Seoul Credit Guarantee Foundation-Korea Securities Finance Dream Sharing Foundation, 'Support for Guarantee Fees for Small Business Owners' Rechallenge and Re-startup' Business Agreement

Significant Expansion of Support Targets from 'Sincere Failures' Who Diligently Repaid Subrogation Debts to 'Re-Entrepreneurs'

Joo Cheol-soo, Chairman of Seoul Credit Guarantee Foundation (left), and Yoon Chang-ho, Chairman of Korea Securities Finance Dream Sharing Foundation (right), signed a business agreement to support guarantee fees for small business owners on the 22nd and are taking a commemorative photo.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Credit Guarantee Foundation announced on the 28th that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Korea Securities Finance Dream Sharing Foundation to actively support small business owners in Seoul who are making a fresh start after past failures.

Through this agreement, the Korea Securities Finance Dream Sharing Foundation will donate an additional 100 million KRW following last year’s contribution and support up to 1 million KRW per person in guarantee fees for about 100 small business owners who are re-challenging or restarting their businesses using guarantee certificates for business loans from the Seoul Credit Guarantee Foundation. The Korea Securities Finance Dream Sharing Foundation is a non-profit foundation established in 2013 with full funding from Korea Securities Finance. It actively carries out credit recovery support for financially marginalized groups, scholarship projects, and social welfare projects for underprivileged communities.

This year, the scope of support has been significantly expanded to include not only diligent failed entrepreneurs and diligent repayers hoping for a comeback but also re-entrepreneurs who have experienced business closure. The detailed support targets are ▲ diligent failed entrepreneurs who could not fully repay their debts to the Seoul Credit Guarantee Foundation due to economic difficulties but have faithfully completed debt repayment through debt adjustment programs such as credit recovery and personal rehabilitation ▲ diligent repayers who have fully repaid their debts to the foundation with no remaining debt ▲ re-entrepreneurs who have previously closed their businesses and started new businesses after 2020.

Additionally, the Seoul Credit Guarantee Foundation plans to provide free online education helpful for business operations along with guarantee fee support, and if necessary, offer one-on-one close follow-up advice, counseling, and consulting.

Joo Cheol-soo, Chairman of the Seoul Credit Guarantee Foundation, said, “Many small business owners have diligently operated their businesses but experienced failure due to unavoidable reasons such as COVID-19.” He added, “We hope that the guarantee fee support project will alleviate the financial burden on small business owners, which has been exacerbated by recent inflation and interest rate hikes, and greatly assist their re-challenge efforts.”