Incheon Small Business Owners: 6 out of 10 Close Within 5 Years
Incheon City is helping small business owners who have closed their businesses to restart. On the 18th, the city announced that it will promote support projects to alleviate the shock of small business owners considering closure due to worsening business conditions such as high interest rates and high inflation, and to help them achieve a stable soft landing.
For small business owners who have closed their businesses since January 1 of this year or are scheduled to close within three months from the date of application, the city will provide two sessions of restart support consulting to guide business closure and re-startup, and support up to 2.5 million KRW for store demolition costs.
The project will continue until the budget is exhausted, and store demolition costs can be applied for after receiving restart support consulting. Applications can be submitted by visiting the Incheon Small Business Owner Financial Welfare Support Center or via email.
An official from Incheon City said, "Just like starting a business, a lot of preparation is needed for stable closure and restart," adding, "We hope that small business owners facing closure will regain stability through restart support consulting and receive support for store demolition costs to help them wrap up their business."
Meanwhile, according to Incheon City's '2023 Small Business Owner Statistics,' the one-year survival rate of small business startups as of 2021 was 80.2%, the three-year survival rate was 55.2%, and the five-year survival rate was 40%. The majority of closures were due to 'business downturn.'
By business duration, small business establishments with 1 to 3 years of operation numbered 63,572 (21.6%), the largest group, followed by those with 5 to 10 years of operation at 58,811 (20%), and 10 to 20 years of operation at 53,008 (18%).
Additionally, among small business owners, the survival rate was even lower for 100 industries closely related to everyday life (생활밀접업종, Saenghwal Miljeop Eopjong). The one-year survival rate for startups in these industries was 78%, the three-year survival rate was 50.6%, and the five-year survival rate was 35.3%, slightly lower than that of general small business owners.
As of 2021, there were 293,762 small business establishments in Incheon, accounting for 91% of all profit-making businesses. The number of workers in small businesses that year was 157,000, an increase of 6.9% compared to the previous year, and sales also rose by 12.9% to 61.026 trillion KRW.
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