[Square] Entrepreneurship Needed in the Post-Corona Era

The small business owners and traditional markets have been hit hard by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) crisis. Although there are survey results showing that the average card sales of small business establishments have recently recovered thanks to the government's emergency disaster relief funds and local governments' regional love currency, it seems that time is needed for economic revitalization. Both the government and the private sector are busy preparing for the post-COVID era. Our corporation is also responding to the post-COVID era by helping small business owners adopt 4th Industrial Revolution technologies and enter the untact (contactless) economy in line with these changes.

The area we are focusing on this year is the 'Commercial District Information System.' As the number of small business owners facing sales and customer declines and the risk of closure increases due to COVID-19, prepared startups that are not shaken by crises and management techniques suited to the rapidly changing distribution environment are becoming more important. Through the Commercial District Information System, the corporation provides commercial district analysis information using public-private data free of charge to support small business owners in achieving successful startups and stable management. It offers systematic information related to startups, from pre-startup self-diagnosis to commercial district, competition, location, and profitability analysis, and preparation of business strategies. Some small business owners met in the field said they obtain various information by using the corporation’s Commercial District Information System, and once they actually use it, the system provides solutions to various concerns that cannot be resolved by their own thoughts and judgments alone. The startup self-diagnosis service using big data significantly reduces the effort that prospective entrepreneurs would otherwise have to spend extensively. Since the appearance of commercial districts differs between day and night and varies by time, objective inspection or evaluation is not easy. Therefore, the system’s support, which helps startup small business owners make decisions by providing basic information necessary for startups such as business type, sales, population, and region based on administrative districts for 837 industries nationwide, as well as checking major startup industries, business periods, and profitability analysis comparisons of similar locations and industries at the intended startup location, forms the foundation for leading prepared startups.

There are also cases of successful re-challenges using the Commercial District Information System. Representative A, who runs a small cafe in Daejeon Daehung-dong, had experience opening a large coffee shop of 330.6㎡ in 2007 but closed it after four years. This was the result of starting a business without properly considering compatibility with surrounding commercial districts, location, and competing stores. Afterwards, Representative A devoted the most time to commercial district analysis for a re-challenge based on the first failure. Simply by carefully identifying the risk level of each planned startup location in advance, the failure rate could be reduced and costs saved. Now, the cafe is operating stably.

The Small Enterprise and Market Service plans to further advance the services currently provided this year to enhance user convenience and usability. It will expand competitive analysis in fields with many small business and self-employed entrants to prevent excessive competition in advance, develop a similar location prediction model that analyzes sales of similar commercial districts through AI and provides information, and expand the provision of information necessary for startups such as commercial real estate rental prices. Through cooperation with related organizations such as the National Tax Service, the basic database will be strengthened, and user interface (UI) upgrades centered on users will be carried out simultaneously.

Disease experts warn that the cycle of infectious disease outbreaks is shortening and that another infectious disease could break out again within three years. The distribution environment is also changing moment by moment, so there are limits to support policies that are only reactive. It is time for small business owners themselves to actively utilize support measures and develop proactive response capabilities. Change accompanies crisis, but on the other hand, if a crisis is well utilized, it can become a new opportunity. We support the future of our small business owners standing at the crossroads of new challenges amid the economic crisis and changes brought by COVID-19.

Kim Kyung-sook, Executive Director, Small Enterprise and Market Service