Our Mission, Vision, and Impact
We are developing Hawaii’s pipeline of socially impactful entrepreneurs.
What we do
SIIP is anincubator program to help socially-minded founders reach their next important business milestone. We provide participants with a curated list of content specialists, mentors, and weekly learning modules to take their venture to the next level.
Why we started
SIIP was founded during the midst of COVID in response to growing local sentiment to decrease Hawaii’s dependence on tourism. The program was created in partnership by Hub Coworking Hawai’i and TFA Hawaii—two organizations with strong connections to the community and a deep commitment to better Hawaii.
How we’re creating change:
At SIIP, we believe that one day, Hawaiʻi can have a robust ecosystem of socially impactful entrepreneurs. To achieve this, we hope to fill two gaps in the current innovation ecosystem in Hawaiʻi:
Create a space for pre-seed entrepreneurs:
Although there are excellent venture capital and accelerator firms in Hawai’i for later-stage startups--FoundHer, Elemental Excelerator, Blue Startups--right now there’s not a lot of support for our earliest stage entrepreneurs. We believe SIIP is the perfect first stepping stone for Hawaii’s budding entrepreneurs.
Provide a program tailored for socially impactful founders:
At SIIP, we recognize that founders of socially impactful organizations face a unique set of challenges: finding a sustainable business model for their organization, obtaining grant funding, attempting to start an organization despite a lack of traditional business background, and more. With that in mind, we wanted to create an accelerator program that directly addresses these specific needs.
What we’ve accomplished so far
Our impact as an organization includes deploying $16,150 in capital to local entrepreneurs, cultivating a diverse cohort of 50% female founders, and maintaining a 95% approval rating amongst participants. Check out our full reports to learn more about how we’ve impacted the community. We can’t wait to keep doing good work!
Read our Year 2 Impact Report HERE
