About
Kūkolu
Kūkolu exists because Native Hawaiian women entrepreneurs are powerful beyond measure - and they deserve a space that nurtures that.
We are an incubator, a backbone, and a community. We support Native Hawaiian and Indigenous women entrepreneurs from idea to operating business, artists and creatives who want trusted support so they can focus on their craft, and nonprofits and organizations building the infrastructure our ecosystem needs to thrive.
As Indigenous peoples, we derive strength from our genealogy, using the past to shape the present and inspire our future. Our mission is to empower our communities by drawing upon their strengths to cultivate economic growth.
Kūkolu was born in November 2020 — not from a business plan, but from a phone call. And then another. And then dozens more.
When COVID-19 hit, we kept hearing from Native Hawaiian entrepreneurs who were struggling and trying to figure out how to survive. We saw programs out there - accelerators, incubators, funding opportunities - but they all had barriers. Criteria that assumed you were already further along. Structures that weren't built for the way Native Hawaiian women move through the world.
So we built something different.
Not an accelerator, an incubator. The distinction matters. An accelerator expects you to arrive already baked. Kūkolu starts from wherever you actually are. And from the beginning, two things were non-negotiable: safety, and presence. A space where a Native Hawaiian woman's voice mattered more than any curriculum, and a team that supports, honors, respects, and believes in you.
What started as a single cohort on Oʻahu has grown into a multi-island movement. Graduates have come back as mentors, networks have become ecosystems, and the vision is clearer than ever.
Not just stronger businesses. A stronger lāhui.
Kūpa'a. Kūpono. Kūpū.
This is Kūkolu.
The Wāhine Behind the Mission
Kūkolu Leadership Team
Janeen Olds, Kimberly Lord, Kanakolu Noa, Debbi Eleneki, Nalani Simpson
(Not Pictured) Kelly Dukelow, Pamela Costa
Crissy Gayagas
Colonel (US Army, Ret.) and Business Consultant
Kelly Dukelow
Assistant Head of School, Kamehameha Schools Maui
IWI Program Mentors
Dani Aiu
EVP, Consumer Banking, American Savings Bank
Kimberly Lord
Senior Managing Director, CB Richard Ellis Hawai’i (Ret.)
Debbi Eleneki
Honolulu Fire Department Battalion Chief (Ret.)
Lisa Kracher
VP, Array Corp. and President, Staffing Solutions of Hawai’i and Kahu Malama Nurses
Donalyn Dela Cruz
Principal, DDC Consulting
Nalani Simpson
Business Consultant
The Mark Behind the Mission
Every element of the Kūkolu brand was designed with intention by Brandy-Alia Serikaku, a Native Hawaiian artist and member of the IWI Cohort 2, whose work carries the same values Kūkolu was built on: cultural depth, creative excellence, and a deep love for this place and its people. Drawing from the natural world of Hawai'i and the cultural values that have guided our people for generations, each mark, icon, and color was chosen to tell a story that words alone cannot.
The Kūkolu mark is a coming together of two elements: a crescent moon and the liko, or bud, of a native plant, that together tell the full story of who we are and why we exist. The crescent moon, or mahina, carries deep significance in Hawaiian culture as a symbol of guidance, cycles, and the kind of quiet, steady light that helps people find their way through darkness. It reflects the role Kūkolu takes on as a guide - not the loudest voice in the room, but a consistent, trustworthy presence that helps others see what's possible.
The plant growing within it represents liko, the young leaf bud that emerges fresh and full of potential, and it speaks directly to what the incubator is built to do: create the conditions for something new to take root, grow, and eventually stand on its own. Together, the moon and the plant form a mark that is both grounded and aspirational, rooted in the past and reaching toward the future, and the warm golden tones of 'ōlena and the deep red-orange of liko were chosen because they echo the colors of the Hawaiian sky at the moments between darkness and full light - the in-between spaces where growth actually happens.
The brand's icon library draws from plants that are native and significant to Hawai'i, each chosen because it embodies something essential about how Kūkolu moves through the world. Together, the logo and the icon library form a visual language that is unmistakably Hawaiian, deeply intentional, and built to communicate that Kūkolu is a place where culture and business are not separate things, but one and the same.