Business Briefs: The legal side of CNMI's startups; DPW to launch $12M project

CNMI innovation incubator elevates legal readiness for innovators

Saipan—Innovators in the CNMI Innovation Incubator Program successfully completed a Legal Readiness Workshop on March 28 at the Incubator Makerspace in Beach Road Plaza. Conducted in collaboration with the Northern Marianas College Center for Training and Innovation, the session marked the third module of the program’s five-part strategic training series, designed specifically for program innovators.

The training focused on key legal and regulatory requirements for starting and sustaining a business in the CNMI, including business structures, compliance, contracts and risk management—areas that play a critical role in long-term business success.

Facilitated by Joseph Hallahan, attorney at Hallahan Law, LLC, the session provided practical guidance on how legal considerations—such as ownership, authority and proper documentation—impact day-to-day operations and overall business stability.

Through collaborative legal scenario discussions, innovators worked in groups to analyze real-world situations and identify appropriate solutions, strengthening their ability to recognize and navigate common legal challenges.

“Understanding the legal side of a business is critical to protecting what our Innovators are building,” said Cherese Palacios, program manager. “With a strong legal foundation, many common challenges can be prevented. This training helps entrepreneurs identify risks early, maintain compliance and make confident, well-informed decisions as they grow.”

“This training helped me better understand how important it is to plan ahead and have the right legal protections in place,” said Sakurako Halstead, founder of SakuBloom. “It gave me a clearer understanding of the risks involved and how to structure my business more thoughtfully moving forward.”

Through its business strategic training series, the CNMI Innovation Incubator equips innovators with practical tools to sustain and scale their ventures. The next session, focused on market expansion, will take place in May.

DPW teams up with Hawaiian

Rock, Samsung on road project

The Department of Public Works will break ground on the Cross Island Road Pavement Repairs project on Route 17.

The $12-million project is a collaboration between DPW highway maintenance crews, DPW & contractor, Hawaiian Rock Products  and private property developer, Samsung.

Samsung will repair pavement failure areas along the route from the solar farm to Baza Gardens, while the DPW crews will repair pavement failure areas for the rest of Route 17, from Route 5 to the solar farm.

After Samsung and DPW complete the full- and partial-depth pavement repairs, Hawaiian Rock will mill 3 inches of the existing pavement and replace it with 3 inches of new base-course asphalt paving and a 1-inch wearing-surface asphalt friction course. HRP will also be placing new striping and pavement markers.

This work is the 5th Task Order to DPW’s Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity paving project, which has repaired several island routes in recent years, most recently, Route 8, the ongoing Route 10 project, Route 2A, and Route 30A among others. This contract mechanism has allowed DPW to respond quickly to repair distressed pavements on numbered island routes eligible for federal funding.

The task order will pave approximately 4 miles of the 5.7 miles of Route 17 by Sept. 21, 2026.