Fellows mentioned in this story: Meli James

From Hawai‘i News Now:

In today’s episode, we talk to Meli James from Hawaii Venture Capital Association and Mana Up Hawai‘i about the challenges of entrepreneurship and the startup economy in our islands.

A new WalletHub study ranks Hawai‘i the third worst state in the U.S. to start a business, after Rhode Island and Maryland.

Reasons include our high costs of living, taxes, and labor, as well as limited access to capital and resources.

Tack on current economic uncertainty, inflation, tariffs and construction bottlenecks -- all of which are hurting innovation in Hawai‘i and stunting growth for entrepreneurs.

“People have had to shift gears. Some folks have had to adjust product lines or even end some of the products that they’re creating because they can’t find alternatives, or even from a pricing standpoint,” said Meli James, president of the Hawai‘i Venture Capital Association and founder of the Mana Up accelerator.

Watch at hawaiinewsnow.com.