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Fuku-Bonsai co-founders David and Myrtle
Fukumoto in a 2012 photo as they celebrated their fiftieth
wedding and bonsai anniversary. At left is their original
Schefflera (Brassaia actinophylla) that was begun in the
newly-weds apartment. On right are several small Dwarf Schefflera (Schefflera arboricola), Fuku-Bonsai's
replacement
specialty. Against all odds, we are recovering, will
be restructuring and refinancing, and evolving into a
"semi-non-profit bonsai and community benefit corporation!"
Kurtistown, Hawaii. August 2023:
LAHAINA & DAN'S
GREEN HOUSE ARE GONE!
In the center of the photo is the famous Lahaina
Banyan, its limbs scorched by the devastating fire that
wiped away generations of history. The tree may recover.
Dan's Greenhouse was directly across Front Street from the
famous tree and completely lost. (Photo cropped from a
Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources photo.)
Dan's Greenhouse and Fuku-Bonsai have had a special
relationship since 1976 under our Fuku-Bonsai Authorized
Retailer Program with them as our senior priority account.
With our inventory at an all-time low, we sent them the bulk
of our limited production even as we turned down retail mail
orders.
I received a phone call from the owner Naomi Malone, who
reported the business burnt to the ground. While she
is safe, she lost everything. Go to
www.dansgreenhouse.com, click on "contact," and please
make a donation to help get her back on her feet.
This is and end of an era for us and Fuku-Bonsai is totally
refinancing, restructuring, and upgrading our product lines
to include a new "#8 size PREMIUM POTTED LAVA PLANTING"
that promises to be the most attractive, highest success
gift bonsai for anyone, anywhere who can grow houseplants.
It may be ready in time for Christmas gifts in an attractive
8" diameter polystrene pot. For more information,
please email to david.f@fukubonsai.com.
NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE! We are
shorthanded, are increasingly hard of hearing, and prefer
emails (in spite of erratic dependability) as it provide
accurate information that I can respond to. We seek
major impact investors as well as those interested in
joining us as we begin our project: "MAKING THE BIG ISLAND
AN INTERNATIONAL BONSAI MECCA!" We are especially looking
for 6-8 "Career Leadership Management Trainees" to be
mentored to form the core of Fuku-Bonsai's next gerneration
of leadership as we move primarily to mostly retail mail
order, individual or group TRUE INDOOR BONSAI™ workshops, and move to become a
"semi-non-profit corporation" with an employee stock
ownership plan (ESOP) with an incentive program to create
the ideal bonsai corporation to be a legacy of our
generation. For more information, please email to
david.f@fukubonsai.com.
Minimum investmentt $2,500 with $100,000 maximum and subject
to Hawaii closed corporation and certified nursery
regulations.
Mahalo! ~~~David
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We have begun a Public-Private REFINANCE & RESTRUCTURE
Task Force to guide Fuku-Bonsai to evolve into
a unique "SEMI-NON-PROFIT COMMUNITY BENEFIT CORPORATION"
to benefit bonsai, staff, managers, stockholders,
associates, the Big Island community, visitor industry, and
economy! YOU'RE INVITED TO
JOIN US! PLEASE EMAIL FOR INFORMATION AND RECEIVE TASK FORCE
NEWSLETTERS.
We seek 200 new large and modest ($2,500 minimum)
stockholders who share our values and are planning a
major project: "MAKING THE BIG ISLAND AN INTERNATIONAL
BONSAI MECCA!" The Fuku-Bonsai Cultural Center can become
the largest Big Island visitor attraction second only to
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
This first stock offering will raise $500,000 of working
capital to bring all accounts current, hire 6-8 "career
leadership management trainees" to be mentored and
cross-trained to become our core successor management team.
We will have an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and
create an ideal corporation.
We will build a new
third FUKU-BONSAI CULTURAL CENTER! The total project
cost will exceed $10 million. We begin building
community support to include potentially large impact investors.
The modest
minimum $2,500 stock purchase will allow us to keep them
informed as we complete recovery and move back into
profitability. The initial modest investment will hold their position to
give them priority to make larger future investments. With the initial
working capital, we expect to make significant progress and
keep everyone informed as we move into profitability.
We want Fuku-Bonsai to remain a broad-based Hawaii company
to include premium Hawaiian gift product development and
unique direct niche marketing. The "Opportunity Campus" may
grow to 30 acres and besides the Fuku-Bonsai Cultural
Center, it will include interim staff subsidized housing,
incubator facilities, and business accelerator capabilities.
For information, email
david.f@fukubonsai.com.
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Fuku-Bonsai has roots in a Fukumoto family hobby that became
a passion in 1962, the first Hawaii certified export nursery
in 1973, and a corporation since 1985 to be the catalyst to
own and operate both the 12-acre Kurtistown nursery and
17-acre Kona Fuku-Bonsai Center. The Fukumotos were
joined by over 200 mostly modest bonsai and Big Island
stockholders. That same year we also formed the 501(3)(c)
Mid-Pacific Bonsai Foundation (MPBF) to allow non-profit
bonsai educational activities. The Kona center opened in 1992 but was doomed
as defective DuPont Benlate sprayed in 1989
directly or indirectly caused over $50 million of losses!
Long story short, we lost the Kona Center, retreated
to the Kurtistown nursery, and co-sponsored by MPBF, opened
a second modest Fuku-Bonsai Cultural Center. Benlate
contamination residue prevented growing our original Brassia
profitable crop and required us to develop all new crops and
reinvent the corporation. We switched to Dwarf
Schefflera and committed to teaching bonsai. In 1999,
www.fukubonsai.com
went online. In 2000, we introduced an Introductory Workshop
Package (IWP) of nine components featuring a prepared bonsai
stock.
In 2007, the Premium Introductory Workshop Package (PIWP)
became more popular as a more developed semi-trained plant
and larger components produced a nice bonsai to start a TRUE
INDOOR BONSAI™ hobby. We also settled the Benlate
litigation. The net total proceeds of the 1994 Benlate
product liability and the 2007 DuPont fraud after taxes and
legal costs were just 3% of our direct and indirect losses!
Life is not fair but we survived while many of the original
5,000+ Benlate plaintiffs are no longer in business.
Fast forward to February 2023 as the Fukumoto celebrate 61
years of marriage and a bonsai lifestyle. THIS YEAR
FUKU-BONSAI WILL BE 50 YEARS IN BUSINESS AND IT'S TIME
TO TURN OVER FUKU-BONSAI LEADERSHIP!
Besides "career leadership management trainees," small
and large impact-investors, we seek to rebuild our
management resource team including CPA, legal counsel,
computer resource, and a full range of business associates
to produce and market an expanded product line.
To participate, email
david.f@fukubonsai.com,
provide contact and interest information, and request
receiving the Task Force Newsletter. The Fuku-Bonsai
Refinancing - Restructuring Public-Private Task Force includes both community leaders as well as those
strongly interested in TRUE INDOOR BONSAI™. It will include
large and modest impact-investors. It is not necessary to be
an investor to participate in the task force activities. We
will be sending out invitations to individuals and
organizations to join us as we create a future legacy from
our generation.
• The Fukumotos still own over 80% of
outstanding Fuku-Bonsai shares. All other current 200+
stockholders own about 15%. We are donating 30% or
more of
our
shares to Mid-Pacific Bonsai Foundation to make them the
largest Fuku-Bonsai stockholder. This will give the
Fuku-Bonsai and MPBF leaders the financial and legal clout
to create the ideal bonsai corporation. No other
bonsai organization has been formed in this manner.
Fuku-Bonsai and MPBF will have the mission and resources to
create, educate, and support a TRUE INDOOR BONSAI™ community
for future generations!
• We invite 200 new large and modest
($2,500 minimum) stockholders to be part of this "FIRST
REFINANCING PHASE." The goal is to raise $500,000 to
bring all accounts current, to remove modest property liens, to
rebuild staff and facilities, and to increase production and
move back into profitability. The primary property
with improvements and a high-value "old plant bank" does not
currently have any institutional or bank mortgage.
Once the modest liens are removed and we are back into
profitability, the property (which was paid off) can
be offered as first mortgage collateral for significant
long-term, low-interest SBA or agricultural loans. I HAVE
BEGUN ACCEPTING NEW STOCKHOLDERS! PLEASE JOIN US!
• In stead of loans, I prefer to fully
raise recapitalization funds via the sale of stock to create
a stronger corporation. That's why we were able to
survive the 1989 $50+ million DuPont Benlate loss, the
2018 multi-million Hurricane Lane loss, the CORVID-19
shut-down and other assorted challenges. We survived
while most companies would have closed! We are
recovering and rebuilding stronger than ever! During this first phase,
we will re-establish all business accounting and legal
resources to assure compliance with all Hawaii closed
corporation governmental regulations. We reserve the right
to give investors committed to Hawaii and our values, priority
to assure staying a Hawaii corporation. Becoming a
"semi-non-profit community benefit corporation" is possible
because of the original Articles of Incorporation.
• We recommend that the Articles of
Incorporation be further amended to create the ideal
"SEMI-NO-PROFIT COMMUNITY BENEFIT CORPORATION" to
include an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), to
establish guidelines to prevent immoral excessive corporate
management compensation, to create the highest standards of
management integrity and support for the TRUE INDOOR BONSAI™
community, and the sharing of profitability with the
staff, management, stockholders, and the community. Just as
Fuku-Bonsai was a leader authorizing "non-profit" activities
when it incorporated in 1985, we will document and
move toward creating the ideal "SEMI-NO-PROFIT COMMUNITY
BENEFIT CORPORATION" as our legacy for the future.
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Fuklu-Bonsai's
TRUE INDOOR BONSAI(TM) specialty Dwarf Schefflera was first
introduced about 1975 and several of our oldest specimen
bonsai including the Entry Tree were trained from the
original introductory cuttings. They are likely the oldest
Dwarf Schefflera bonsai that are now approaching 50 years in
training. The photo above was taken over 20 years ago
when it was about 25 years into training. Some of our
"Custom Collection-In Training" are
approaching this standard (but are smaller) and have never been offered for
sale. Most will be retained to be a part of the
exhibit collection, but we are increasingly offering larger
or older Custom Collection for those who have the skill and
means to acquire older premium high-potential plants.
THERE ARE ADDITIONAL NEW DIRECTIONS
IN PROGRESS!
Please join us! With mahalo, warm regards and aloha, ~~~David (david.f@fukubonsai.com)
