Gyeonggi-do Offers Up to 50 Million KRW to Village Enterprises... Applications Accepted Until January 6 Next Year

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is publicly recruiting '(preliminary) village enterprises' until January 6 next year.

A village enterprise is a village-level business where local residents utilize resources within the region to solve common local problems through profit-making projects, effectively realizing the benefits of the local community by creating income and jobs.

The recruitment covers five categories: preliminary village enterprises, 1st round (new), 2nd round (re-designation), 3rd round (advancement), and revived village enterprises. Selected village enterprises will receive project funding of up to 50 million KRW.

In particular, this year, for Gapyeong and Yeoncheon, designated as population decline areas by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's notice, the project funding for preliminary village enterprises has been increased from 10 million KRW to 20 million KRW.

Also, when youth want to run a village enterprise, the youth member ratio, which was originally uniformly applied at 50%, is now applied differentially considering the youth population ratio by city/county: 30% for Yangpyeong, 40% for Dongducheon, Namyangju, Yongin, Paju, Anseong, Gimpo, Gwangju, Yangju, Pocheon, Yeoju, Yeoncheon, and Gapyeong, and 50% for other regions, encouraging active participation of the youth.

Applicants must be corporations located in the province as of the announcement date that have completed introductory and specialized education for village enterprises, meet the four major requirements of village enterprises?▲community, ▲publicness, ▲locality, and ▲business nature?and establish an appropriate business plan accordingly.

Organizations or corporations wishing to participate in the project can download the application form from the Gyeonggi Province website or city/county websites, fill it out, and submit it to the relevant city/county department where the village is located.

An official from the province explained, "Gyeonggi Province is conducting the village enterprise recruitment to solve local problems and create income and jobs through discovering various village enterprises in line with the government's social economy revitalization plan, thereby realizing the benefits of the local community."

Meanwhile, there are currently a total of 260 (preliminary) village enterprises operating in the province, including 202 village enterprises and 58 preliminary village enterprises.