DARREN KIMURA

What this episode covers

Skipping school to travel interstate? Sounds like a high-school adventure. But for Darren Kimura, president and CEO of Hawaii-based Energy Industries, it was a necessity to run his business. Hawaii-born Mr. Kimura started his business at 20, and as a student of Portland State University, he would cut school for a couple of weeks, come back to Hawaii and then leave again to keep his business up and running. “We got a local Hawaii fax number, a local Hawaii cell phone and a pager number, and when I was at PSU, I was still actually doing consulting for companies in Hawaii without actually having them know that I was not in-state,” he said. “For the most part, it really is a tribute to communications and the development of it. You could be intrastate working in Portland, yet working for Hawaii businesses and helping them do their thing while learning about how those businesses out there in Oregon were operating.” Mr. Kimura’s company specializes in energy efficiency services catering to commercial industries and since inception in 1994 it has expanded nation-wide to deliver energy saving alternatives to its clients. Learn more of Darren Kimura’s success story as he gives tips and advice to would-be entrepreneurs. BIO: Darren T. Kimura, President and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Kimura is a 14 year energy serial entrepreneur. Over his career he created several companies which he led to multi-million dollar success and liquidity. Mr. Kimura is the founder and Chairman of the Board for Energy Industries, a large national energy project developer. Energy Industries features 12 offices in 3 countries and over 200 employees. Mr. Kimura also founded Facility Solutions a national service broker, Pacific Energy Services an energy engineering company, Energy Conservation Hawaii an energy retrofit company, eCONTROLS a digital technology company and Energy$mart a utility consulting company. In addition, he has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions having purchased the Quantum companies and other independent energy companies. His entrepreneurship accomplishments include awardee of the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year 2000, Awardee of the coveted SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2002 (regional – CA, HI, AZ) and EPA Energy Pioneer of the Year. He attended the University of Hawaii and Portland State University. He is also a Certified Energy Manager, Certified Demand Side Manager, Certified Distributed Energy Professional and Certified Sustainable Development Professional. He is currently the President and CEO of Sopogy, Inc. a leader in solar power technology. Sopogy specializes in the development, design, manufacturing and distribution of its solar energy collector that is used to generate electricity, create air conditioning, agricultural drying and for industrial steam systems. Education: 1992 Waiakea High School 1992 University of Hawaii at Manoa – Business 1996 Portland State University – Electrical Engineering Energy Industries, LLC: 1994 Started Energy Industries in Hilo during summer break from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. 1996 Created Energy Conservation Hawaii (ECH) 1998 Created Pacific Energy Services 2000 Created eCONTROLS 2001 Created Energy$mart 2003 Created Lighting and Electrical Company 2004 Created Facility Solutions 2005 Acquired Quantum Lighting and Quantum Energy Other Facts: 1991 Eagle Scout 2000 PBN 40 under Forty 2002 SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Hawaii, California, Nevada, Arizona, Guam) Darren is married to his wife Kelly and they have a 18 month old daughter Aya. Brief Company Bio. Energy Industries, LLC. (EI) is a national energy efficiency company with offices currently in Honolulu, Kahului, Hilo, Seattle, Spokane, Boise, Portland and New York. Originally founded in Hilo,