Investors and Entrepreneurs Meet at Maui Venture Forum Friday

David Fisher, small business consultant and organizer of the third annual Maui Venture Forum. Photo courtesy of Cool Projects Maui.

By Sonia Isotov

Community-minded entrepreneurs, investors, and professional service providers interested in new ventures will meet for the Maui Venture Forum on Friday, November 16 at the Maui Tropical Plantation.

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and features interactive presentations, networking and a “locavore” lunch.

“A venture forum is an opportunity for a new business or a new project from an existing business to get feedback from other entrepreneurs, investors, professional service providers, and community leaders,” explained David Fisher, a longtime Maui small business development expert and the organizer of this third annual business investor event.

“Those who hope to do a venture in the future get to see what is involved in presenting and a feeling for the questions, plus the opportunity to make contacts with people who can help. Participants also provide questions and suggestions as potential customers or suppliers for the presenting ventures.”

Speaker Vincent Mina. Photo by Peter Liu.

The following presenters are scheduled:

• Michael Snyder will introduce the Hawaii Electric Vehicle Network which expects to launch in the first half of 2013.
• Lynn Rasmussen will demonstrate a prototype of SkillStory.com, a system to organize and get credit for non-institutional learning experiences.
• Vince Mina will present on how very small scale agriculture can be economically viable on Maui.
• Event organizer David Fisher will provide an update on the Hawaii Community Exchange which will soon launch and help match-make entrepreneurs with accredited investors.
• David LeFevre will introduce the Unified Field Corporation, a new national network promoting a new form of community supported economics including the ability to redirect IRA contributions to be invested in local businesses.

“Helping people refine their business plans with the participation of key community stakeholders including potential investors is an important first step towards generating a critical mass to attract more local investment and jobs,” continued Fisher.

“The second step will be to launch a community exchange online platform.”

Fisher has been researching the latter over the last two years with the help of the Maui Angels group, and a task group on creating a local exchange initiated by Senator Roz Baker. The task group issued its report last January (see http://HILocalExchange.org).

Fisher is hoping to make this event a monthly occurrence and is looking for sponsors from the community to help make it happen.

The event will be free of charge, although there will be a $25 charge for lunch. Registration is at http://MauiVentureForum.eventbrite.com.