Kona Boys Leads Big Island Visitors on Ecotours on and in the Water

2024 SmallBiz Editor’s Choice Award winner: Co-CEOs Frank Carpenter and Brock Stratton are working to protect Kealakekua Bay’s natural and cultural treasures.

Frank Carpenter and Brock Stratton, co-CEOs of Kona Boys, cemented their friendship while studying abroad in college. Then they tried corporate America for a bit before having a shared epiphany: Chasing money isn’t their life goal.

“We wanted to focus on lifestyle,” says Carpenter. The two friends explored Hawai‘i Island – where Carpenter’s uncle Flint was a founder of Big Island Jewelers – and fell in love with the place.

After getting jobs at Kona Boys in 2000, they took over the business from the original owner in 2003.

“We’re not motivated to amass great fortunes,” says Carpenter. “We are in this to be part of the community. The Big Island has really embraced and supported us.”

Today they have a team of 15, and offer rentals, tours and retail for ocean sports. The business is based in Kealakekua and includes a beach shack in Kailua-Kona. The most popular offering at the main location is the twice daily cultural kayak and snorkel tour at Kealakekua Bay. At the beach shack, outrigger canoe rides are most popular.

“We talk about the history and, of course, look for marine life,” says Stratton. “We also do rentals by the hour for things like beach chairs and snorkel gear, and serve as a resource for things to do, places to go, things to see. We try to have that spirit of the old beach boys, to be a liaison between the visitors and the locals.”

They are proud to have been part of efforts to develop the Kealakekua Bay Master Plan, which was finally approved in late 2023 after 40 years of community work. The plan helps protect cultural and natural resources and improve safety, and importantly, acknowledges the place as a part of an active and ongoing Native Hawaiian culture.

Going forward, the two want to continue to be leaders in ecotourism and are also champions of small business. “We have developed a little commercial plaza that we’ve stocked with small businesses,” says Stratton. “We want to find ways to give back to Kona. We both have relatively young kids and want to bring them up to the business and give them an opportunity to learn about small business. We want to make this area a wonderful place to work and to do business.”