Plant Nursery Branches Out, Bank Notices

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Rick Barboza (left) and Matt Schirman are surrounded by pohinahina and
naupaka plants at their Kaneohe nursery, Hui Ku Maoli Ola, which recently
was named Native Hawaiian Business of the Year. They plan to expand their
cultivated acreage in Haiku Valley. Photo from Melissa Malahoff-Kamei.

A Windward plant nursery has won American Savings Bank’s 2006 Native Hawaiian Business of the Year Award, which honors a successful business that promotes native Hawaiian values

“We’re just overwhelmed with it,“said Hui Ku Maoli Ola co-owner Matt Kapaliku Schirman, 32, of Waimanalo. “It’s exciting to know that we’re able to get this kind of an award when all we really enjoy doing is the work itself - to go out and to grow the plants and spread what we we know about Hawaii’s culture.”

The bank’s award comes with up to $5,000 in marketing support for an advertising campaign.

Hui Ku Maoli Ola (loosely translated as “the organization that makes native things stand and thrive”) is a venture between Schirman and Rick Barboza, his friend from preschool days. They propagate, grow and sell 145 species of native plants to wholesalers and big-box retailers. They also restore native habitats and educate the public on the plants and their uses.

Since its inception in 1999, the nursery has roughly doubled its gross revenues each year. In February, the company moved from its original home on an acre in Waimanalo (in Schirman’s father’s back yard) to new quarters on 68 acres of leased land in Kaneohe’s Haiku valley. They plan to expand from 2 to 10 acres of plants and also start a nonprofit to meet the growing demand from visiting school groups.

Rian DuBach, community development officer for the bank, said Hui Ku Maoli Ola stood apart from other nominees because it blends bottom-line sales with the social bottom-line.

“They’re not your typical business,“he said. “They can make money doing something, and the community’s going to benefit as well.”