Grant Writing Guru

09/28/2026

60 nonprofits formed. 150 business plans written. Zero guesswork.

Behind every number in this graphic is an organization that went from idea to funded, certified, or contract ready.

The timing matters. As of September 10, SBA has brought back its merit-based "potential for success" review for 8(a) applicants, which means that business plans, capability statements, and financials now carry more weight than ever. A thin plan is not good enough anymore.

At Villa Business Consulting, we've spent years honing the details that get applications approved and grants funded: SAM registration; SBA 8(a) and NHO 8(a) applications; 501(c)(3) formation; grant writing; and post-award compliance that keeps the money flowing.

Whether you're a nonprofit chasing your first grant -- or a small business eyeing federal contracts -- we've done this 210 times before!

(808) 367-1761

09/24/2026

Villa Business Consulting Welcomes the Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce

We're honored to announce that Villa Business Consulting’s newest client is the Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce (NHCC)…!

For decades, NHCC has championed Native Hawaiian businesses and professionals, and have celebrated generations of leaders who carry Hawaiian values into commerce and community.

In these islands, we’re all in the same canoe (wa’a), so Mari and I are proud to be able to assist them in their endeavors.

Imua…!

09/24/2026

What a great evening at the BIA Hawaiʻi x Hawaiian Telcom Pau Hana!

Mari and I were proud to be there last night at Hana Koa Brewing's Moon Room -- both as BIA members and as BIA’s grant writers.

The room was full of a wonderfully diverse mix of people: contractors; suppliers; designers; tech folks; and community partners, all talking story and making new connections.

A big mahalo to Hawaiian Telcom for co-hosting and for sharing how their 100% fiber network is helping build the connectivity Hawaiʻi will need for years to come. Construction and connectivity go hand in hand, and it was great to see those two worlds in the same room.

Congratulations to Roseann Freitas, CEO of BIA Hawaiʻi -- and to the BIA team -- for putting on yet another outstanding event.

Events like this are a reminder of why BIA is such a strong home for Hawaiʻi's building industry. It creates real relationships, and real relationships are what move our community forward.

We're really glad we went, and we're already looking forward to the next one. Check out the photos!

09/24/2026

Mari and I, along with fellow members of the Hawaii Society of Business Professionals (HSBP), had the privilege yesterday of a 90-minute behind-the-scenes tour of DHI2, Amazon's "final mile" delivery station on Sand Island. The tour was scheduled during the facility's downtime.

Since opening in 2024, the 144,000-square-foot station on 14.5 acres has moved hundreds of thousands of packages a week to homes and businesses across Oʻahu.

We couldn't photograph the interior, but we came away with a real understanding of how throughput, routing, and workforce design fit together in one of the most closely watched logistics operations in the state.

What surprised many of us was how much of the work is still done by people. There was less automation than we expected. Even so, just hours before we arrived, the overnight crew had processed 67,000 packages headed to Hawaiʻi customers.

Mahalo to Stephanie Kalili and the DHI2 team for opening their doors to us. Stephanie is a Nānākuli High School graduate who built her Amazon career on the continent before coming home to open the company's first delivery station in Hawaiʻi.

Seeing it all up close was still mind-boggling.

09/22/2026

¡Feliz Mes de la Herencia Hispana! Aloha from Hawaiʻi!

This morning I joined AEO (Association for Enterprise Opportunity) and The NewDEAL for their "Building America's Future: Leadership Driving Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Small Business Growth," webinar held in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.

It was exactly the kind of practical, grounded conversation our small business community needs right now. It was inspiring to hear local leaders from three very different places: Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert of New Rochelle, New York; Supervisor Chris Lopez of Monterey County, California; and Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson-Bovell of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, shared what they are seeing on the ground from entrepreneurs in their communities.

Different regions, different economies, and yet the same core truth: when local government, business support organizations, and community partners work together, small businesses have a real chance to start, grow, and compete.

Hispanic Heritage Month is a fitting time for this conversation. Hispanic entrepreneurs are: building businesses; creating jobs; strengthening neighborhoods across the country; and seeing leaders at every level of local government championing that growth is something worth celebrating.

Here in Hawaiʻi, Hispanics have been part of our islands' story since 1794, and that spirit of hard work and enterprise continues today.

Mahalo to Dr. Lori Smith for moderating such a thoughtful discussion, and to Natalie Madeira Cofield and the entire AEO team for honoring this month with a conversation centered on opportunity.

At Villa Business Consulting, we see this every day. Whether we are: helping a contractor pursue SBA 8(a) certification; guiding a founder through SAM registration; or helping a nonprofit build the capacity to serve its community; the businesses that thrive are the ones with strong partners around them. Partnership isn't a buzzword. It's infrastructure.

The lessons shared today travel well, from New Rochelle to Monterey to Milwaukee, and all the way to our islands. ¡Adelante!

09/22/2026

Mahalo to the team at The Business Journals — and especially Lei Pedro, Publisher of Pacific Business News — for yesterday's webinar, "How AI is Changing the Way Businesses Work, Hire and Grow."

It was a genuinely useful 30,000-foot view of where AI adoption is taking businesses right now — not hype, just a clear-eyed look at how companies are adjusting their operations, their hiring, and their growth strategies as these tools become part of daily work.

One thing the discussion brought to mind: the data increasingly backs up the "growth, not replacement" story. Intuit QuickBooks' 2026 AI Impact Report found that small businesses using AI are four times more likely to say it helped them hire than say it led to cuts.

And Employment Hero's 2026 AI Paradox report found that AI-mature firms grew entry-level headcount at more than double the rate of non-adopters. The businesses figuring out how to use these tools well aren't shrinking their teams. They're using the leverage to grow them.

At Villa Business Consulting, we're seeing the same shift play out with our nonprofit and small business clients here in Hawaii. We’re not focused on AI replace us. We’re focused on how we can use these tools to do more with the capacity we have.

Grateful to PBN for creating the space for this conversation. Looking forward to the next one.

09/22/2026

Mari and I met with a prospective client this morning who's opening the door to an entirely new arena for us — the world of Chinese Dragon Boat racing.

It may finally give me a chance to put my Mandarin language training back to professional use.

09/22/2026

"We the People" made a difference today.

We have not won this fight, but the SBA just moved 60 days because enough people spoke up.

That kind of groundswell does not happen by accident, and it will not stop mattering the moment the extension is announced.

Keep reading the rules.

Keep submitting comments.

This is what pressure looks like when it works.

09/05/2026

Puerto Ricans Are Not the New Kids in Hawaiʻi

Today, Mari and I had the privilege of attending the special "La Casita Blessing & Celebration" at Hawaiʻi's Plantation Village in Waipahu.

The Plantation Village traces the history of the various ethnic and racial groups who worked on Hawaiʻi's plantations. It's, essentially, an outdoor museum depicting what plantation life was like in early 1900s Hawaiʻi, told through a series of buildings — a Chinese house, a Japanese house, a plantation store, and others.

Many people don't know that Puerto Ricans toiled on Hawaiʻi's plantations. The Village's Puerto Rican house, "La Casita," shows how early Puerto Ricans lived and worked on Oʻahu's plantations.

Today's cultural event and blessing celebrated the renovation of La Casita, carried out by members of the Puerto Rican Heritage Society, who maintain the house. (Mari and I are members.)

Puerto Ricans In Hawaiʻi: From Storm To Settlement

The Disaster. Hurricane San Ciriaco struck Puerto Rico on August 8, 1899, crossing the island in roughly six hours with winds over 100 mph, followed by a second hurricane on August 22. Twenty-eight days of torrential rain caused catastrophic flooding, killed an estimated 3,400 people, and left some 250,000 without food or shelter.

The storm was especially ruinous to the coffee industry — of the roughly $35.9 million in total losses, more than $18 million fell on coffee, with the harvest destroyed just before picking season. The collapse left thousands of workers unemployed.

The Recruitment. With the island's coffee economy in ruins and mass unemployment gripping the countryside, the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association — facing its own labor shortages — sent recruiters through Puerto Rico offering displaced workers passage to Hawaiʻi, an offer many took out of necessity rather than choice.

The Migration. Roughly 5,000 Puerto Ricans settled in Hawaiʻi across eleven voyages between November 1900 and October 1901, sailing to New Orleans, crossing by rail to California, then sailing again to Honolulu. The first group of 56 men arrived December 23, 1900, aboard the S.S. City of Rio de Janeiro and was sent to Pioneer Mill in Lahaina.

The Plantation Reality. Workers entered a racially stratified system: 10-to-12-hour days, six-day weeks, ethnicity-based housing and pay, and numbered identity tags. In these early years, Puerto Ricans labored alongside Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, and Native Hawaiian workers.

The Culture That Took Root. Puerto Rican families preserved their music (cuatro, bomba, plena, kachi kachi), food (pasteles, arroz con gandules, coquito), and faith traditions. Puerto Rican -- numbering more than 38,000 by the 2010 census across the four islands -- still organize today,

09/05/2026