Locally made personal protective equipment (PPE) is now available for purchase on the Buy Hawaii, Give Aloha website (invest.hawaii.gov/buy-hawaii/personal-protective-equipment). The Hawaii manufacturers featured on the website were awarded grants from CARES Act funds to grow local sources of cleaning supplies and PPE in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an immediate shortage of PPE and cleaning supplies throughout the world, which greatly threatened Hawaii due to the very limited local capacity to manufacture PPE. Hawaii companies shifted their manufacturing to create cleaning supplies and PPE, demonstrating how a local supply chain can adapt and prioritize community needs.

The Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Supply Chain Program (htdc.org/innovation-grant-ppe-supply-chain) provided grants of up to $500,000 to small businesses throughout the state to help establish a local supply chain of cleaning supplies and PPE in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. The program awarded all $10,000,000 of the appropriated funds to 36 companies and the projects were completed by December 30, 2020.

The Buy Hawaii, Give Aloha platform (buy.hawaii.gov) was launched by the Business Development & Support Division (BDSD) in July 2020 to support Hawaii businesses affected by travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of selling to visitors through brick and mortar retail shops, it now focuses on engaging and selling to consumers through e-commerce. In line with the “Buy Local” strategy to support Hawaii businesses and to retain capital in Hawaii, the new online PPE section was created to encourage local buyers to purchase PPE manufactured in Hawaii.

Mike McCartney, DBEDT Director, stated, “We are very pleased to have achieved our goal of increasing local production capacity of cleaning supplies and PPE, and building resilience in Hawaii’s manufacturing sector. The program enabled Hawaii companies to keep their employees working during the pandemic, while providing economic support and new opportunities to other small businesses that employed displaced workers on all islands. This program maximized the total benefit for the state by coordinating with other funds that committed matching funds and resources to help our communities endure and recover from the impacts of COVID-19.”

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