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A Brighter, Cleaner Future for Hawaii
With the help of: INNOVATE Hawaii
About
Founded in 2021, WaiHome is a company devoted to providing the Hawaii community with affordable, sustainable wastewater treatment solutions. WaiHome was launched by founders James Roberts and Greg Wong with the goal of creating an above-ground, high quality and environmentally friendly wastewater treatment alternative to septic tanks. Through the use of composting, algae and photosynthesis, the company has committed to using natural materials to create a solution that is in harmony with nature.
The Challenge
In 2019, Greg was talking with a Kauai Council Member about new legislation banning cesspool installation and mandating the upgrade of existing cesspools by 2050. As of 2024, there are still at least 83,000 cesspools in Hawaii that will need to be upgraded to meet the new state regulations. Hawaii is the last state in the United States to ban cesspools because of the state’s unique volcanic bedrock and high groundwater levels, which pose a challenge for wastewater options.
In 2021, Greg and James launched WaiHome with the goal of providing a cost-effective, high-quality, and environmentally friendly wastewater treatment option for Hawaii. WaiHome’s treatment solution is a modern alternative to septic systems and cesspools, adapting proven solids separation, treatment and disposal techniques for the compact, excavation free installation needed in the Hawaiian islands. The WaiHome System works in three phases: separation, treatment and disposal. All three phases occur above-ground and eliminate the need for costly excavation while protecting Hawaii’s delicate ecosystem. In 2021, after WaiHome won their first SBIR grant, the Innovate Hawaii team, part of the MEP National Network™, reached out to Greg and James to support the company's research and development efforts.
I highly recommend the Innovate Hawaii team to small businesses looking for assistance and additional resources. The team has genuinely worked at developing a relationship with us, has continuously been in contact to see what resources we need, fostered our company growth through community events and assisted as we embarked on further SBIR funding. We appreciate having the team as a partner, their commitment and support to helping our company not only grow, but flourish, is much appreciated.
MEP's Role
In 2021, Innovate Hawaii was able to provide WaiHome with a comprehensive commercialization review in which they provided valuable market validation insight, regulatory compliance information and the formalization of their business plan. With this in place, the WaiHome team was able to secure additional SBIR funding and Hawaii Small Business Innovation Research (HSBIR) matching grants, for a total of $2.2M to date.
Innovate Hawaii has been instrumental in helping WaiHome obtain a dedicated office space on the North Shore of Oahu and pilot testing sites for their research and development efforts. Through Innovate Hawaii's Job Fairs, the team has also expanded to a total of four full-time staff members. While the Pacific Tech Conference has let WaiHome founders communicate directly with government program managers and learn about other funding options.