A Total of 58 Million KRW in Business Development Funds and 6 Months of Rent Support for 6 Final Selected Teams This Year
Taking Steps as Preliminary Social Enterprises
Seongbuk-gu, Seoul (Mayor Lee Seung-ro) created an opportunity to nurture young social entrepreneurs who will solve community problems in creative and innovative ways.
On the 27th, the '2024 Seongbuk-gu Youth Social Venture Innovation Competition' was successfully held at the Seongbuk Art Hall in Seongbuk-gu Office.
The Seongbuk-gu Youth Social Venture Innovation Competition marked its 5th year this year, with a total of 19 teams applying during the recruitment period from February 15 to March 25.
For the finalist teams who passed the first document screening, pre-education and mentoring sessions on understanding the social economy and social venture startups were held every Saturday from March 30 to April 20, totaling four sessions.
On the day of the competition, April 27, presentations by eight teams were conducted, and as a result of on-site judging, six teams were honored with awards. The winning teams will receive a total of 58 million KRW in business development funds. The grand prize is 15 million KRW, the excellence award 13 million KRW, the outstanding award 9 million KRW (two teams), and the encouragement award 6 million KRW (two teams), with differentiated support.
Additionally, since last year, Seongbuk-gu has been the first autonomous district to provide rent support, and this year, winning teams will receive rent support for six months.
The grand prize was awarded to Pureunnae Co., Ltd. (CEO Kwon Wook-hyun), a social venture company that introduced the mental health solution 'Mindlele (Mindeulle)'. 'Mindlele (Mindeulle)' offers a solution combining existing offline mental health services (counseling) with online self-care for people seeking psychological counseling due to mental difficulties.
The excellence award went to Earthist (CEO Yoon Seok-jin), which introduced interior accessories and building materials that go beyond small upcycled items by emphasizing functionality to appeal more effectively to consumers. The outstanding awards were given to Planttheseed (CEO Kwak Ha-eun), which introduced a career incubating program for people with disabilities, and PEEL GOOD (CEO Kim Hee-yeon), which proposed a project utilizing everyday imperfect agricultural products to change perceptions and improve accessibility for single-person households.
The encouragement awards were given to Aging In Place Co., Ltd. (CEO Lee Seung-hye), which introduced the waste separation service 'Our Home Supporters, Hello Seongju-ssi!' aimed at creating jobs for the elderly, and Public City Co., Ltd. (CEO Yoon Ho-jun), which introduced an AI-based 'Onboarding Service' supporting startups' entry into B2G business, marking their first steps as prospective social enterprises.
Lee Seung-ro, Mayor of Seongbuk-gu, said, “I hope these young social entrepreneurs will grow to spread social value in the community and revitalize the social economy,” adding, “Seongbuk-gu will continue to create various opportunities so that the passion of young people can be expressed in the social economy sector and will strive to reflect the voices of youth in the field.”
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