Sogin Gong, Recruiting Cooperatives to Participate in the 'Small Business Collaboration Activation Joint Project'

Support Projects for Cooperative Revitalization Including Joint Equipment Purchase and Marketing

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Small Enterprise and Market Service announced on the 26th that it is recruiting cooperative associations to participate in the ‘Small Business Collaboration Activation Joint Project.’

The Small Business Collaboration Activation Joint Project is a project that promotes collaboration between small business owners or cooperatives and leads their organization and collaboration. Over the past year, it supported a total of 210 cooperatives, contributing to increased sales and enhanced competitiveness of small business cooperatives.

Specialized printing manufacturing Cooperative A received support for a digital printer from the Service last year and expanded its small-quantity printing business amid the prolonged economic downturn caused by COVID-19, achieving sales growth exceeding 1000% compared to the previous year.

Starting this year, the plan is to classify cooperatives into general type, leading type, and high-growth type according to their growth stage and establish a system to intensively nurture excellent cooperatives. To promote smartization of small businesses, cooperatives introducing smart equipment incorporating information and communication technology (ICT), Internet of Things (IoT), etc., will receive additional points during the selection evaluation.

The collaboration activation joint project is largely divided into joint general projects and joint equipment projects. In the joint general field, support is provided for marketing for advertising and promotion, network construction for app development, and product brand development.

For joint equipment, support is provided for the purchase cost of equipment used for joint projects such as production, inspection, and research, with a minimum of 10 million KRW per item. Eligible applicants are small business cooperatives established under the Framework Act on Cooperatives or the Act on the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprise Cooperatives.

The number of cooperatives selected is around 200. Support is provided within the total project budget limit regardless of whether it is joint general or joint equipment. The general type can receive up to 100 million KRW, the leading type up to 200 million KRW, and the newly established high-growth type this year can receive up to 500 million KRW. The application period is until the 31st of next month.

Cho Bonghwan, Director of the Small Enterprise and Market Service, said, “This will be an opportunity to significantly expand competitiveness through collaboration among small business owners, so we hope for much interest and participation.”