[Public Voices] Change and Innovation for Small Business Owners Through Collaboration with Korea Polytechnic University

Park Sung-hyo, Chairman of the Small Enterprise and Market Service

In basketball, "full-court pressing" refers to a full-court press defense. It is a strategy where everyone attacks when on offense and defends when on defense. When I served as the mayor of Daejeon, I ordered that this strategy be applied to all city administration. Since administration has long been supplier-centered, it must be improved to be customer-centered to produce results that customers can feel. Wherever administration is needed, suppliers must unite their efforts and exert driving force through what is called full-court pressing.

The Small Enterprise and Market Service (SEMAS) is a public institution dedicated to supporting 7.66 million small business owners and over 1,800 traditional markets and shopping districts in South Korea. It carries out various projects throughout the entire life cycle of small business owners, from startup to growth and recovery. Especially since small business owners and traditional markets are distributed nationwide, balanced on-site support is more important than anything else. Therefore, SEMAS aimed to focus on internal and external cooperative projects by matching the infrastructure and technology possessed by external organizations with SEMAS’s support projects and personnel so that more small business owners can feel the impact. The goal was to implement a field-oriented project by employing a full-court pressing strategy through horizontal solidarity and cooperation among private, public, and local government sectors.

As part of this, this year SEMAS proposed cooperation with Korea Polytechnic University to support capacity building and the creation of a revitalization environment for small business owners. It was believed that if the excellent capabilities, facilities, and human resources of Polytechnic University were linked with SEMAS’s support targets, small business owners could strengthen their technical skills and capabilities, Polytechnic University could secure new trainees, and both institutions could create synergy together.

Additionally, SEMAS has 8 regional headquarters and 77 regional centers nationwide, while Polytechnic University operates 8 universities (35 campuses) and one high school across the country. The linkage between regional organizations based on the infrastructure of the two institutions was also a factor in enabling support for small business owners close to the field nationwide.

Starting with a business agreement in April, about 200 officials from both institutions held a joint workshop in May, and in June conducted on-site workshops to derive support directions and specific methods reflecting the characteristics of each region. To help small business owners, prospective entrepreneurs, and cooperatives successfully start businesses, they used equipment such as 3D printers at Polytechnic University’s Dream Dream Workshop to create prototypes and develop or improve products. To cope with the rapidly changing distribution environment, they also joined forces to pioneer sales channels and diversify sales, including overseas expansion. For this purpose, they are conducting specialized training to improve practical marketing skills and the use of the latest technologies such as ChatGPT to effectively access online platforms. For small business owners who have closed their businesses, they are also helping successful reemployment by linking Polytechnic University’s vocational training courses such as technical personnel training and advanced technical courses.

The results of this collaboration will be gathered and shared as best practices, and a performance report meeting will be held in December to spread the achievements. Throughout this year, SEMAS and Polytechnic University cooperated with the common goal of strengthening the capabilities of small business owners. Over 1,700 reemployment and technical training sessions were conducted, and customized technical guidance linked to the Dream Dream Workshop reached over 1,400 cases. They provided more than 12,000 cases of advanced employment training and job information, striving to support the recovery of small business owners.

The important role that small business owners play in South Korea’s society and economy cannot be overstated. Going forward, SEMAS will continue to do its best to serve as a reliable partner for small business owners through comprehensive cooperation.