[Interview] Jeonbuk’s ‘Noteworthy’ 40-Year-Old Young Entrepreneur HS Group Yoo Tae-ho

"The Goal is to Create One Million Jobs in Jeonbuk"

Chairman Yoo Tae-ho of HS Group

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Geon-ju] We met Yoo Tae-ho, a 40-year-old young entrepreneur full of compassion and ambition who wants to create one million jobs and make Jeonbuk a prosperous region, the icon of innovation, and heard about his aspirations and history.

Yoo Tae-ho, chairman of HS Group, who serves as CEO of more than ten affiliates including HS Industry, HS Chemical, HS ENC, and HS Food, covering environmental, agricultural life food industries, and bio-related industries, was born in Guwari, Samnye-myeon, Wanju, Jeonbuk, and spent his school days in Gunsan.

With gentle eyes characteristic of the Jeolla dialect and the tenacity typical of Honam people, Yoo Tae-ho questions, “Why do they only make scorched rice in Gimje, the symbol of our country's granary?” He continues, “We must face the reality that rice, our staple food from the vast Honam Plain, is no longer considered a staple. Rice must be developed into processed foods.”

Raised in a family with nine sons and one daughter, Yoo’s father began his entrepreneurial journey in 1999 with environmental energy businesses such as transportation and collection. Following his father’s will, Yoo entered the business after completing his freshman year of university.

Since establishing Heeseong Industry in 2008, HS Group has grown through supplying organic fertilizers to NongHyup in 2010, developing eco-friendly organic materials, establishing related research institutes, collaborating with local universities, and receiving certifications as a technology-innovative small and medium enterprise.

While others evaluate HS Group as a rapidly growing company, Yoo insists, “HS Group is by no means a rapidly grown group.” According to him, HS Group started right after the 1997 IMF crisis with just two trucks, united as a family of three.

Built from the ground up on trust and sincerity, the group has established itself in the environmental and agricultural materials industries, growing one step at a time into the group it is today.

Believing that learning is the shortcut to the future, Yoo continues to attend the advanced course at Seoul National University. Recently, through relentless effort and innovative ideas, he launched ‘rice pasta’ and ‘rice snacks’ made by processing rice.

Launched by HS FND, a part of HS Group, these rice pasta and snacks generate annual sales of 3 billion KRW solely from exports to China. In addition, they are popular as nutritious foods for infants and the elderly, with export sales to the U.S. growing in the elderly food sector.

Among HS Group companies, HS FND produces convenient meals made only with organic brown and white rice under the motto of safe food that even those with digestive difficulties can consume without burden. The reason people avoid wheat flour is due to gluten, but rice pasta and rice snacks are recognized as safe foods certified as organic processed foods.

Inheriting his father’s belief who lived with agriculture as his everything, Yoo proposes that the vision for Jeonbuk’s survival and corporate success lies in fostering only smart agricultural life industries that combine agriculture and industry in Jeonbuk, an agricultural province, as a future industry.

With a heart full of love for Jeonbuk, he is determined to devote all his efforts to smart agricultural life industrialization in Jeonbuk. Agricultural life industries and bio industries are Jeonbuk’s new growth engines.

Yoo’s challenges, having seen, heard, and practiced innovation since his twenties, continue to this day. From creating healthy seaweed snacks without salt and oil, believing rice goes well with seaweed, to probiotics made primarily from lactic acid bacteria extracted from rice, his love for Jeonbuk, rice, and children continues unabated.