labor, will support he program.

“This grant will help provide a direct portal to real-world start-up activities, as well as business planning, budgeting, patenting and more,” said UH Community Colleges Associate Vice President Peter Quigley. “Bringing products and businesses into existence is the goal of the entrepreneurial initiative.”

Impact Hub is part of Startup Paradise, which is a local startup ecosystem. The hub is also part of a network of 85 Impact Hubs that connect 16,000 entrepreneurs across the world.

It is anticipated that the Hawai’i-based and global networks will connect UHCC entrepreneurs to mentorship, follow-on programs, incubators, accelerators, and scaling opportunities.

From July 11 through Aug. 12, a six-week UHCC entrepreneurial program cohort will be hosted.

“We see this as an incredible opportunity to create a path for the innovative students across the UHCCs to actualize their ideas, create jobs for themselves and others and diversify economic development for Hawai‘i,” added Shanah Trevenna, director of Impact Hub Honolulu.

Roundtable discussions will be held at each of UH’s Community College campuses, as well as at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo, hosted by Impact Hub Honolulu.

The Big Island discussion events will take place at UH-Hilo’s Chancellor’s Conference Room on April 8 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., and on April 11 at Hawai’i Community College’s Manono Campus, Kaneikeao Building 379 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.