Student’s Business Makes a Paw-sitive Impact

STUDENT’S BUSINESS MAKES

A Paw-sitive BY DAY, OLIVER CARSON IS STUDYING BUSINESS. AND BY NIGHT, HE’S RUNNING ONE. Impact

The Chaminade University senior and Hogan Entrepreneurial Program student owns Better Place Brands, whose mission of giving back is baked right into the name. Carson started the business with his father in August 2020, launching a line of privatelabel coffee brands geared toward animal lovers.

“Customers not only want a great product, but they want the product to stand for something. That’s what this company is all about,” Carson said. “It also feels good to make those donations every quarter.” Carson’s Better Place Brands has different “companies” named after pets.

There’s the Great Dane Coffee Company. The Golden Retriever Coffee Company. And most recently, Carson launched the Cat Rescue Coffee Company. In all, he has 13 private coffee labels. And each of them donates 20 percent of the proceeds to charities and rescue shelters located across the United States. Two are located right here in Hawai'i—Cat People of O'ahu and Lāna'i Cat Sanctuary. In 2021, Carson’s companies gave $10,000 in cash and in-kind merchandise to organizations.

“We did better than expected,” he said, adding he hopes to donate even more this year.

‘A REALLY PERFECT FIT’

Carson grew up in a suburb of Cleveland and attended Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School, a Marianist school. As a child, he visited Hawai'i several times with his family—and it became a dream to study in the islands. It turned out that dream was much more achievable than he realized.

A basketball coach who used to play at Chaminade chatted with him about the University.

He then learned about the Chaminade Scholars program, which offers up to 75 percent off tuition to students who are members of a Catholic parish or attend a Catholic or Marianist high school, demonstrate academic excellence, and participate in experiences of service and faith.

Of everything Chaminade had to offer, he was most excited about joining a vibrant community and learning more about Hawai'i’s rich cultural traditions. “I grew up in a diverse environment, and that has always been something that I’ve been attracted to,” Carson said. “It was a really perfect fit.”

At Chaminade, Carson also found the same values of family spirit, serving others and giving back that he’d embraced at his Marianist high school. “It really felt similar to that tradition I experienced,” he said.

Two product lines from Better Placed Brands shown above