Amorepacific, 400th 'Hope Store' Supporting Single Mother Women Entrepreneurs

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Amorepacific sponsors and the Beautiful Foundation operates the single mother women entrepreneurship loan support project ‘Hope Store,’ which officially opened its 400th branch on the 7th.

Hope Store is a project that supports entrepreneurship loans for single mother women’s independence. Since opening its first branch in 2004, it has steadily grown with Hope Store entrepreneurs by opening the 100th branch in 2011, the 200th in 2013, the 300th in 2016, and the 400th in 2019.

The 400th Hope Store is ‘Sangsu-dong Bap Han-kki’ located in Mapo-gu, Seoul. The founder of the 400th branch, who discovered Hope Store while searching for single mother women entrepreneurship loans online, said, “I am very grateful to be able to open my store thanks to Hope Store, and I hope other single mother women will have courage and apply to Hope Store.” She also expressed her determination, saying, “I will become a popular restaurant where many people can comfortably visit for a long time.”

The Hope Store project provides startup funds to single mother women who find it difficult to use general financial companies without requiring collateral or guarantees, regardless of credit rating.

Selected Hope Store entrepreneurs through a public contest are provided with up to 40 million KRW in startup funds (20 million KRW for operating funds and 20 million KRW for store lease deposits) at an annual repayment interest rate of 1%.

The repayment period is 8 years, and the repayment principal and interest are used as startup support funds for other single mother women. As of the end of 2018, the average monthly income of Hope Store entrepreneurs was 2.42 million KRW, with an average repayment rate of 83%.

The history of Hope Store began in 2003 with the ‘Beautiful World Fund,’ a legacy donated by the family of Amorepacific’s founder, Seosunghwan, the former chairman, to honor the founder’s will to support women and child welfare.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.