The Garden Island
LAWAI — Monkeypod Jam is one of 10 businesses selected as Mana Up’s first cohort selling market- tested, value-added products that are authentic representatives of the Hawaii brand.
The announcement was made last week in Honolulu. Monkeypod Jam is the only firm honored from Kauai.
Pacific Business Magazine
Mana Up selected 10 local companies, all sourcing from Hawaii’s agriculture, to be the first participantes in a Hawaii-based product accelerator, the first of its kind in the state.
The program, the latest venture from Hawaii Venture Capital Association President Meli James, 1776 General Counsel Brittany Heyd and e-commerce strategist Michael Cheski, seeks to invest in Hawaii companies earning $100,000 or more in annual revenue, by emphasizing the strength of the Hawaii brand.
Hawaii Business Magazine
Enter Mana Up, a new accelerator aimed at promoting homegrown Hawaii products and transforming them into million-dollar companies and brands. The new initiative launched an intensive 12-week accelerator session in January for its first cohort of 10 companies, chosen from a pool of 85 applicants. The locally based companies get help with marketing, pricing, distribution, scaling and other strategies to support their rapid growth beyond the state.
Bytemarks Cafe
First up we have Tarek Shraibati from the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation here to tell us about the upcoming VEX Robotics Competition. Also Chris Thalinger from Twitter is here to tell us about the LavaOne Conference. Then we talk with Mele Kalama-Kingma from Mamalani and Jan Hori from Hawaiian Pie Company, two companies from the first Mana Up cohort.
Big Island Now
Selected as Mana Up’s first cohort, 10 businesses are already selling market-tested, value-added products and can state unequivocally that they are authentic representatives of the Hawai‘i brand.
Mana Up, a Hawai‘i product accelerator, scales Hawaiʻi-based retail and value-added food products for the global market.
Pacific Business News
A trio of entrepreneurs are launching a new initiative focused on growing Hawaii’s retail and consumer products.
Mana Up, a new product accelerator and e-commerce platform for Hawaii companies, is the latest project from Hawaii Venture Capital Association President Meli James, e-commerce strategist Michael Cheski and startup veteran Brittany Heyd.