Jeonnam Province Holds 'Online Joint Purchase Consultation for Small and Medium Enterprise Products'

Expanding Public Market Access for Local Businesses and Encouraging Product Purchases

[Muan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Jeonnam Province announced on the 24th that it held the ‘2021 Online Public Procurement Consultation for Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Products’.

The event was promoted to expand public sales channels for local SMEs and to encourage public institutions to actively purchase local products.

The consultation meeting was attended by 36 public institutions and 71 SMEs in the province. Participating public institutions included the provincial and city/county governments, public institutions relocated to Naju Innovation City such as Korea Electric Power Corporation, government-affiliated agencies such as Gwangju Jeonnam Small and Medium Business Administration, and educational institutions including Korea Energy Engineering University.

Jeonnam Province received prior applications from companies for desired public institutions for consultation and conducted one-on-one online video consultations by matching them accordingly.

Additionally, product consulting by MDs from Wemakeprice (WEMAKEPRICE), Nonghyup Hanaro Mart, and business and financial consultations involving the Gwangju Jeonnam Regional Headquarters of the Korea Federation of SMEs and the Small and Medium Business Promotion Agency were also held.

Companies participating in the consultation said, “It was a good opportunity to understand the possibility of supplying to public institutions and the conditions for delivery.”

Public institution purchasing officers mentioned, “It became an opportunity to properly learn about local companies’ products.”

So Sang-won, Director of the Small and Medium Venture Business Division of Jeonnam Province, said, “We hope this consultation helps local SMEs struggling due to COVID-19,” and added, “We will actively support market development for qualitative and quantitative growth of local SME products to revitalize the regional economy.”

Meanwhile, since 2014, Jeonnam Province has been implementing the ‘Priority Purchase Public Announcement System for Local SME Products’ with 65 public institutions in the province, purchasing 21.0444 trillion won worth of local SME products until last year, playing a leading role in expanding sales channels for SMEs and revitalizing the local economy. This year, the purchase target is 3.8768 trillion won.