Why I Stop at the Mana Up Store Every Time

June 26, 2026

I was at the Kahului airport recently and walked past the House of Mana Up store. Stopped. Went in. Spent more time than I planned.

Then I was at Bank of Hawaii and saw a Mana Up display near the entrance. Same feeling. Something genuinely worth paying attention to.

I am not sure when buying a gift in Hawaii became synonymous with picking through shelves of coconut-shaped magnets and things stamped "Made in China." But somewhere along the way it did, and most of us just accepted it. Mana Up decided not to.

Founded in 2017 by Meli James and Brittany Heyd, Mana Up is a six-month business accelerator built specifically for Hawaii-based product companies with the potential to grow globally. Food and beverage, fashion, beauty, home goods, art. If someone on this island is making something worth scaling, Mana Up is the program trying to help them do it. They have now graduated companies through eleven cohorts, selected from hundreds of applicants each cycle, and the numbers are real: $84 million in annual revenue generated across alumni companies, 874 jobs created, companies growing at a mean rate of 33 percent annually.

The goal Meli James set when she started this was to build 100 Hawaii product companies each generating $10 million or more in annual revenue. A billion dollars flowing through locally owned, locally made businesses. That is not a small idea.

House of Mana Up is the retail side of it, and that is what you see at the airport and in the bank lobby. Products made here, by people from here, sold here and increasingly everywhere else.

Here are a few of my personal favorites, the ones I keep coming back for.

Wai Meli Honey. I am a honey addict, and this is the one. Founded by Kawika Sebag on Hawaii Island, Wai Meli is small-harvest raw honey from a beekeeper who moves his hives to wherever specific flowers are blooming. The result is varietal honeys unlike anything you find in a grocery store. Lehua blossom. Eucalyptus. Christmas berry. Each one tastes like a specific place and moment in Hawaii. Once you have had real honey, the stuff in the plastic bear bottle is ruined for you forever.

Hawaii Ulu Cooperative Flour and Ulu Mana Chips. Two different companies, both doing something important with breadfruit. The Hawaii Ulu Cooperative is a farmer-owned network on the Big Island producing 100 percent Hawaii-grown ulu flour -- gluten-free, nutrient-dense, and genuinely versatile in the kitchen. Ulu Mana makes the chips, seasoned with garlic and Hawaiian sea salt, and they are the snack I reach for when I want something that actually makes sense here. Both are available through House of Mana Up.

Ua Hawaii Body Care. A family tradition going back over thirty years, handcrafted in small batches in Waimea by Leala and Blaine Humbert. Kukui oil, mango butter, aloe. Clean, vegan, and the lotions smell like Hawaii is supposed to smell -- not like a synthetic approximation of it. The Pakalana scent is the one I keep buying.

Manoa Chocolate. Bean-to-bar chocolate made on Oahu from locally grown cacao. This is world-class chocolate that happens to be made in Hawaii, not the other way around. The lilikoi bar is worth seeking out.

I think about Mana Up sometimes in the context of what it means to actually live here long term. Hawaii's economy has always been heavily weighted toward tourism and outside capital. Mana Up is a genuine attempt to build something different -- an ecosystem of local entrepreneurs creating products rooted in this place, employing people from this place, and generating wealth that stays here.

Next time you are at the airport with twenty minutes before your flight, skip the chain store. Walk into House of Mana Up. Buy something made by someone who lives here. It is the best souvenir you can bring home, and it matters more than most people realize.

You can shop online at houseofmanaup.com or find them at the Kahului airport and select resort locations around the islands.

Mino McLean, RB - Island Sotheby's International Realty mauimino.com