200 Promising SMEs Leading the Global Market Selected

Ministry of SMEs and Startups Designates 200 Global Small Giants in 2020

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Park Young-sun, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) announced on the 28th that it has designated 200 promising small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as 'Global Strong SMEs' for 2020, which will lead the global market.

The Global Strong SMEs project is a program to discover export SMEs with innovation and growth potential and nurture them as export-leading companies or regionally driven representative companies. It is a project promoted in cooperation with the Ministry, local governments, and regional related organizations.

The Ministry has been designating Global Strong SMEs since 2011 and has been striving to build a growth ladder for each export stage to foster excellent regional export companies as 'Korean-style Hidden Champions.' Including the 200 newly designated companies this year, a total of 1,443 companies are currently operating under this program.

In particular, despite the difficult environment caused by COVID-19 this year, 407 companies applied with active participation from companies aiming to lead exports. After a fair review process, 200 companies were finally selected. The newly designated companies have an average sales revenue of 25.5 billion KRW and an average direct export amount of 7.91 million USD, with the proportion of direct exports to sales revenue accounting for 36%, indicating high global growth potential. Among them, 53% (105 companies) are non-capital region companies.

The designated Global Strong SMEs will receive customized package support from the Ministry, local governments, and private financial institutions for the next four years. Among the Global Strong SMEs designated until last year, 62 companies have grown into 'World Class 300 companies,' and the export growth rate of Global Strong SMEs in 2019 was 0.9%, about 5 percentage points higher than the overall export growth rate of SMEs.

An official from the Ministry stated, "Small but solid global competitiveness and turning the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity, Global Strong SMEs leading the global market are the vanguard of pioneering the global market," adding, "We will support this year's designated companies to leap into 'Global Hidden Champions' through private cooperation."