Asan City Opens Specialized Workplace for People with Developmental Disabilities, 'Asan Gachimandso'

Support for Family Startups of People with Developmental Disabilities and Establishment of Economic Independence Foundation

Asan City in Chungnam held the opening ceremony of 'Asan Gachimandso,' a comprehensive facility for families of people with developmental disabilities to start businesses, and has begun full-scale operations.

Asan City in Chungnam Province held an opening ceremony for ‘Asan Gachimandso,’ a comprehensive facility for family startups of people with developmental disabilities, and officially began its operation.

About 100 people attended the opening ceremony, including Oh Young-joo, Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Jo Il-gyo, Vice Mayor of Asan City, Kim Hee-young, Chairperson of the Asan City Council, and families of people with developmental disabilities.

Selected through a public contest by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, ‘Asan Gachimandso’ is a two-story building equipped with facilities for manufacturing scorched rice and rice chips, a coffee roasting and extraction practice space, office space, and care space.

The main project supports customized education necessary for each stage of startup, from production to sales, targeting people with developmental disabilities.

In particular, it plans to create a progressive model of economic independence for people with disabilities by coexisting with local farmers, focusing on processed foods such as rice chips, scorched rice, and Sikhye made using ‘Asan Malgeun Rice’ as key startup items.

Notably, Hyundai Department Store Group donated 100 million won to help strengthen the operation of ‘Asan Gachimandso.’

Minister Oh Young-joo said, “Gachimandso is becoming a role model of productive welfare that pioneers both startups for people with developmental disabilities and new markets for local specialties,” adding, “I hope that through the Gachimandso workplace, more families of people with developmental disabilities will realize their dreams, and bold startup challenges and successes will continue.”