Ka Waiwai Collective – a group of Native Hawaiian entrepreneurs who share kuleana and a passion for uplifting the lāhui – is making its Kauaʻi debut this fall in Kapaʻa.
Starting in November, Ka Waiwai Collective will offer co-working and event space out of the restored Otsuka Furniture building at Kalukalu at 1624. Ka Waiwai will also provide educational and cultural programming, entertainment, and support for local entrepreneurs.
“This is not just a business or passion project – we are leveling up, arm in arm, with people who want healing and transformation for ʻāina and their communities, through the vehicle of entrepreneurship, business, and economic development,” says Mahina Paishon-Duarte, president & co-founder of Ka Waiwai Collective.
This is the company’s fourth co-working and event space – and the first outside of Oʻahu. Every community is different says Paishon-Duarte, and engaging the Kauaʻi community to help shape Kalukalu’s mission was crucial. Ka Waiwai partnered with neighboring Kauaʻi Federal Credit Union to host community listening and learning sessions, and Paishon-Duarte says climate became a recurring theme.
“The Kauaʻi community has proven its continued capacity for resilience and recovery in the face of natural disasters,” says Paishon-Duarte, “From Hurricane ʻIwa to Hurricane ʻIniki, and then the 2018 flooding on the North Shore. We can all learn from this.”
The group also enlisted the place-based expertise of community leaders like Stacy Sproat of the Waipā Foundation, Hanapēpē salt maker Malia Nobrega-Oliveira, and Alakoko Fishpond steward Peleke Flores. The result was a mission for Kalukalu to steward a cooperative economy that honors community, culture, and climate.
To support this mission, Ka Waiwai plans to host signature events like their popular ʻAwa & ʻAi Nights, guest speakers and talk story sessions, live music, and even community-supported agriculture pick-up at its Kalukalu location.
Ka Waiwai Collective locations are more than co-working spaces, they’re community. The company has grown since opening its flagship Mōʻiliʻili location on the bottom floor of the Varsity Building. Ka Waiwai now also operates a Nuʻuanu location near the hustle and bustle of downtown Honolulu and a Koʻolau location out of the Koʻolau Ballroom in Kāneʻohe. Paishon-Duarte says they currently serve about 120 co-working members, and the clientele runs the gamut from community to corporate.
“We attract companies, organizations, individuals curious about how to apply place-based knowledge and ancestral values into their businesses, their strategic plans, their leadership approaches,” says Paishon-Duarte, “That is the critical missing piece.”
She says Ka Waiwai is a call to action for the lāhui to come together and dream up ideas of exchange and abundance that prioritize the quality of relationships and the balance between people and the ʻāina.
Back in 2017, Paishon-Duarte co-founded Ka Waiwai Collective along with Keoni Lee, CEO of Hawaiʻi Investment Ready, and Jaime Makasobe, co-founder of Native Hawaiian clothing brand Kealopiko. The trio had a hunch that a flexible space for collaboration grounded in ancestral values was worth it.
“More and more we’re seeing a demand for a different approach to the problems that we face. The colonial mindset and systems have limited value here. We only need to be authentically ourselves,” says Paishon-Duarte.
Moving forward, Paishon-Duarte says Ka Waiwai plans to invest more time and resources into supporting wāhine entrepreneurs and leaders.
“There aren’t enough spaces for wāhine within Hawaiʻi, in our homes, in our communities, and around the world, to converse about matters that are uniquely relevant to wāhine,” says Paishon-Duarte.
Ka Waiwai plans to expand upon its signature events like Mana Wāhine Mixers and panel discussions on issues like environmental degradation and climate change.
“In my conversations with Indigenous and tribal leaders, there is a resounding call to rematriate (restore balance to) our ʻāina, our government, our systems. These patriarchal-based systems have long served the few,” says Paishon-Duarte, “We need to heal these broken systems starting with the ʻāina first and us Kānaka second.”
Paishon-Duarte says Ka Waiwai Collective’s expansion to Kauaʻi is part of a pae ʻāina wide push over the next several years. Ka Waiwai Collective will be debuting its Pae ʻĀina Co-Work Membership Pass at Kalukalu for members in need of working space on Oʻahu and Kauaʻi, and possibly other mokupuni soon.
“Over the next five years, we plan to expand Ka Waiwai to spaces across the pae ʻāina, wherever community and commerce demand,” says Paishon-Duarte, “But, we only go to places where we’re invited.”
call: 808-892-1813
Follow them on social media:
- Instagram: waiwaicollective
- Facebook: /waiwaicollective
