SBC, Recruiting Small Business Owners Hoping to Enter the Online Market

Capacity Building Education and Global Market Support
Support Planned for 8,000 Small Businesses

The Small Enterprise and Market Service announced on the 6th that it has begun recruiting small business owners who wish to enter domestic and international online markets through the ‘Small Business Online Market Expansion Support Project.’

The ‘Small Business Online Market Expansion Support Project’ is a program that helps domestic small business owners enter the online market. This year, the Small Enterprise and Market Service will provide basic and advanced education necessary for the successful online entry of small business owners, as well as support for global market expansion.

The online entry education is divided into one-on-one on-site training, offline practice-centered education through Digital Specialized Universities, and platform collaboration education conducted in cooperation with domestic and international platforms. The ‘one-on-one on-site training,’ which was piloted last year, will double its support scale this year, prioritizing small business owners aged 50 and above who are vulnerable to digital transformation or those operating single-person businesses.

The Digital Specialized Universities selected include three in the metropolitan area (Dankook University, Cheongwoon University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies), three in the Chungcheong region (Konyang Cyber University, Namseoul University, Cheongju University), two in the Yeongnam region (Daegu Haany University, Dongmyung University), and two in the Honam region (National Mokpo University, Jeonju University). They will focus on online education and offline practice-centered education for online platform entry. The support scale is 200 companies per university.

The platform collaboration education is an advanced online entry training newly established this year, reflecting the opinions of small business owners who wish to receive on-site training on customer and sales management after entering the online market. Participating platforms include five domestic platforms (11st, Grip, Naver, Zigzag, Kakao) and three overseas platforms (Shopee, Amazon, eBay). The curriculum is composed of highly practical content such as advertising strategies and customer management methods tailored to each platform’s characteristics. Approximately four sessions per year will support 3,100 small business owners.

The global market support project provides step-by-step support for small business owners’ online exports to increase their success in overseas expansion and foster competitive global small business owners. The support scale this year is 400 companies. After entering overseas online markets, small business owners can receive support through the ‘Overseas Shopping Mall Entry’ project. Beyond simple support such as platform entry fees and marketing, they can receive on-site consulting and logistics linkage to resolve difficulties in new market entry. The support scale is 1,500 companies.

Park Seong-hyo, Director of the Small Enterprise and Market Service, said, “Online entry for small business owners is no longer a choice but a necessity,” adding, “Especially this year, we will focus on supporting online overseas expansion and do our best to create an environment where small businesses can grow.”