Gangdong-gu, Efforts to Expand the Social Economy Ecosystem

Held Training and Matching Day for Social Economy Enterprise Priority Purchase Officers... First Demonstration of Public Procurement Platform 'Gonggong Sangsa'... Building an Innovative Model for Social Economy

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Jeong-hoon) held the ‘Social Economy Enterprise Priority Purchase Officer Training and Matching Day’ on the 22nd at the 5th-floor auditorium of the district office to revitalize the social economy, which has been weakened by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and to support social economy enterprises in developing sales channels.

About 90 people, including representatives from five local social economy enterprises and purchasing officers from various district office departments, attended the event, where training was conducted to enhance understanding of the social economy, explain the necessity of priority purchasing, and guide purchasing methods.

Following this, a ‘Matching Day’ was organized where representatives of social economy enterprises directly introduced their products to purchasing officers who are public officials, promoting purchases through one-on-one additional consultations and Q&A sessions.

Notably, the event featured the first demonstration of ‘Gonggong Sangsa,’ a public purchase platform for social economy enterprises established for the first time by a basic local government. Gonggong Sangsa is an online platform created through 1 year and 6 months of collaboration among the Gangdong Social Enterprise Council, Gangdong-gu, social venture companies, and other public-private-corporate partners, aiming for the mutual growth of local small business owners and social economy enterprises.

Approximately 13,000 social economy enterprise products are registered on Gonggong Sangsa. It is a one-stop system where purchasing officers can easily check and purchase products through product requests, price comparisons, and purchases. A portion of the profits is used to revitalize the social economy and small business owners.

Lee Jeong-hoon, Mayor of Gangdong-gu, said, “‘Gonggong Sangsa’ is expected to serve as a bridge between the public sector and social economy enterprises, injecting vitality into the challenging social economy market. We will strive to expand the social economy ecosystem by having the public sector take the lead and spread social values, especially during difficult times.”