EY Hanyoung Successfully Concludes University Student Business Plan Competition... "Supporting the Growth of Future Generations"

‘Growth to Professional’ Held for the 6th Time
50 Aspiring Consultants and Entrepreneurs Participate

EY Han Young announced on the 7th that the university student business plan competition ‘EY Han Young-JA Growth to Professional’ has successfully concluded.

At the 'EY Hanyoung-JA Growth to Professional' final competition, Kim Jungwook, CEO of EY Consulting (6th from the left in the front row), EY Hanyoung employees, and university student participants are posing for a commemorative photo. Photo by EY Hanyoung

Now in its 6th year, this program is an annual social contribution activity jointly hosted by EY Han Young and the non-profit youth education organization JA Korea. It is a flagship program under ‘Supporting Future Generations,’ one of the core areas of EY’s social contribution campaign ‘EY Ripples,’ aiming to help university students grow into professionals by sharing the expertise and experience of EY Han Young employees. This year, 50 university students and 107 EY Han Young employees participated.

Before selecting participants, EY Han Young conducted an orientation for all applicants to share the experiences and know-how of current consultants. The final selected university students formed 10 teams of 5 members each and completed a program consisting of team building, soft skills workshops, mentoring, and business plan presentations to develop practical skills. This year’s final competition was held in person at EY Han Young’s Yeouido Park One office.

EY Han Young employees conducted lectures on topics such as presentation skills, business plan writing, and logical thinking to support participants’ growth and capacity building. Additionally, consultants from EY Consulting and EY-Parthenon, along with experts in audit, tax, and financial advisory, participated as mentors and judges.

Participants chose themes from digital, artificial intelligence (AI), and ESG (environment, social, and governance) to devise business plans considering feasibility. Through mid-term presentations and preliminary rounds, they received in-depth feedback from mentors and judges to enhance the completeness of their business plans. Furthermore, Kim Siwan, head of the new business TF at D.CAMP (Banking Sector Youth Startup Foundation), participated as an external judge, providing participants with insightful feedback from an investor’s perspective.

The grand prize was awarded to the ‘MEMO:RE’ team, which proposed a medication care solution for dementia patients, while the excellence award went to the ‘Re:Pop’ team, which devised a B2B trading platform to help reuse supplies generated at pop-up stores. The grand prize and excellence award teams received prize money of 1.2 million KRW and 600,000 KRW, respectively.

Park Yong Geun, CEO of EY Han Young, said, “We hold this program annually to inspire initiative and a spirit of challenge so that the future generation leading Korean society can grow into professionals,” adding, “EY Han Young will continue various efforts to support the growth of future generations.”