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Students laugh with a farmer mentor while picking ripe coffee cherries on a Kona slope above the ocean at golden hour.

Hawaiʻi Island · Grades 9–12

Don’t just learn about business.Build one.

Students learn entrepreneurship by developing real ideas, solving real problems, making real products, creating real brands — and bringing them into the marketplace.

Explore the programs For schoolsBecome an industry partner

Real students. Real ideas. Real impact.

Coffee harvest on a Kona farm. Every region of the island is a working classroom.

Five pathways

Pick an industry. Build a business inside it.

Each pathway is taught with the people who run that industry on Hawaiʻi Island — and every one ends with students making something real.

Two students in safety glasses solder a sensor board in a school lab with louvered windows.

STEM + Innovation

  • Science
  • Technology
  • Engineering
  • Math
Explore
A student stands in a flooded kalo patch holding freshly pulled taro beside a farmer mentor.

Agriculture + AgTech

  • Farming
  • Sustainability
  • Technology
  • Food systems
Explore
A student in a chef coat fills small bottles with passion-fruit sauce while a chef looks on.

Food Innovation + Manufacturing

  • Product development
  • Ingredients
  • Production
  • Private label
Explore
A student arranges kraft snack pouches and jars on a wooden display in an island general store.

Retail + Consumer Products

  • Brands
  • Packaging
  • Marketing
  • E-commerce
Explore
A hospitality student serves fresh fruit drinks to guests on an oceanfront lanai at golden hour.

Hospitality + Tourism

  • Hotels + resorts
  • Food service
  • Visitor experiences
  • Events
Explore

The Entrepreneur Pathway

From a bright idea to a real business.

Every student, in every pathway, moves through the same eight stages. By the end they have done what founders do — not read about it.

Students in aprons lay out their first product run of jars and kraft pouches in a teaching kitchen while one photographs it.

From a bright idea to a first production run.

  1. Idea

    Identify problems, opportunities and unmet consumer needs.

  2. Innovate

    Use science, technology and creative problem-solving.

  3. Create

    Develop the concept, prototype, recipe, service or business.

  4. Make

    Learn sourcing, production, manufacturing and scale-up.

  5. Brand

    Develop names, packaging, positioning and storytelling.

  6. Sell

    Learn retail, e-commerce, wholesale and professional selling.

  7. Operate

    Understand finance, inventory, logistics and management.

  8. Grow

    Pitch, compete, secure customers and scale the enterprise.

The island is our laboratory

Real places. Real people. Real learning.

Hawaiʻi Island has resorts, ranches, coffee farms, food manufacturers, greenhouses and ports within a few hours’ drive. Each region becomes a working classroom.

Shaded-relief map of Hawaiʻi Island marking Kohala, Kona, Hāmākua, Hilo and Keaʻau / Puna.
Rolling green ranch pastures and fence lines in North Kohala above the ocean.

Resorts · Hospitality · Agriculture

Kohala

  • Resorts and hotels
  • Visitor attractions
  • Agriculture and ranching
  • Farm-to-table
  • Hospitality products
  • Sustainable tourism

Real-world learning across Hawaiʻi

The classroom has no walls.

Farms, kitchens, factories, resorts, stores and warehouses — students learn each business by standing inside it.

A student in a kalo patch with a farmer.

Visit farms

See where it starts.

Students test a macadamia snack bar recipe with a chef.

Work in kitchens

Develop products.

Students inspect bottles on a pilot line.

Tour manufacturers

Learn how it’s made.

A hotel manager shows students guest operations.

Explore hotels + resorts

Understand the visitor experience.

A student merchandises an island store display.

Meet retailers

See how products reach customers.

A student walks a warehouse aisle with a manager past pallets.

Connect with distributors

Learn the supply chain.

A local business owner mentors two students across a café counter.

Learn from entrepreneurs

Build your future.

Signature programs

Where ideas become companies.

Four signature programs give every pathway a place to build, compete and sell.

Students work in pairs inside an open entrepreneur lab.

Entrepreneur Lab

Have an idea? Build it here.

Hands-on learning, mentorship and resources to turn ideas into real-world solutions.

Explore The Entrepreneur Lab
Student founders celebrate their product line around a table.

Student Companies

The school becomes an incubator.

Students launch and run real businesses, develop products and gain hands-on experience.

Explore Student Companies
A student pitches with a microphone while teammates hold their prototype in front of judges.

Challenges

Don’t take a test. Solve a problem.

Students tackle real-world problems with new ideas, competing for recognition and support.

Explore Entrepreneur Challenges
Students talk with visitors at expo booths.

Expo

Students. Products. Ideas. Hawaiʻi.

An annual showcase of student companies, innovations and entrepreneurial talent across Hawaiʻi.

Explore Annual Entrepreneur Hawaiʻi Expo
Students gather with a teacher and an industry guest around seedlings and product samples in a campus courtyard.

For Big Island schools

We bring entrepreneurship into the school.

Entrepreneur HS is designed to support private and charter schools across Hawaiʻi Island by bringing real-world entrepreneurship, industry connections and hands-on learning into the classroom and beyond.

  • In-School Program — Semester or year-long entrepreneurship curriculum.
  • After-School Program — Student entrepreneurship clubs and labs.
  • Challenge Program — School teams compete in island-wide innovation challenges.
  • Field Program — Students visit farms, manufacturers, kitchens, hotels and retailers.
  • Summer Program — Intensive entrepreneurship, STEM and food-innovation academies.
  • Shared Resource Program — Specialized mentors, facilities and industry resources shared across schools.
See the six program models

Industry resources + supporting network

The classroom meets the real world.

Entrepreneur HS is supported by an ecosystem of entrepreneurs, manufacturers, product developers, retailers, hospitality professionals and business organizations — providing real-world learning, mentorship and industry exposure for students.

  • Agriculture + farming
  • Food + beverage
  • Manufacturing + supply chain
  • Retail + e‑commerce
  • Hospitality + tourism
  • Distribution + brokers
  • Entrepreneurs + startups
  • Business organizations
Cameras and lights frame two hosts interviewing a young entrepreneur on a television studio set.

Entrepreneur media heritage

From the creators of Entrepreneur TV.

The program’s co-founders created and produced Entrepreneur, the television show that aired on the Reelz channel about a decade ago, telling the stories of founders building real businesses. That same perspective shapes how students learn here — from people who have built companies, on camera and off — and it extends into the Conzumables network of CPG advisors, training and commercial kitchens.

Partner with the program

Where entrepreneurship connects everything

  • Sciencebecomes innovation.
  • Agriculturebecomes products.
  • Foodbecomes brands.
  • Manufacturingturns ideas into reality.
  • Retailcreates customers.
  • Hospitalitycreates experiences.
  • Technologyconnects it all.
  • Entrepreneurshipturns it into opportunity.

Learn it.Build it.Make it.Sell it.

A student innovation, commercialization and workforce-development ecosystem for Hawaiʻi Island.

Get involved

Bring real-world entrepreneurship to your students.

Schools, industry partners, mentors and families: there is a place for you in the program. Tell us how you’d like to take part.

For schools Become a partner