Page 21 - MidWeek - Dec 8, 2021

DECEMBER 8, 2021 MIDWEEK 21
Shindo Adds Perfect Game To His Duties
FROM PAGE 16
the birth of Hawai‘i’s first SPAC could improve the way outsiders view doing business in the islands.
“When you go out to the rest of the world to try and raise money or do deals, there’s always this feeling that Hawai‘i is just a tour- ist thing,” notes Shindo, whose extensive business background includes founding the drug devel- opment company Pono Corp. and its health care subsidiaries. “So, anytime anyone can do something like this, it helps in changing some of those perceptions and that makes it better for the next generation, or Nfor the next person who goes out and does it. People will start think- ing, ‘Hey, I can do it, too!’”
set up shop in the islands — a boon for local players because it great- ly expands the world of Hawai‘i baseball.
ot surprisingly, Shindo is as comfortable talking about home runs, pop-
n the late 1800s, Shindo’s great-grandfather, Katsuichi Shindo, started Hilo Soda
“Hoku was a hydrogen/fuel/ cell component company that also did solar, and we took it public on Nasdaq in 2005,” he recalls. “In a period of 10 years, I raised about a half-billion dollars in capital through various sources, and we were even able to build a big plant in Idaho.
flies and strikeouts as he is dis- cussing profit margins, returns on investment and balance sheets. Last month, he was named Hawai‘i state director for Perfect Game, the largest baseball scouting service in the world and one that hosts youth baseball and softball events in 35 states.
Shindo, who grew up on the Big Island playing baseball and soccer, is especially excited about debut- ing the Perfect Game Pacific Base- ball Championship in the islands next July. It will be the first of what he hopes is many premier tourna- ments to be staged in the state.
“I thought we would help the environment through the compa- ny, and I believe we did because if you look around (Honolulu), there are solar systems all over the place that we were involved in,” says Shindo, adding that business was eventually sold during the financial crisis in 2009.
Like many, the prominent busi- nessman expects better days ahead following the global turbulence of the past two years. Part of that con- fidence stems from his belief that a merger with another company will happen in the coming year, and thus officially complete his first-ever SPAC.
In choosing to volunteer for the position, Shindo gave the national organization every reason to finally
“What makes this tournament
“My parents worked hard, and they put me to work early on,” he acknowledges.
“Hopefully, there will be some benefit for Hawai‘i,” Shindo says. “It’s also possible I might do (an- other SPAC) again.”
The ever on-the-go businessman, shown here addressing the audience during the Fuel Cell Conference in Germany in 2006, will be looking to complete the process for his first-ever special purpose acquisition company in 2022.
The regret was short-lived, however, as circumstances would lead him down a path of new op- portunities. In the mid-’ 90s, he launched Mehana Brewing Co.,
“A lot of the nonprofit work I do is just for the greater good,”
“I really hope to hear more of that in the coming year,” Shindo says in finalizing his wish list for 2022. “That would make me feel like this has all been worth it.”
“Almost every U.S.-born player that’s in the major leagues has at one point played in Perfect Game. It’s the avenue to be seen by college and professional scouts,” explains Shindo, who in 2018 created the nonprofit Hawai‘i Youth Baseball Association, which has since been renamed Perfect Game Hawai‘i.
different is that all the data for the kids is integrated into the Perfect Game system. So, anytime a play- er goes up and hits a home run or pitches a good inning, the informa- tion gets captured into the system, which means that all of the scouts and all of the people watching across the country can see and sift through it,” he explains.
(Inset) In 2007, Dustin Shindo celebrates the opening of the Nasdaq stock market in Times Square, New York City, with wife Jamie, daughter Brooke, and Hoku Scientific business partner Karl “Kaleo”Taft. (Above) Baseball is an important part of Shindo’s life. Here, he attends a tournament held last December at Cactus Yards in Arizona with sons Tyler, 12, Sean, 10, and daughter Brooke, 15. PHOTOS COURTESY DUSTIN SHINDO
“Now think about what this all means for a Hawai‘i baseball player. It means you don’t have to fly to the mainland every time you want to be seen at a tourna- ment or showcase. There are some players who can afford to do that, but what about everyone else?” he asks. “So, we needed a way to bring more (exposure) to Hawai‘i so that more players could be seen than otherwise would be.”
I
Works — a Pepsi Cola distribu- tion business that the family op- erated for generations. Naturally, as a product of entrepreneurial stock, Shindo was expected to contribute to the business from a young age, and that included learning to wash tanks and deliv- er soft drinks.
and followed that up by starting the renewable energy venture Hoku Scientific in 2001.
he says. “I don’t get paid, so for me it’s just about making a differ- ence. Early on, I chose to focus on businesses that would help and that I hoped would be mean- ingful, whereas now there’s more of a balance between that and the nonprofits.”
But soon after returning home from college (he received his bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Washing- ton and his master’s in business administration from the Univer- sity of Virginia), Shindo was shocked to discover the Hilo op- eration was about to be sold to a mainland company.
In recent years, Shindo has cho- sen to invest much of his time in philanthropic pursuits. Beyond his baseball nonprofit, he’s also helped establish the Calvin Shindo Stu- dent Venture Fund at University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, a program that’s named after his father and one that allows students to act as early-stage venture capitalists while learning to make important investment de- cisions; and the Big Island-based Community First, which features a number of programs aimed at improving community health and wellness.
More importantly, he believes his nonprofits will continue to flourish and enhance the lives of many. He’s positive that the pres- ence of Perfect Game in the islands will increase the number of college scholarship offers to “a broader range of kids,” and looks forward to hearing more “inspiring stories” from Calvin Shindo Venture Fund participants — specifically, how the program has “positively” im- pacted their lives.
“It happened three months after I got back from college,” he recalls. “At the time, I was pretty disap- pointed since (continuing to work there) was obviously my plan.”