Issue #03 | George Yarbrough, Program Director at the Univ. of Hawaiʻi

George Yarbrough is the Entrepreneur Programs Associate Director at the University of Hawaiʻi Office of Innovation and Commercialization. He co-founded Impact Hub Honolulu in 2015 (later rebranded as The Hub Coworking Hawaiʻi), a multipurpose gathering space in Kakaʻako for local small businesses, entrepreneurs, and other community organizations.

Q: You moved to Hawaiʻi when you were in the fourth grade, then left in high school to pursue other academic and early-career interests, which ultimately led you to Operation Smile. What was that experience like?

When I was 23 years old, I began working with Operation Smile, a nonprofit that provides free surgery to children with cleft lips and cleft palates. My role at Operation Smile was essentially coordinating medical missions. So I had to coordinate medical cargo shipments across country lines, often working with senior health officials and sometimes even presidents to do so.

I was also responsible for getting our team of volunteers—world-class doctors, surgeons, and nurses—into the countries where we were going to work. I was the one taking care of all of the logistics: getting to the hospitals, to the hotels, to the airport, literally everything.

Q: Why did you ultimately decide to return to Hawaiʻi after your time with Operation Smile?

I ended up leaving Operation Smile after several years because I needed a change. I felt like I didn't have a community and didn't have close friends because I was constantly traveling and living out of a suitcase. I knew I wanted to start the next chapter of my career, so I gave Operation Smile a six to eight-month notice and then I left.

I was taking some time off at my uncle's house in Southern California, up in the mountains, trying to figure out what was next for me. And I had a short list of places I was thinking about moving — Kuala Lumpur was one of them, and Honolulu was another because I wanted to get back into surfing.

A friend of mine who was a plastic surgeon in the army—who was also one of my favorite volunteers at Operation Smile—reached out to me and said, “Hey, I'm looking to build a team in Hawaiʻi, and I think you'd be a really good fit. Would you be interested in coming back to Hawaiʻi?”

I was thinking about returning to Hawaiiʻi, and his message serendipitously popped into my inbox. Long story short, I jumped at the chance and returned to Hawaiʻi to work with the Center of Excellence for Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response based at Tripler Army Medical Center. That's essentially what brought me back to Hawaiʻi.

Q: You co-founded Impact Hub Honolulu in 2014-2015, which later rebranded as The Hub Coworking Hawaiʻi (The Hub) in 2020. What lessons did you learn as a result of building a community-based business here in Hawaiʻi?

Building and cultivating an entrepreneurial ecosystem here in Hawaiʻi taught me to lead with full integrity always, even when facing truly difficult decisions. I’ve found that if you lead with full integrity, it will always come back around, especially here in Hawaiʻi because it's a smaller community.

I'll give you an example:

At The Hub, we led with our mission first, which was to help Hawaiʻi-based startups and small businesses thrive. And when the pandemic hit a few years ago, we, like many others, were faced with a difficult dilemma — how do we, as a small business, continue to best support our small business customers during a time when we expect small businesses to be hit the hardest?

Ultimately, we decided to stay true to our mission and gave our customers an instant 15% discount because we knew they would likely lose significant income. But as a result, we saw our revenues plummet. Eventually, we were able to inch our way out of a tough spot because of the support of the community, the city, and the state, but it was a really difficult decision to make at the time. To me, that is an example of leading with integrity, leading with your why, and trusting that it will come back around.

I try to stay true to my own mission and my own values of integrity and honesty and transparency in everything that I do. And I think I'm a little bit more anchored to it now because of the “hard knocks” that I've experienced while founding and running several businesses.

Q: Youʻve been in your role at the University of Hawaiʻi Office of Innovation and Commercialization for almost a year now; was the transition into academia from serial founder as natural a fit for you as it might appear?

That is an interesting question.

The truth is, it hasnʻt been easy, but it hasnʻt been as difficult as I imagined. And I think that has to do in large part because of the people here at UH who give me a lot of latitude and trust to get my job done.

I also believe leading with integrity and transparency has helped me out, too. For instance, Iʻm able to sit with the inventors here at UH and say, “This is why I'm here. I may not be able to speak the same technical language as you, but I've lived and done things that you haven't done. And I'm very passionate about trying to support our ecosystem. And I know that you are, too, because you are working tirelessly to create brand new technologies and tools that help us solve huge, societal issues.”

I grew so quickly with The Hub that I donʻt think I had an opportunity to reflect all that often; everything was just one reaction, one decision after the other. But now, the pace is still fast but itʻs a different kind of fast. I'm able to go home and reflect on what happened that day and say to myself, “The reason why I reacted in this way or the reason why I acted that way is because of the things that I’ve learned as an entrepreneur.”

Iʻm very grateful for those experiences that led me to UH.

Q: A lot of people arenʻt familiar with the role that a university tech transfer office plays in sustaining a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem. Can you describe the role that the OIC plays in the continued development of Hawaiiʻs entrepreneurial ecosystem?

So, as an entrepreneur, I didnʻt know that an individual in a small company can walk up to the tech transfer office at the University of Hawaiʻi and, in laymanʻs terms, effectively “rent” or license groundbreaking inventions and technologies for use in their business.

So, a tech transfer office is a tool—or a library of tools— entrepreneurs and already established companies can come and sift through. And they might say to us at UH, “I want to license this technology for my company because I think itʻs going to give me a competitive advantage, or itʻs going to help me reach profitability faster, or itʻs going help me reach scale more efficiently. Can we talk about what a license would look like?”

And those licenses typically have very favorable terms for entrepreneurs and startups because we want you to succeed. Because if you succeed, you make money. And if you make money, then we make money.

So, I want people to know that the University of Hawaiʻi Office of Innovation and Commercialization is a tool for the innovation ecosystem here in Hawaiʻi. Use us as an opportunity to kickstart your efforts, “rent one of our books,” so to speak, and make it your own.

Q: You are and have been in the middle of the effort over the past decade to build, grow, and sustain the startup ecosystem here in Hawai’i. What are we doing well?

Iʻll name a couple of things I think weʻre doing well as a state, but it doesnʻt mean that we canʻt be doing them better.

First, I think we do a good job of acknowledging that “innovation” has multiple definitions, and it doesnʻt always manifest as some flashy new technology.

For instance, you have Kamuela Enos doing amazing work as the leader of the UH Office of Indigenous Knowledge and Innovation, Purple Maiʻa leading with indigenous innovation design, and Elemental Excelerator consistently focused on more sustainable, equitably indigenous innovation. Then there are organizations like Mana Up that do a great job of incorporating the brand of Hawaiʻi in a thoughtful, well-intentioned manner. So I think we are starting to get that right, and I think that Hawaiʻi can be a real leader on a global scale when it comes to indigenous innovation.

Second, I think our leaders typically do a good job of facilitating transparent conversations, particularly when it comes to continued entrepreneurial and economic development. Maybe that is because we are a relatively small community, and there is a high degree of trust involved, but I do believe that we are doing a good job in that category.

Q: What is the best way for people to support you in your role at the OIC at UH right now?

I would really like for people to know and understand that they can approach the University of Hawaiʻi Office of Innovation and Commercialization anytime theyʻre interested in using one of our technologies. Iʻd like for people to spread the word and help us make sure that the entrepreneurial community in Hawaiʻi sees us as an asset to the community. We are a conduit for federal dollars and are ready, able, and willing to support the greater ecosystem. So, if you have ideas, let us know.

Q: What’s the best way for people to connect with you?

On LinkedIn

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