Mary Lou Kekuewa and daughter Paulette Kahelepuna have been preserving the art of feather-lei making at their Kapahulu Avenue shop for years.

The two are the only employees of Aunty Mary Lou's Na Lima Mili Hulu No'eau, an operation that runs 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends. They pride themselves on being available for their customers whenever they are needed.

"You have people that have to come after work, and people who come in the mornings," Kahelepuna said. "This way we're filling somebody's needs through the day and week."

The number of businesses owned by Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders remains small. But their ranks are growing significantly, according to figures provided by the U.S. Census.

The bureau reported last year that there were 32,299 Native Hawaiian- and Pacific Islander-owned businesses across the U.S. in 2002 — up a whopping 67 percent from five years ago.

The overall number of U.S. businesses increased by 10 percent during that same period. While all non-white ethnic categories saw increases higher than the national average, the jump was most dramatic among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

The Census Bureau is set to announce more detailed data on the topic next week, including the industries where Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are seeing the largest increases in new businesses.

Ka'imi Pelekai, general manager for Real Hawai'i Tours, said his family opened the catamaran cruise business along the Wai'anae Coast two years ago.

"To be a Native Hawaiian and to own a business, my personal feeling is that if we want to regain our own self-determination, we have to have people who know how to run a business," said Pelekai, 28.

The tours are sensitive to the cultural uniqueness of Hawai'i, he said, and each visitor learns a hula on the beach from a Wai'anae kumu hula before returning to the hotel.

The Pelekais' business was started with the help of a loan by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Warren Asing, president of the Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce, said efforts by groups such as OHA, Alu Like and his own organization to encourage Native Hawaiians to enter the ranks of entrepreneurship have helped bring about the increase in Native Hawaiian businesses.

OHA provides loans through a revolving fund, Alu Like offers training, and the chamber distributes scholarships, said Asing, chief operating officer for Fun Factory Inc., a subsidiary of Fernandez Entertainment, another business owned by a part-Hawaiian family.

Asing said the chamber also has a mentoring program so that veteran business leaders can help new business owners.

What's as important as increasing the number of Native Hawaiian business owners, if not more so, is ensuring that those in that position "understand the value of themselves," Asing said. "They need to express their culture and tradition."

Native Hawaiian attorney Beadie Kanahele Dawson and her family started the Dawson Group, which works primarily in the environmental remediation and construction fields, in 1994.

Dawson credits the leadership of the company president, son Christopher, with the success of the business.

The company also gets special consideration for government contracts through a program administered by the Small Business Administration designed to help businesses owned by ethnic minorities and women, Beadie Dawson said.

"We know that we have a long history of being behind," Dawson said, noting that statistics often show Native Hawaiians in the lower rung of many socioeconomic statistical comparisons.

"And so we have to work harder, we have to try harder, because we are building and proving ourselves."

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.