Nonprofit to open a business incubator in Chinatown

Tin Myaing Thein, executive director of the Pacific Gateway Center, has announced plans to open a retail incubator in Downtown Honolulu with the help of a $1 million grant from the Weinberg Foundation. Pacific Gateway, a nonprofit that aids immigrants, refugees and low-income residents, has purchased a three-story, 10,000-square-foot building at 83 N. King St. which will become the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Paradise Enterprise Center. The entire project cost $4 million, with major funding from the City and County of Honolulu through community development block grants.

The building will have retail space and a cafe on the first floor a business center on the second floor and the third will be used for workshops, training and meetings. The new center will open in December or in early 2008 and offer business support services to budding entrepreneurs, particularly small arts crafters and cultural artisans with low to moderate incomes. It will showcase their products and help them start their own businesses.