Incheon City Expands Support for SME Overseas Expansion... K-Product Total Marketing in Focus

Incheon City is implementing a variety of support programs to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) expand into overseas markets.

The city provides individual export insurance and guarantee fee support, as well as group insurance, to small export companies whose headquarters or main business locations are in Incheon and whose export performance in the previous year was less than $20 million. Export guarantees are supported up to KRW 1 million per company (up to KRW 500,000 for non-manufacturing businesses), and group insurance is supported up to approximately KRW 290,000 per company.

The insurance support serves as a psychological and financial foundation for beginner SMEs, who may have difficulty managing risks on their own due to lack of credit ratings or transaction history, to safely take on their first export challenge.

Additionally, the city offers export mentoring (one session) and export practical training (seven sessions) for companies that find it difficult to train export specialists internally. By building a network between experienced mentors, such as those from trade offices and senior exporting companies, and beginner exporters, the program shares practical export know-how and strengthens corporate capabilities.

Furthermore, the city supports SMEs in establishing themselves in overseas markets independently through step-by-step export mentoring and K-Product total marketing.

First, 39 companies selected through two rounds of evaluation will receive global competency assessments, export expert mentoring, company-specific overseas marketing cost support, overseas buyer demand discovery, video consultations, and interpretation services. Depending on the capabilities of each participating company, additional support will be provided for market research, potential buyer discovery, business partner connections, and overseas business trips.

In addition, total marketing support will be provided this year for the products of 40 companies targeting high-purchasing-power markets by item, such as Hong Kong (beauty, food, pet products), Canada (food, cosmetics), Singapore (cosmetics, interior goods), and Vietnam (beauty, baby products).

Small and medium-sized enterprises in Incheon are participating in the Consumer Goods Fair held in Frankfurt, Germany, from February 7 to 11 through the '2025 Overseas Exhibition Group Participation Support Project.' Incheon City

In addition, Incheon City, together with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, is promoting the Global Small Giant 1000+ Project to nurture local SMEs into global mid-sized enterprises.

Among SMEs with export amounts exceeding $100,000 in the previous year, 33 companies are classified as global promising, growth, small giant, or small giant+ companies, and a step-by-step growth ladder is established to lay the foundation for mutual growth.

Participating companies receive support for R&D such as technology acquisition, patent applications, and overseas certification; commercialization such as export brand development and product promotion; logistics such as international shipping costs; and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) certification.

An Incheon City official stated, "The export support programs for SMEs are a strategic investment to secure future growth engines for the region, going beyond simple subsidies," and added, "We will continue to implement various support programs to help Incheon SMEs build strong competitiveness in the global market."

Meanwhile, as of April, Incheon's export volume reached a record high of $5.208 billion (approximately KRW 7.2662 trillion). This figure represents a 6.8% increase compared to the same month last year, and is analyzed as overcoming the decline in exports to regions affected by the US-China tariff war, thanks to significant increases in exports to Vietnam, the European Union, Taiwan, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).