The Daegu Metropolitan Government announced on the 14th that it will launch the 'Star Small Business Development Program' for the first time this year, aiming to discover promising small business owners with high growth potential in the region and nurture them into entrepreneurial small business owners representing Daegu.
The Star Small Business Development Program in Daegu is a project that discovers small business owners who drive innovation and value in essential fields such as clothing, food, and housing. The program nurtures these small businesses into innovative entrepreneurs in everyday life through management diagnostics and consulting, business advancement, and private investment linkages.
Small businesses in Daegu account for 95.6% of all businesses and form the backbone of the local economy. However, due to the structural characteristics of a high proportion of retail, wholesale, and accommodation/food service sectors, as well as their generally small scale, they are highly sensitive to economic fluctuations.
Daegu plans to view small businesses not merely as subjects of 'protection' or 'support,' but as targets for 'development,' aiming to strengthen their competitiveness and revitalize local commercial districts through the growth of small businesses.
From the 15th to the 30th, Daegu and the Daegu Traditional Market Promotion Foundation will recruit small business owners to participate in the program through their official websites. Eligible applicants are small business owners operating in Daegu with less than seven years of business history.
Applicants will undergo a document review and presentation evaluation. Ten outstanding small businesses with creativity, competitiveness, and growth potential?incorporating lifestyle innovation, local culture, space, nature, and digital technology?will be selected and provided with a customized step-by-step support program.
Among the selected small businesses, the top five based on evaluation results will receive business development funds (around 8 million KRW, varying by company) for product development, branding, and marketing. Promising small businesses will also be eligible for private investment support.
Through this program, Daegu aims to present investment models tailored to small businesses, encouraging the private sector to discover and directly invest in promising small businesses and spreading a culture of private-led investment.
In addition, to ensure continuous performance management, the city will implement specialized support systems, including regular monitoring, performance surveys, collaboration opportunities with large and mid-sized companies, and infrastructure support for small business operations, thus driving changes in small business support policies.
An Junggon, Director of Economic Affairs for Daegu, stated, "This project marks the starting point for fostering entrepreneurial small business owners, going beyond the protection of livelihood-based small businesses to help promising ones leap forward as innovative entrepreneurs," adding, "We will spare no effort in providing systematic support to create successful cases among small businesses."
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