Ministry of SMEs and Startups Invests 1.9 Billion Won to Support 17 Social Economy Enterprises: "Will Help Sustainable Growth"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 5th that it has finalized the selection of 17 companies to participate in the 'Social Economy Enterprise Growth-Focused Support Project' worth 1.9 billion KRW.

This project aims to discover and support social economy enterprises with growth potential to help their sustainable growth, with a budget of 1.925 billion KRW allocated for this year. The support limit is 100 million to 300 million KRW per company, with a self-contribution rate of 20-25%.

The selected companies will first undergo management diagnosis in the first phase to identify improvement tasks or establish growth strategies. In the second phase, they will receive customized professional training in service design strategy, financial management, tax affairs, public procurement, and other related areas.

In the third phase, companies can freely choose areas such as research and development, market development, advertising and promotion, overseas expansion, infrastructure establishment, and capacity building to carry out their projects.

Previously, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups established this project after consulting with related ministries and gathering expert opinions to utilize know-how and expertise in fostering small and medium enterprises. Each ministry evaluated social economy enterprises with a business history of 4 to 10 years or more, recommended suitable companies, and the final selection was made by the selection committee considering social value alignment and financial support feasibility.

After project support, follow-up linked support such as public procurement, entry into online markets, and additional points for each project will be jointly promoted for outstanding participating companies.

Gil-dong, head of the Regional Commercial Area Division at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, explained, "Although social economy enterprises show quantitative growth, their growth stagnates once government support (averaging 3 years) ends after startup."

He added, "Through the Social Economy Enterprise Growth-Focused Support Project, we will complement and systematize the lacking parts of growth support projects from each ministry to help social economy enterprises take a step forward and achieve sustainable growth."