[K-Women Talk] The Eye for Spotting Ecopro

A very simple question. As of November 2023, which company is the number one in KOSDAQ market capitalization and has been the hottest stock this year? Which company surpassed 5 trillion KRW in assets and entered the large business group category in May this year? The answer to this question, which you could get even with your eyes closed, is the Ecopro Group. It is quite a topic since it is the first time in 20 years that a large corporation has emerged in manufacturing rather than IT or biotech.

From an investor’s perspective, those who discovered Ecopro early are the winners. The stock, which was once under 100,000 KRW, exceeded 1,000,000 KRW at one point and is now trading in the 700,000 KRW range. What about from the perspective of an office worker? Imagine a new employee at Ecopro in 2007. The company was located in the Ochang Industrial Complex in Chungbuk, had a few hundred employees, and was a small to medium enterprise newly listed on KOSDAQ, to the extent that even the employee’s spouse probably didn’t know the company name well. But what about now? The company has about 3,000 employees and has completed a 100,000-pyeong secondary battery value chain campus in Pohang. Even local elders say, “Isn’t that the company that hit the jackpot?”

It’s not just recognition and reputation that have increased. As the company grew, employees who would barely become team leaders after years of service in a large corporation now get promoted. Annual special bonuses three times a year, evaluation pay, performance bonuses ? conditions have improved day by day. Above all, conditions to purchase employee stock ownership when subsidiaries go public have been established. Perhaps the true winners are not the investors but the employees who joined early on? The ability to pick companies that will grow rapidly in the future, not just those currently successful, is essential not only for investors but also for job seekers.

How should you choose a company with high growth potential? Good references include the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ “Global Hidden Champions 200” and the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s “Youth-Friendly Hidden Champions.” However, these lists include anywhere from 200 to 1,000 companies, making it difficult to select a company you want to work for.

For a more condensed list, refer to the “KOSDAQ Rising Star” announced by the Korea Exchange. Since only about 30 companies with excellent technology and high growth potential are selected, it has high distinctiveness and reliability. Usually, about 30 companies are reselected from the previous year. Therefore, if a company has been selected for three consecutive years, it can guarantee growth potential and competitiveness. Ecopro BM was also selected as a “KOSDAQ Rising Star” for three consecutive years.

For reference, this year, 33 existing companies were reselected, and 8 new companies were added, making a total of 41 companies selected. As of this year, 16 companies, including Alteogen and Pharma Research, have been selected as “KOSDAQ Rising Star” for three consecutive years. Companies that have been selected for more than 10 years, proving long-term excellent competitiveness, include GoYoung Technology, EO Technics, and JVM.

If you are a job seeker, also check whether the number of employees is increasing. Simple employee numbers can be found on the company website, job portals, or NICE company information. However, if you want to see the history of whether the number of employees is increasing or decreasing, AllThatCompany, which shows monthly employee numbers, is also recommended. The most accurate data is available from the Electronic Disclosure System. You can view more than 10 years of financial statements, employee numbers, gender ratios, average wages, and other data to check a company’s “growth potential.”

“Who would go to such lengths to carefully choose a company to work for?” Isn’t this level of effort essential to distinguish between companies boasting high admission competition rates but declining, and companies with low fame but explosive growth every year?

Lee Suk-eun, Publisher of Employment Backbone