Ministry of SMEs and Startups Holds First Audition for 'Strong Small Business Growth Support Program'

Held Nationwide Including Seoul, Sejong, and Suwon
From April 28 to May 23

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on April 27 that it will hold the first round of auditions for the 'Strong Small Business Growth Support Program' at various locations nationwide.

The Strong Small Business Growth Support Program is a project that helps promising small business owners in the lifestyle and culture sector collaborate with creators, startups, and small business owners from other fields to develop differentiated products and services. The program provides support in five categories: ▲Lifestyle ▲Local Brand ▲Long-standing Small Business ▲Global ▲Online Seller.

This year, a total of 7,147 small businesses applied, resulting in a high competition rate of 32.5:1. After an in-depth evaluation process that began in March, 640 promising small businesses were selected. For this first round of auditions, 390 teams from four categories?excluding the Online Seller category?are expected to participate. The Online Seller category will be selected through document screening and presentation evaluation, rather than an audition.

The first round of auditions for the Long-standing Small Business category will be held from April 28 to 30 at 111CM in Jangan-gu, Suwon. The Lifestyle category auditions will take place for five days from May 12 to 16 at the 1927 Art Center in Jochiwon, Sejong. The Global category auditions are scheduled from May 19 to 21 at Community House Masil in Jung-gu, Seoul, while the Local Brand category auditions will be held from May 19 to 23 at 1Euro Bukgajwa Project in Bukgajwa-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul.

For the 160 teams selected through this audition, up to 60 million KRW in business model advancement funding will be provided, along with eligibility to participate in the final audition scheduled for August. Those chosen in the final audition can receive up to an additional 40 million KRW in commercialization funding. They will also receive preferential points when applying for private investment-linked matching loans (LIPS I) and innovative merchant investment-linked support (LIPS II) in the future.

Notably, starting this year, the Federation of Korean Industries will participate by co-hosting the final audition, supporting the production of broadcast videos, and encouraging small business owners through networking events with large corporations and co-prosperity distribution sales exhibitions.

Lee Daegun, Director of Small Business Policy, stated, "Recently, products made by our small business owners, such as food, cosmetics, and clothing, have gained great popularity not only domestically but also overseas." He added, "We will continue to discover small business owners equipped with entrepreneurship and creativity and help them transform into lifestyle innovation companies that create differentiated products and services."