[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 2nd that it will invest 13.5 billion KRW this year to create about 800 virtuous cycle social economy jobs.
Social economy jobs consist of 65% vulnerable groups such as the elderly, disabled, and women with career interruptions among the total employees of social economy enterprises, creating significant social value effects such as expanding jobs for citizens in employment blind spots.
So far, Gwangju City has actively promoted financial support for nurturing social economy enterprises, the formation and operation of public-private governance councils, preparation of social economy innovation plans, and hosting social economy fairs.
Especially this year, policies will be promoted with the goal of creating a private-centered ecosystem by strengthening public-private cooperation systems, expanding sales channels in public and private sectors, and raising citizen awareness through the spread of social value, moving away from the existing government-centered approach.
First, communication will be strengthened through the activation of the social economy public-private governance council launched in April last year to discover field-centered policies and actively reflect them in city administration.
Star companies with high growth potential will be continuously discovered, and support will be provided for acquiring national certification marks such as environmental marks to secure product quality competitiveness. Excellent entrepreneurs will receive close support such as business expenses and management consulting to spread exemplary cases of social economy.
Distribution channels, which were mainly offline, will expand sales channels through the establishment of online platforms.
Gwangju City, together with Jeonnam Province, will build a public procurement online platform so that public institutions can easily access and purchase social economy products, encouraging public institutions located in the innovation city to purchase products.
Also, according to the social economy distribution support business agreement signed between Gwangju City and SK Store Co., Ltd. in October last year, support will be provided for more than two companies to enter TV home shopping and online malls this year.
Furthermore, to attract the ‘Social Economy Innovation Town,’ a 2021 public contest project by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, preliminary procedures such as feasibility studies and basic plan establishment for the innovation town will begin this month.
In addition, about 30,000 people including nationwide social economy organizations and stakeholders will participate in the ‘3rd Korea Social Economy Fair’ to be held in Gwangju in July, operating 350 booths of social economy enterprises, thereby forming a consensus on social economy among citizens and the region and increasing awareness.
Gwangju City expects that through social economy revitalization projects, the self-sustainability of enterprises will be strengthened, existing jobs will be maintained continuously and stably, and new job creation effects will appear.
Park Nam-eon, Director of the City’s Job Economy Office, said, “Social economy has played a significant role in solving regional social problems such as job creation for vulnerable groups, community restoration, and polarization resolution,” adding, “Taking advantage of the Korea Social Economy Fair being held in Gwangju this year, we will do our best to activate local social economy organizations and help them take a step forward.”
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