Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to Open Applications for 'Preliminary Social Enterprises in Land and Transport' from the 12th

Benefits and Support for Social Enterprise Growth Including Eligibility for Financial Support Projects and Preferential Interest Rates

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 11th that it will begin accepting applications for the 2021 Land, Infrastructure and Transport-type Preliminary Social Enterprises (urban regeneration sector) starting from the 12th.

‘Preliminary Social Enterprises’ are enterprises currently engaged in activities to realize social objectives, designated and nurtured to grow into social enterprises in the future. They are divided into ‘Ministry-type Preliminary Social Enterprises’ designated by heads of central government ministries and ‘Regional-type Preliminary Social Enterprises’ designated by heads of local governments.

Since 2018, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has launched the ‘Land, Infrastructure and Transport-type Preliminary Social Enterprise system’ to foster social enterprises contributing to local communities in the urban regeneration sector, designating 158 such enterprises by last year. Among them, 25 enterprises have grown into social enterprises.

Enterprises wishing to apply for designation as Land, Infrastructure and Transport-type Preliminary Social Enterprises must meet essential requirements such as organizational form and realization of social objectives that comply with the designation criteria.

In particular, from this year, ‘Ministry-type Preliminary Social Enterprises’ and ‘Regional-type Preliminary Social Enterprises’ cannot be designated simultaneously, so enterprises preparing to apply should take note.

Enterprises wishing to be designated as preliminary social enterprises must submit their applications online through the Social Enterprise Integrated Information System (http://www.seis.or.kr) by 5 p.m. on the 30th.

Afterward, document reviews and on-site inspections (~September) will be conducted for the applicants, followed by a review by the screening committee, and designation as Land, Infrastructure and Transport-type Preliminary Social Enterprises will be made in October.

Once designated as Land, Infrastructure and Transport-type Preliminary Social Enterprises, various government support programs become available.

They become eligible to apply for financial support projects such as job creation projects, professional personnel support, and business development cost support implemented by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and local governments. Upon application and review, they can receive support for labor costs or business development expenses.

They can also receive benefits such as a 5-point bonus in guarantee screening, an increase in loan limits (from 70% to 80%), and preferential interest rates (1.2~1.5%) from the Housing and Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG).

If a local government establishes an urban regeneration preliminary project* plan involving Land, Infrastructure and Transport-type Preliminary Social Enterprises, a 2-point bonus will be given during selection evaluation to expand opportunities for preliminary social enterprises to participate in urban regeneration projects.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has selected 11 outstanding enterprises to support the growth of Land, Infrastructure and Transport-type Preliminary Social Enterprises and produced a casebook to promote the activities of enterprises that contribute socially while creating business performance in the urban regeneration sector. This year, HUG, an urban regeneration support organization, is promoting crowdfunding to support the business activities of Land, Infrastructure and Transport-type Preliminary Social Enterprises with creative ideas.

Oh Gong-myeong, Director of the Urban Regeneration Capability Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, “The activities of socially economic actors with self-sustainability in the region greatly help regional revitalization,” and added, “We hope that enterprises wishing to grow together with the region through challenging ideas will actively apply for this Land, Infrastructure and Transport-type Preliminary Social Enterprise contest.”