On todayʻs show we have Meli James co-founder of ManaUp, Keiko Napier, founder of Aloha Spice Company, and Amanda Richards, founder of Paper Crane Soaps, here to talk about the upcoming Mana Up Showcase.
Episode 896: Mana Up Showcase – Oct 24, 2025
Tag: Mana Up
Episode 877: Mana Up Cohort 10 – June 13, 2025
On todayʻs show weʻll catch up with Meli James, co-founder of Mana Up and weʻll talk to a couple of the companies in Cohort 10, we have with us, Billy Carter from Kauai Gourmet Nuts and Tim Johnson of Oribe Tea.
Episode 791: Mana Up Showcase – Oct 25, 2023
On todayʻs show we catch up with Meli James and find out what is happening with the Mana Up Showcase coming up on November 8, 9, and 19.
With me today, is Meli James, co founder of Mana Up and sheʻs brought along a couple of companies with her. Melia Goodenow, cofounder of Hawaiian Rainforest Naturals and Kiani Wong, cofounder of Kakaʻako Kasuals.
If you missed us live, you can always catch us on the HPR website, Google Podcasts, iTunes and Stitcher!
Episode 773: Biggest Little Air Show + Mana Up Cohort 8 Redux – June 21, 2023
We reprise a show we did with Elissa Lines from the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum to tell us about their upcoming Biggest Little Air Show event.
Then, we are joined by Meli James, co-founder of Mana Up, whoʻs brought a couple of companies, Gina Ho from Hawaiian Soda Co & Ola Tripp fromLiquid Life Hawaii, with her to talk about their startups, Cohort 8 and the Mana Up Accelerator.
If you missed us live, you can always catch us on the HPR website, Google Podcasts, iTunes and Stitcher!
Episode 770: Biggest Little Air Show + Mana Up Cohort 8 – May 31, 2023
First up, we have Elissa Lines from the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum to tell us about their upcoming Biggest Little Air Show event coming up this weekend, June 3-4, 2023.
Then, we are joined by Meli James, co-founder of Mana Up, whoʻs brought a couple of companies, Gina Ho from Hawaiian Soda Co & Ola Tripp fromLiquid Life Hawaii, with her to talk about their startups, Cohort 8 and the Mana Up Accelerator.
If you missed us live, you can always catch us on the HPR website, Google Podcasts, iTunes and Stitcher!
Episode 699: Mana Up with HI Spice & Kākou Collective – Jan 19, 2022
We jump right into our conversation and welcome Meli James, cofounder of ManaUp. Sheʻs brought a couple of companies from cohort 6 with her; Justin Orr from HI Spice and Kea Peters from Kākou Collective. Check out Mana Up’s cohort 7 application. For more information, there are 2 info sessions one on February 1st at 4:00 p.m. and the other on February 9 at 10:00 a.m.
If you missed us live, you can always catch us on the HPR website, Google Podcasts, iTunes and Stitcher!
Episode 573: CyberPatriot + Mana Up Cohort 4 – Aug 21, 2019
First off, the HiPlan business plan competition is open to individuals or groups (for-profit or non-profit) whose business plan focuses on developing startup or expanding a business based on Hawaii Island. The purpose of the Competition is to stimulate development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem on Hawaii Island. A grand prize of $25,000 in seed money will be awarded to the winning plan, 2019. Deadline to apply is Sept 7
Then we have Reynold Hioki here to talk about CyberPatriot Invitational and Capture the Flag competition. Finally, we have two companies, Ulu Mana and Kahulalea, currently in Mana Up‘s 4th cohort talk about what they do and their plans to take it to the next level.
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Episode 559: Ecoponics and UH Innovation Center – May 15, 2019
First we start with a few announcements:
- On Friday May 17th Purple MaiÊ»a haumÄna (students) will showcase their project work at HÄlau ʻĪnana from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM HST
- Mana Up will host the Native Hawaiian female founders panel on Tuesday May 21st, 5-8pm at HÄlau ʻĪnana, Meli James will moderate.
- Finally, the Entrepreneurs Sandbox has their open house this week from 8am – 4:30pm. Also Wetware Wednesday on 5/22, featuring collaborative robots, 4:30pm to 7pm. You’ll have to attend to find out more.
Then Ame Arakaki, entrepreneur and inventor tells us about Ecoponics. Last but not least, we have Susan Yamada, Director of UH Ventures tell us about establishing the UH Innovation Hub/Center and progress with the Atherton YMCA renovations.
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Episode 522: Mana Up Cohort 2 – Aug 29, 2018
First, we hear from Stefan Opsal from Sultan Ventures and XLR8HI to tell us about a series of workshops for Hawaii businesses, entrepreneurs and startups. XLR8HI is offering a 50% discount for the workshop: Essentials of Entrepreneurship to Bytemarks Cafe listeners by using the promo code: Bytemarks
Then we hear from Stacey Nomura from Bradley and Lily and learn about Mana Up‘s second cohort.
Episode 511: e-ICON Code Challenge – June 13, 2018
First, we hear about a South-by-Southwest Meet and Greet coming up next week. Phil Tripp, SXSW Senior Business Development Manager tell’s us all about it. Then, Meli James is back to brief us on the schedule for the next cohort of Mana Up, including some important deadlines for “Made-in-Hawaii” companies, as well as the next HVCA panel feature candidates in the Lt. Governor’s race. After the break, we learn about e-ICON, an international student coding challenge that originated in Korea but is now coming to Hawaii. Shane Asselstine and Judy Nagasako from the Department of Education are here to tell us about it.