Investing in a Different Kind of Paradise: Catalyzing Hawai’i’s Sustainable Food System

Above: Members of Hawai’i Investment Ready

Nestled in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean, Hawai’i is often romanticized as a paradise — the perfect island getaway for tourists seeking pristine beaches and lush tropical landscapes. Yet, the realities of its food system tell a different story, one marked by instability, over-dependence, and the urgent need for sustainable transformation. Despite its ideal growing climate, Hawai’i imports 85-90% of its food, making it susceptible to supply chain disruptions given its geographic isolation 2,400 miles from the nearest landmass.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many Hawai’i residents saw empty food shelves for the first time. This shock daylighted the urgency food system leaders have warned about for decades. With renewed focus and momentum, these leaders gathered to envision a new horizon of possibilities by investing in something different: relationships. Aligned by a vision of food sovereignty and a shared aloha (love) for their island home, each other, and future generations, this movement is poised to tackle the seemingly intractable challenges that have hindered large-scale food and agricultural change.

Returning to Abundance

“I ka wa ma mua, ka wa ma hope.” This Hawaiian proverb roughly translates to “We look to the past as a guide for the future,” encapsulates the wisdom in learning from history to build a better tomorrow.

Hawai’i’s story is rich with examples of regenerative abundance. Before Western contact, Native Hawaiian agricultural systems supported an estimated 800,000 to one million population. The rigorous, thriving ahupua’a management system connected land to sea and promoted sustainable resource use. The ahupua’a fostered a harmonious relationship between people and their environment, allowing both to flourish.

The influx of foreign influences and sugar plantations prioritized profit over ecological balance, displacing Native Hawaiian communities, devastating the land, and eroding the cultural practices intertwined with its care and cultivation.

Today, the repercussions of colonialism are evident in Hawai’i’s overdependence on tourism and cheap imported food. Agricultural input costs in Hawai’i are about 40% higher than in the continental U.S., making local production financially challenging. Additionally, outdated policies designed for a plantation economy continue to impede sustainable growth.

Despite these challenges and the growing impacts of climate change, Hawai’i’s regenerative agricultural foundation provides a guide for the future, offering a deeper understanding of sustainability and how reciprocal relationships between people and land can foster resilience and build food security.

An Investment Lens for Systemic Transformation

Island economies are unique in their strengths and opportunities — a fertile ground for transformative collaboration. These communities hold the expertise and leadership to address global problems equitably at a local scale. At Hawai’i Investment Ready (HIR), we believe strong relationships are the key to effective solutions, allowing us to work through generative conflict and build momentum from the roots up.

Founded in 2013 as the first social enterprise accelerator in Hawai’i and the first Native-led accelerator in the U.S., HIR has been at the forefront of place-based and culturally-grounded investment strategies in Hawai’i. Since then, HIR has evolved into a field-building impact intermediary with a mission to accelerate Hawai’i’s economic transformation. Our holistic suite of strategies includes capacity building, network facilitation, capital deployment and navigation, research, and narrative shifting. These pillars work together to seed deeper relationships, trust and collaboration.

In 2021, we re-envisioned our core program as the Hawai’i Food Systems Accelerator to deepen investment in food and move the needle by focusing on one sector. The enterprise cohort prioritizes frontline, rural and Native Hawaiian social entrepreneurs addressing key leverage points identified in a 2020 Transforming Hawai’i’s Food Systems Together mapping project. The complementary funder cohort comprises 24 active food systems funders and investors across philanthropy, government and private capital. These networks are invaluable for activating and piloting innovative strategies and frameworks. By convening these diverse stakeholders, we increase our collective capacity to catalyze meaningful progress.

Earlier this year, HIR also partnered with Mission Driven Finance to launch Hawai’i’s first catalytic capital debt fund designed to fill funding gaps and better leverage philanthropic resources. By fostering collaboration and pooling resources, we enable high-leverage solutions that address our food systems’ unique challenges. Emerging communities of practice in systems change investing and bioregional financing are gaining traction, with HIR at the forefront of this movement.

Stories from the Field: Real Impact through Collaboration

HIR’s collaborative approach has demonstrated tangible impacts for local entrepreneurs and food system leaders. This has manifested in blended capital stack investments by philanthropy, government and private capital working together in new and previously unlikely ways. The money is moving differently.

“There is no singular silver bullet that will meaningfully transform Hawai’i’s food system. The solutions must be as complex and systemic as the challenges,” shares Claire Sullivan, CEO of Farm Link Hawai’i and HIR alumna. Farm Link has connected with a broader network of aligned investors and partners through their work with HIR, successfully raising a blended capital seed round in 2023. “Their approach gave us the room to keep learning and growing, sharpening our business acumen, and improving our performance, which sets us up for more investment opportunities.”

Patti Chang, CEO of Feed the Hunger Fund, a growing Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), shares a similar story. “Without the network collaborations fostered by HIR, our capital deployment, operations and fundraising growth would not have been possible. These connections have been instrumental in overcoming capital access challenges, enabling us to secure grants, low-cost concessionary debt and investment partners. This significantly enhances our support for borrowers and positively impacts the food system. Together with like-minded investors, we’re poised to drive even greater change.”

Bioregional Financing and Systems Change Investment

At HIR, we bring an investment perspective that prioritizes systems change. This journey towards bioregional financing developed organically in response to the community’s needs and interventions. We understood that isolated efforts would only lead to incomplete solutions.

Funders and investors share risks and leverage their collective resources more effectively by investing resources and time into building relationships and trust. This creates an environment where enterprises can articulate and access appropriate capitalization aligned to their unique needs and challenges. Simultaneously, we work to grow the pie of capital needed to accelerate this work. These interconnected strategies create a resilient framework for sustainable transformative growth.

HIR’s place-based relationship-driven approach to investing addresses the financial barriers and longstanding systemic inequities hindering local self-sufficiency. Overcoming the market realities of food and ag in Hawai’i — higher cost of inputs, cheap imports, and outdated policies — requires sustained collaboration across diverse stakeholders, a shared vision for change, and an understanding of the cultural and historical context of Hawai’i.

Hawai’i’s food future is in the hands of those who understand the importance of relationships.

The vision of food sovereignty and resilience is not just about growing more food locally — it’s about reconnecting with and investing in solutions that honor the reciprocal relationship between land and community.

By cultivating spaces where local enterprises can collaborate, share resources, and access more of the capital they need, we help lay the groundwork for systemic transformation.

HIR’s cross-sector network is investing in the idea that collaboration drives lasting solutions and resilience — rebuilding a food system that honors the past, tackles current challenges, and secures an enduring future of abundance.

Article by Keoni Lee, the Co-CEO of Hawai’i Investment Ready, a successful social entrepreneur, and co-founder of Waiwai Collective and ‘O’iwi TV. He is actively engaged in community work around decolonizing education, local food systems and the economy, and is a co-leader of ‘Aina Aloha Economic Futures and a member of Toniic. Contact him at keoni@hiready.net