Online Seller Small Business Growth Supported by Platform

Recruitment of Small Business Owners
to Grow Their Brands with 10 Platform Companies

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 5th that it is recruiting small business owners to participate in the online brand small business owner development project (TOPS Program), where promising small business owners are directly discovered and nurtured by the private sector.

This project supports 3,000 small business owners annually by matching government and private implementing agencies on a one-to-one basis to provide resources. It is a new project launched for the first time this year as a follow-up measure to the comprehensive measures for small business owners and self-employed workers announced in July last year.

The support is carried out in three stages. In the first stage, 3,000 small business owners are selected, and platform companies provide direct one-on-one customized consulting. In the second stage, 300 small business owners selected from the first stage are further chosen to receive promotional expenses such as advertising and logistics costs to activate sales and maximize revenue, and additional dedicated funds will also be linked and supported.

In the final third stage, 30 companies are selected as ‘TOPS of the Year’ and provided with support to grow into small enterprises through special exhibitions and offline pop-up stores. In addition to government support, private platform companies, which are the implementing agencies, will also provide customized specialized programs autonomously organized at each stage to the selected small business owners.

Small business owners who wish to participate in the project can apply through the Panpandaero website and select their preferred platform company when applying. Participating platforms include SK Stoa, SSG, Musinsa, Baedal Minjok, Grip, H Mall, Lotte ON, Yogi Yottae, Gmarket, Kakao, etc. After application and submission, the final support recipients will be selected through document review and evaluation by product planning experts from each platform company, and support will begin from the end of March.

Hwang Young-ho, head of the Small Business Management Stabilization Support Group, said, “The TOPS program proceeds by forming a team with the top-tier platform company chosen by the small business owner themselves to pursue step-by-step growth,” adding, “We hope that participating small business owners will maximize their sales online, grow their brands, and debut as online star small business owners.”