Kekepana International Services

January 13, 2012
Steve Craven spoke to the winter annual meeting of the Association of Pacific Ports about modern trade negotiations and how they are conducted. You can read Steve's blog report or take a look at his PowerPoint. 

December 14, 2011
Steve Craven was interviewed on The Experience Pros, a talk radio show produced by The Source, KLZ 560 AM in Denver, Colorado. We talked about training small companies to get ready to go into foreign markets, using our Export University programs in Hawaii as an example of effective training. The show is syndicated and broadcast in 16 states.

December 12, 2011
ETurboNews.com picked up two of our blog posts about direct flights to Hawaii and where Hawaii's visitors will come from in 2012.

May 7, 2011
Honolulu radio station KGU interviewed Steve Craven and three others for a talk show about taking your company and your products into Asia. They talked about marketing and negotiating strategies, and about what problems hold small companies back from entering Asian markets.

March 9, 2011
ETurboNews.com picked up one of our blog posts about how the Hawaii Tourism Authority spends its international marketing money. 

March 6, 2011
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser published an op-ed piece by Steve Craven about why Hawaii needs to push President Obama and the Congress to ratify and implement the pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. Hawaii stands to benefit hugely from the U.S.-Korea FTA and Hawaii's companies should take a serious look at the Colombia and Panama markets.

August 3, 2010
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser published Steve's op-ed piece in response to a Brookings Institution study that ranked Honolulu 84th out of 100 U.S. metropolitan areas for prowess in exporting.  Steve argues that Honolulu performs better than national data shows, provides examples of successful Hawaii exporters, and exhorts Hawaii's companies to do even more.

April 29, 2010
Steve's article about Hawaii's Top Ten markets for international tourists was picked up by ETurboNews.com.  The article raises questions about Hawaii's over-dependence on the Japanese market, limited marketing in Europe, and lack of marketing in Latin America.

April 16, 2010
The Honolulu Advertiser ran a front page article on April 10 entitled "APEC may hurt businesses", citing one retailer's fear that motorcades during the 2011 APEC Summit in Honolulu might hurt store traffic.  My rebuttal was finally printed, pointing out the immense long-term benefits Hawaii can derive from the APEC meetings. You can't say much in a letter to the editor, so see what I really thought on Business Beyond the Reef.

March 18, 2010
ETurboNews.com featured Steve's report on the Hawaii Tourism Authority's spring market briefing.  HTA spends its money in North America, Japan, China and South Korea, with a little going to Germany, the U.K., Australia and Taiwan.  The rest of the world is uncovered.

August 11, 2009
Hawaii Public Radio interviews Steve Craven about the growing success of the Hawaii Pacific Export Council, which he chairs.  Steve talks about the importance of exporting for small firms, and emphasizes the impact of Hawaii's services exports.  Listen to the interview at HPR.

October 3, 2007
The Wall Street Journal published an article about how newly-designed American Embassies are becoming less user-friendly and are often isolated from the local communities.  WSJ ran a response from Kekepana that pointed out that security concerns often hamper the work that other parts of an Embassy (e.g., the commercial sections) must do to support global business.

October 20, 2006
Pacific Business News highlighted an intense how-to-export seminar conducted by international business consultants Steve Craven and Chuck Steilen on behalf of the Hawaii-Pacific Export Council and the U.S. Department of Commerce.  "The whole idea is to build [overseas] markets for our small companies here in Hawaii," Craven said. You can read the article at PBN.