The Ground
We Cultivate
Our lāhui has never lacked talent, vision, or drive. What has been withheld is access, and a system built with us in mind.
Native Hawaiian entrepreneurship is not new, and it is not small. The drive has always been here. The ʻike has always been here. What has not been here, not at the scale our talent deserves, is access. When our businesses were asked what they most needed, the answer was not encouragement. It was working capital. It was a system that was culturally responsive.
This is the ground Kūkolu cultivates. Not a deficit within our people, but a barrier around them; one built by history, not by us. Our kuleana is to remove that barrier, so the talent that was always here can finally grow roots deep enough to stay.
95%
Native Hawaiian
participation
$500K+
in grants secured for NH
businesses and contractors
$22.5K
principal funding deployed
of community lending
One Piko,
Four Strands
Indigenous Women’s Incubator
Empowers Native Hawaiian and Indigenous wahine entrepreneurs to build and grow existing and early stage businesses, integrating cultural values into every business model from the ground up.
Backbone
Services
Provides strategic guidance and essential systems to Native Hawaiian communities, businesses, and organizations, so that collective impact has the infrastructure to last.
Indigenous
Creatives
Elevates Native Hawaiian and Indigenous artists and makers by curating meaningful opportunities for engagement, turning creative practice into a real economic pathway, not a side pursuit to it.
Lālāwai Business Funding
Expands access to capital through culturally grounded microloans, business guidance, and financial education, helping entrepreneurs strengthen their enterprises and build wealth.
IWI
Indigenous Women’s Incubator
Kūkolu’s Indigenous Women’s Incubator aims to uplift Native Hawaiian wāhine entrepreneurs. Our program participants engage deeply in workshops, mentorship, and peer learning rooted in Native Hawaiian values, and receive access to new tools, strengthened purpose, and the confidence to grow their culturally grounded businesses.
Applications for IWI cohort 6 are open!
Backbone
Services
Lāhui showing up for lāhui.
Our Backbone Services Provides strategic guidance and essential systems to Native Hawaiian communities, businesses, and organizations, so that collective impact has the infrastructure to last. This year, we supported rebuilding initiatives on Maui. Rebuilding means showing up with kuleana: relationships first, cultural responsibility always, community knowledge leading the way.
Indigenous
Creatives
From pop-ups to scholarships and community giveback campaigns, our Indigenous Creatives initiative provides a space for our indigenous creatives to experiment, reach new audiences, and expand their community impact.
Lālāwai
With the first loans deployed and $50,000 raised, Kūkolu turns to building Lālāwai toward its goal — so that no Native Hawaiian entrepreneur with a strong business and a stronger why is turned away.
Ka Hopena
Desired Outcomes
Four strands.
Five intended changes.
One Piko.
A living ecosystem in which wealth, knowledge, opportunity, and kuleana continue to circulate through our communities.
Cultural Identity, Confidence, Leadership, and Agency
Economic Stability and Abundance
Stronger Indigenous-Led Businesses and Organizations
Resources Moving into Native Hawaiian Hands
Connected, Resilient, and Self-Determined Communities
Kūkolu in the News
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