Ministry of SMEs and Startups to Foster 3,000 Small and Venture Companies with $1 Million Export Sales Each

Ministry of SMEs and Startups Announces 'Support Measures for Globalization of SMEs and Venture Companies'
Discovering and Focusing on New Export and Overseas Expansion Drivers
Strengthening Globalization Capabilities to Respond to Future Environments

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will provide close support for the globalization of small and venture businesses. It aims to transform 1,000 innovative domestic companies into export companies and help 3,000 promising export companies surpass the $1 million export revenue threshold.

On the morning of the 8th, Minister Oh Young-joo of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the "Support Measures for the Globalization of Small and Venture Businesses" at Polaris Office in Guro-gu, Seoul. Minister Oh stated, “Exporting small businesses show outstanding performance with sales 17.2 times and employment 5.1 times higher than the average of all small businesses, greatly contributing to our economy. However, over the past 10 years, the export volume of small businesses has fluctuated around $110 billion, and the number of small businesses exporting annually has stagnated at around 94,000,” explaining the purpose of the support measures.

The measures are set around four major strategies: ▲From domestic sales to exports ▲From exports to overseas ▲From overseas to the future ▲One Team Korea. First, the Ministry will establish a focused nurturing system at each export stage to help domestic companies grow into export companies. To transform 1,000 innovative domestic companies into exporters, they will support the establishment of export-promising countries and strategies based on domestic sales products and technological capabilities together with trade and technology experts. They will also engage in buyer matching for market expansion and dispatch the ‘K-Innovation Delegation’ to support local matching.

For 3,000 promising beginner exporters with export revenue under $1 million, support will be provided to help them exceed the $1 million export mark. This will be done through newly established dedicated programs such as export consulting and on-demand issue support. For high-growth export companies, bold support will be provided to induce continuous high growth. The government will raise support limits to promptly alleviate financial burdens related to export product production and design improvements.

The Ministry will also promote programs to discover and nurture next-generation key export items. To this end, about 20% of the Ministry’s export support budget will be allocated to new key export items. Notably, by 2025, a separate differentiated track will be prepared reflecting the policy demands of product export companies and other tech service export companies. Through this, the share of export support for tech service companies, which was only 2.7% last year, is planned to expand to 10% by 2027 and 15% by 2030, fostering new export engines.

Professional manpower will also be cultivated. A new ‘Export Warrior Academy’ training course will be established to provide export specialized education to foreign students through universities and SME training centers, aiming to educate 1,000 people by 2026. These individuals will perform export and local marketing tasks at domestic SMEs and their overseas subsidiaries.

To promote the overseas market entry of small businesses, the operation of the ‘SME and Venture Business Support Council,’ involving overseas diplomatic missions, public institutions, and companies, will be intensified. Additionally, a ‘Global Center’ and an analysis information provision portal will be established to integrate and analyze overseas market information and issue resolution cases from domestic and international councils. Information held by various ministries and institutions will be gathered to build a data-based performance management system.

Minister Oh said, “Expanding the globalization of small and venture businesses is essential to ensure sustainable growth of our economy,” adding, “The detailed tasks of this globalization support plan will be promptly materialized and implemented through inter-ministerial cooperation, and we will ensure that close, customized, and flexible support reflecting field demands leads to tangible results.”