[Power K-Women] Jang Young-hwa: "I Will Make an Out-of-School That Teaches How to Survive in the World"

Quitting Lawyer Career to Start Anew as Entrepreneur
Startup-Talent Connection 'JoinStartup'
Supporting from Job Preparation to Acceptance
Breaking Male CEO Stereotypes
More Female Entrepreneurs Changing the Rules
Changing 'Career Break' to 'Career-Holding Women'
Career Solution: 53-Year-Old Woman Working Full-Time
A Place to Work Without Startup Prejudice
We Support Talent's Own Decisions

Editor's NoteAsia Economy will select women who are active not only in Asia but around the world as 'Power K-Women' at the Women's Leaders Forum to be held this October. We have chosen individuals who have overcome and broken down boundaries such as race, nationality, and disability as 'Power K-Women.' This is to widely promote the value of those who have not been intimidated by discrimination or confined by boundaries but have fought back, in order to convey new values of leadership to youth and women. Their stories will provide comfort to a weary world, become role models for someone, and give the community the strength to move forward again.
Date ｜ Wednesday, October 19, 2022, 9:00 AM ? 5:20 PM
Venue ｜ Crystal Ballroom, Lotte Hotel Sogong-dong (2F)

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seoyoon] "I think there is a perception that the position of a CEO is something men do. I'm not raising this as a problem, but I thought I need to work harder. Although human history has placed women in an unfriendly environment, that is gradually being broken more and more."

Jang Younghwa, CEO of OIC Lab, answered without hesitation when asked if she faced difficulties as a female entrepreneur. She even counter-questioned, "Do you have difficulties covering stories because you are a female reporter?" It felt like a wake-up call. Jang said, "In the startup world, women are numerically fewer, so women's characteristics have not been well reflected, and because they are a minority, their voices are not loud. This is because the existing rules were made by men." She emphasized, "However, there are many successful female entrepreneurs now, and I believe it will be different going forward."

She also spoke about the term 'career interruption.' She said, "It is more appropriate to say 'career retention' rather than 'career interruption.' If one inevitably chooses the role of a mother, I advise continuing work that is flexible in terms of time and space simultaneously." She added, "When the child grows up, showing the mother working hard at her own job can have a much better educational effect."

Jang Young-hwa, CEO of OIC Lab, is being interviewed at Index Shop in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul on the 16th of last month. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

A lawyer from Seoul National University. This is the epithet that follows her every time she gives a media interview. Jang said, "I fully understand the nature of the media, but it is a very old-fashioned way," and warned, "On the other hand, it might mean that I have not yet been fully recognized for my achievements." She said, "In the startup world, it doesn't matter which family you come from or which university you graduated from. You just have to prove 'what you have created and what success you have achieved.'"

She quit being a lawyer and embarked on the path of an entrepreneur. She started a law office combined with a book cafe, ran an entrepreneurship school to spread entrepreneurial spirit to youth, and currently operates 'Join Startup,' a business that connects talent to startups. Jang said, "I lived diligently under the system created by our society. I graduated from a good university and obtained professional certifications. But when I first stepped into society, it felt like starting over. There was nowhere to learn how to stand alone as a professional or how to live well while keeping one's beliefs." This was where her concerns began. She said, "I felt something was needed to bridge the gap between school and the world, something to teach how to survive in the real world," and "That is why I decided to take on the role of school outside of school."

She started her venture with the question, "Why doesn't our education system nurture innovative entrepreneurs?" The topic was vast, and she experienced many trial and error. Breaking the question down into smaller parts, she looked for ways to make a living as a 'company' and created a kind of youth entrepreneurship education service within public education while educating youth on entrepreneurial spirit. She explained, "Youth education alone was not enough. I thought about what to do and came up with the idea of 'placing talent directly into startups,' and that's how Join Startup was born."

Why startups? She said she found startups to be companies that foster talent growth. "In large corporations, you cannot change things just because you want to with good intentions within a fixed structure. Startups are fertile ground for possibilities and have many opportunities to create new rules differently," she said.

Join Startup is a kind of headhunting service exclusively for startups that connects talent to startups. But it is not just simple headhunting. It accompanies the entire growth process from job preparation to receiving acceptance, helping talents find meaning in their lives through work. It acts as a teacher outside of school.

From the moment applicants apply, the process is different. They do not simply look at resumes like headhunters. They first go through a simple survey asking what they think work is, encouraging self-reflection on their careers. In the next step, they have a 1:1 online meeting with a career coach who provides personalized career solutions. Jang said, "I hope that through our process, people realize what work suits them and what they truly want to do," and "So even rejection emails are not just notifications but include guidance on fields they might study."

Since operating the service, the oldest client was a 53-year-old woman. She said, "She originally worked at a global IT company but took a 7-year break for childcare. She said she registered her resume as if hypnotized after watching my interview video. Through career solutions, she worked part-time at a startup and now has joined full-time. Some say startups are conservative, but they are places where you can work without prejudice," she said.

She defines startups as generals wielding swords in the economic ecosystem of the business she runs. "It takes time to find the generals to send to that battlefield. It also takes time for those people to grow." Jang, who accompanies startups needing proactive talent to grow into innovative entrepreneurs, said, "Actually, it's hard to press the start button without a trigger. In a way, we help press the start button and support that your decision is right."

▲1992.3~1996.8 Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul National University ▲1998.3~2000.2 Department of Law, Seoul National University ▲2003.3~2005.1 Judicial Research and Training Institute, 34th class ▲2003.3~2006.2 Graduate School of Law, Seoul National University ▲2005.1~2007.2 Lawyer at Dasan Law Firm ▲2007.3~2007.9 Lawyer at Midam Law Office ▲2008.8~2018.12 Research Fellow at World Management Institute ▲2010.4~2013.2 Co-CEO of Open Innovation ▲2013.2~Present CEO of OIC Lab