Support for Local Culture, Arts, and Education Infrastructure
"Accelerating Local Extinction... A Duty to Act"
Former EcoPro Chairman Dong-chae Lee is donating 100 billion KRW to establish a public interest foundation to support local culture, arts, and education.
EcoPro announced on the 20th that it is proceeding with administrative procedures to establish the public interest foundation by donating approximately 100 billion KRW based on the family company shares of Daisy Partners, where former Chairman Lee is a major shareholder.
The foundation plans to complete its establishment procedures by March next year and begin full-scale operations in the second half of the year, with EcoPro family companies also participating. The foundation's endowment fund is expected to expand to 500 billion KRW in the future.
The foundation aims to build a foundation that allows local regions to enjoy culture and arts at the level of Seoul and other metropolitan areas, and plans to select specific and sustainable projects in the first half of next year.
Former Chairman Lee is said to have been contemplating his responsibilities as a businessperson to prevent population decline and extinction in local areas. He is known to have envisioned establishing a foundation that can support cultural, artistic, and educational infrastructure in regions relatively underdeveloped compared to the metropolitan area.
In particular, EcoPro has made investments exceeding 1 trillion KRW in its base in Ochang, Chungbuk, and has invested about 2 trillion KRW in Pohang since 2017 to build a closed-loop system for the secondary battery ecosystem. EcoPro plans to invest an additional 2.5 trillion KRW by 2025 to establish a second Pohang campus.
Former Chairman Lee has emphasized to those around him, "I graduated from high school and university in a local area, established the base of my business there, employed local talents, and developed it into a world-class battery materials company," adding, "There are many responsibilities to fulfill as local extinction accelerates."
EcoPro also revealed that it is planning a fund to create an ecosystem for local venture companies separately from the foundation.
An EcoPro official stated, "As a result of former Chairman Lee’s reflections, there is a sense of mission that we must fulfill our responsibilities beyond corporate management as corporate citizens," adding, "We are also planning startup investments to build an eco-friendly and battery ecosystem, aiming to lay the groundwork for the birth of second and third EcoPro companies."
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