Kim Dong-yeon: "The Breakthrough for South Korea's Economic Crisis Lies in Social Economy Enterprises"

Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon emphasized that "the breakthrough for South Korea's economic crisis lies with social economy enterprises."

On the 18th, Governor Kim met with young social innovation entrepreneurs following the event celebrating the first investment company of the Gyeonggi Impact Fund at the Pangyo 2nd Techno Valley Enterprise Support Hub in Seongnam. He held a roundtable titled ‘Gyeonggi Impact Handshake Talk’ and made these remarks.

Governor Kim stated, "To overcome the current difficulties in South Korea's economy, we must first quickly break away from past successful experiences," adding, "For decades, we have followed what advanced countries have done, but now we need to become a leading economy that does what others have not yet tried."

He continued, "Next is coexistence or inclusion. Many values such as responding to climate change and addressing disability issues are being translated into economic activities in today's (social economy) sectors," and added, "At the Davos Forum last January, I had conversations with global unicorn companies. I hope that the social enterprises and social ventures participating today will appear as unicorn companies at the Davos Forum in a few years and meet again."

On this day, Gyeonggi Province selected ‘Kangsters’, a disability exercise solution company, as the first investment company of the Gyeonggi Impact Fund.

An impact unicorn company refers to a social economy enterprise with annual sales exceeding 10 billion KRW or a corporate value exceeding 50 billion KRW.

Gyeonggi Province is promoting social economy policies with the goal of nurturing 100 ‘impact unicorns’ by 2026. To fund this, Gyeonggi Province is establishing the ‘Gyeonggi Impact Fund’ with a scale of 100 billion KRW.

The Gyeonggi Impact Fund raised a total of 27.84 billion KRW, including 5 billion KRW invested by Gyeonggi Province as the first phase fund this year. Gaia Venture Partners, MY Social Company, and Sopung Ventures participated as fund managers.

Among the Gyeonggi Impact Fund managers, Gaia Venture Partners and MY Social Company chose ㈜Kangsters, a preliminary social enterprise certified by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and a social venture company, as their first investment target. The total investment amount is 800 million KRW.

Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon is speaking at the Gyeonggi Impact Matson Talk on the 18th.

㈜Kangsters was established in 2020 and, after years of research to solve accessibility issues for disabled people’s exercise, launched the wheelchair treadmill product ‘WheelyX’ in 2022. ‘WheelyX’ is an exercise device that allows users to attach their own wheelchair onto a treadmill and race; it is a non-powered treadmill compatible with all 1,600 types of wheelchairs worldwide.

The product is exported to eight countries including the United States and has been recognized for its potential by winning the 2023 Edison Awards Grand Prize and the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Innovation Awards in accessibility and senior technology categories. It was also adopted as a demonstration event for disabled e-sports in 2023 through an agreement with the Korea Paralympic Committee.

The event was attended by about 30 people, including Kang Kang, CEO of ㈜Kangsters, the first investment company, Lim Jeong-hoon, Vice President of Gaia Venture Partners, and Yoo Ja-in, Co-CEO of MY Social Company, as well as representatives of young social enterprises and social venture companies. During the subsequent handshake talk, various social economy enterprise stakeholders participated and engaged in a Q&A session with Governor Kim Dong-yeon.

Meanwhile, in October last year, Gyeonggi Province presented four major visions to foster social economy enterprises: ▲ nurturing 100 impact unicorn companies ▲ franchising successful social economy enterprise models ▲ creating a ‘1 trillion KRW preferential purchase market’ with public and private companies ▲ expanding social economy organizations to 12,000.