You could say that Dustin Shindo is a man who’s always looking for the next big thing. The consummate entrepreneur, just 34 years old, has already created four companies from the ground-up — everything from a local brewery to a clean energy technology company with $1.6 billion in contracts— all with the purpose of making a difference in the world.

Shindo founded Mehana Brewing Company in 1995 and a travel activity company called Activitymax in 1999 (which he later disbanded). He is chairman of Kai Sensors, a wireless heart rate and respiration sensing company he co-founded in 2007 and he is the chairman, president and CEO of the clean energy company, Hoku Scientific, Inc., which was established in 2001.
It is at Hoku Scientific where Shindo’s energy is most focused these days.

“I viewed energy as a market that is growing on a global scale and is in need of new technologies,” says Shindo of how Hoku Scientific was born. “This meant that in the future, efficiencies and cost savings delivered through new technologies would create significant opportunities for entrepreneurs to create value for investors. I also wanted to do something that was about more than just business. Working to bring technologies to market that help the environment has intrinsic value to me.”
Hoku Scientific, Inc. is broken down into three business units: Hoku Solar, Hoku Materials and Hoku Fuel Cells.
Hoku Solar is a Hawaii-based installer of turnkey photovoltaic (PV) systems.

“These systems convert sunlight into electricity, which makes a lot of sense in Hawaii where there are high electricity prices, lots of sun and a heavy dependence on oil,” says Shindo.

Hoku Solar recently completed an installation atop Ala Moana Shopping Center and at Hardware Hawaii Kapolei, and, last quarter, the company completed installations for Bank of Hawaii and Paradise Beverages (the Miller and Coors Brewing Company distributor in Hawaii).

Hoku Solar also won a contract with Hawaiian Electric to sell electricity generated by a Hoku Solar PV power system. The system will be installed by Hoku Solar on the roof of the Archer Substation at Hawaiian Electric’s Ward Avenue facility later this year.

Rated at a minimum of 167 kilowatts, it will be one of the largest single-site PV systems on Oahu to date. Once installed, Hoku Solar will continue to own and operate the system at a fixed rate over 20 years.

The fixed pricing is a way to secure renewable energy at a cost not tied to oil prices. It is possible because PV is among the technologies not facing costs for fuel.

“The agreement between Hawaiian Electric and Hoku Solar sets a great example for other businesses on how to install a PV system without incurring upfront costs, and still be able to lock in a long-term electricity rate and support renewables,” says Shindo.

In addition, Hoku Materials is currently in the process of building a $400 million polysilicon plant in Pacatello, Idaho. Polysilicon, says Shindo, is the raw material used to make PV panels. The location was chosen due to the need for a large space to build the facility and a need for low-cost electricity. So far, Hoku Materials has signed customer contracts totaling $1.6 billion.
The first product from the plant will be produced in the second half of 2008 with the first commercial sale in the first half of 2009. The plant should be fully operational in the first half of 2010.

Hoku Fuel Cells is where Shindo and his team have developed a non-fluorinated membrane for use in PEM fuel cells.
“In this business we are maintaining our key intellectual property, but we are not looking for new contracts at the current time,” he explains.

There are several ways in which Shindo says Hoku Scientific plays a role in developing and perpetuating renewable technologies.

“First, we are deploying PV in Hawaii,” he says. “This helps increase the use of renewable energy technologies in the state, but more importantly, it helps to raise the awareness level about how renewable energy technologies make sense today. Second, we are building a factory in Idaho to make more raw materials that enable the manufacturing of more PV modules. The shortage of this key raw material is slowing the growth of solar technology globally.”

Shindo says there are two trends he sees in Hawaii as far as renewable technologies are concerned.

“I see a broader understanding of the importance that our state encourages and implements renewable energy technologies,” he says. “And I see an increased acceptance of renewable energy technologies in commercial and industrial applications.”

Shindo believes his role in life is to make a difference in the world and being an entrepreneur is how he can achieve this goal.

“Being an entrepreneur is the area where I can make the biggest difference,” says Shindo, a graduate of Waiakea High School on the Big Island, who earned a degree in business and accounting from the University of Washington and a MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. “I love being able to create new businesses and pursue new opportunities. I think it is my responsibility to find the biggest opportunities out there and to solve the biggest problems.”

Shindo says the one consistent thing in the development of all his companies has been finding a niche that needs to be filled and filling it.

To this end, he works more than 100 hours a week and spends 80 to 90 percent of his time flying around the world on business to places like China, Japan and Germany.

“It’s sad, but many of the airport staff and flight attendants know me,” he laughs. “Last year, I flew close to 400,000 miles.”
But logging this kind of super-human work hours is what keeps Shindo ahead of the game in a busy, ever-changing business and technology world.

He attributes much of his success to what he refers to as the “3P’s” of building business.

“First, you have to have passion for a business endeavor,” explains Shindo. “You have to love what you do to be able to put forth the sacrifice needed to grow a business. Second, you have to focus on performance. Every entrepreneur ultimately needs to be good at what they do to build a company. And third, you have to have persistence. Entrepreneurs encounter countless obstacles and not giving up is key to long-term success.”

This philosophy, which Shindo attributes in part to the lessons he learned from his parents, is a mantra that is touted by every member of Hoku Scientific’s team.

“There are a lot of obstacles I’ve faced as an entrepreneur but the ones I think people can relate to the most are having a limited pool of employees to choose from and having limited capital,” says Shindo. “This means that we spend more time developing key team members internally, and need to look beyond Hawaii for customers and investors.

“We also place added emphasis on being detail-focused and on creating value for our shareholders. We have to take everything to the nth degree to get things done. We are an extremely hard-working company and extremely cost-conscious.”

When it comes to employees, Shindo is looking for the right fit. “If we were in Silicon Valley, we would have more ready access to individuals that understand what it takes to grow a high-tech company,” he says. “Here in Hawaii we have to work extra hard to find the right type of team member for this company. They have to have the 3P’s. I need to have it and the team needs to have it.”

Shindo says he’s lucky to have an amazing team already in place. “This group of people is making it happen. They know they are not just building a company but making a difference in the world.”

Shindo started working early on in life for his family’s Pepsi Cola distribution business on the Big Island.

“I was put to work at a young age,” he recalls. “I’d work in the warehouse or build store displays and help in the office.”

His first job outside the family business was for the sugar cane plantation when he was a sophomore in high school.

It was right after college that Shindo opened Mehana Brewing Company. He took his knowledge of the family business and used it to do what he loves best: find an opportunity and create his own brand.

“The thing I learned from Mehana was how a business actually needs to operate,” says Shindo, who is married to wife Jamie and has a baby girl, Brooke. “A lot of people want to own a business, but to run a company is very different.”

“It becomes a different animal,” Shindo explains. “Doing the marketing, production, staffing and dealing with legal issues — and how these things interact — isn’t something I appreciated until I ran the business.”

These days he leaves the day to day operations of Mehana Brewing Company to the family (his father, Calvin, is the general manager), so that Shindo can focus his attention on Hoku Scientific and other entrepreneurial opportunities.

He’s not ready to share his next venture ideas with us yet, but rest assured, Shindo will continue to seek out new ways to do and build business.

“I’m only 34, so I hope I’ll have the chance to do a few more entrepreneurial endeavors in my life,” he says.
For now, however, Shindo is proud for what he has achieved to date, especially when it comes to the adaptability of Hoku Scientific, Inc.

“I believe that our greatest accomplishment at Hoku Scientific is being able to change as needed,” he says. “Sometimes this is as simple as adjusting the way we work to as challenging as diversifying our business to include new industries. These types of changes are not easy, and our ability to navigate those changes has been core to our success.”

That, he says, and, “Nothing can beat good old-fashioned hard work.”

If that’s the key to success then it’s no wonder why Shindo and his team at Hoku Scientific are ahead of the curve.