Government and KOTRA Establish 'Small Business Export Support Center'

One-on-One Close Support for Small Business Owners Hoping to Export Implemented

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA established the 'Small Business Export Support Center' to discover and closely support promising small business owners with technological capabilities but lacking export experience, and held a plaque ceremony on the 4th.

The plaque ceremony was attended by Yoo Myung-hee, Director-General for Trade Negotiations, Kwon Pyung-oh, President of KOTRA, Min Hong-gi, Chairman of the Small and Medium Business Hope Foundation, and Cho Bong-hwan, Chairman of the Small Enterprise and Market Service, among others.

The number of export small and medium enterprises, including domestic small business owners, stagnated from 95,229 in 2019 to 94,934 in 2020. Accordingly, the government continues efforts to expand the export base together with KOTRA.

The newly opened Small Business Export Support Center plans to provide one-stop support from discovering promising small business export companies, export education, entry into online business-to-business (B2B) platforms, buyer discovery, sample delivery, to post-export follow-up management through close cooperation with export support-related institutions scattered across the country.

The center will directly discover and closely support promising small business owners through 'visiting export consulting' in collaboration with small business support-related institutions. It will also operate the Small Business Export First Step School to provide export practical training and export capacity-building education such as entry into domestic and international online platforms for small business owners wishing to export. Additionally, it plans to provide comprehensive support for 'test marketing' by delivering samples to overseas locations so that interested buyers can experience and purchase the products, and will support post-export follow-up management including business performance analysis and resolving difficulties.

Yoo Myung-hee, Director-General for Trade Negotiations, said, "I hope the opening of the center today will be a foundation to further expand our export base," and urged, "Please have the center play a role in guiding any small business owner who wishes to export so that they can easily export."