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 Small Business Advocate of the Year
for Veterans

Hawaii Business Magazine, May 2019 Issue

Noela Napoleon
Consultant/Business Owner
Patsy T. Mink Center for Business & Leadership

The word “bootstrapping” keeps coming up when you talk to Noela Napoleon. It applies both to her history as a small-business owner, and to the people she now lifts up as a business consultant.

Napoleon, who grew up in Kailua, says she never expected to own a company dealing with frozen confections. But when the opportunity arose in 1995 to buy a company selling syrups and dispensers, she and her husband took the leap. The result is Frozen Fun!/Slush Puppie Hawaii, a wholesale distributorship and party rental service specializing in frozen beverages and ice creams.

Napoleon was so successful she launched her own consulting business, helping others shine. She also works as the lead business counselor at the Patsy T. Mink Center for Business and Leadership, and as an instructor with the U.S. Veterans Business Outreach Center.

She often helps servicemen and servicewomen plan their transitions into post-military life. “I’m a local girl from Hawaii, and I’m teaching interstate business,” she says. “We work together to piece the puzzles together. What is the economy like in Minnesota? What are the chances of opening your motorcycle shop in your grandma’s barn? You have to give them hope. Business is like a jacket. It has to be tailor-made to you.- By-Kathryn Drury Wagner

Sponsor: Dennis Kwak & Viktorija Aniulyte, Veterans Business Outreach Center

Hawaii Business Magazine, May 2019 Issue

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