Venture Business Association, Recruiting Participants for Agri-Food Venture Startup Internship Program

Providing On-Site Internship Opportunities for Young Prospective Entrepreneurs Under 39 Years Old

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheolhyun] The Korea Venture Business Association (Chairman An Geonjun, hereinafter referred to as the Association) announced that it will recruit participating interns and companies for the '2020 AGRI (Agricultural Food) Venture Startup Internship Program' starting from the 9th.

Implemented since 2018, this program provides young people aspiring to start a business in the agricultural food sector with opportunities to acquire practical field knowledge, encouraging well-prepared startups and serving as a career exploration opportunity linking entrepreneurship and employment. The recruitment targets for interns are prospective entrepreneurs under the age of 39 who wish to start a business in the agricultural food sector and early-stage entrepreneurs within one year of starting their business. Mentor companies are agricultural food startups with sales of over 100 million KRW and at least three regular employees. Selected candidates will participate in internship activities for 2 to 3 months, up to 30 hours per week, after matching and agreement procedures.

During the internship period, participating interns will receive a monthly stipend of 1.04 million KRW, and participating companies will receive a mentoring fee of 400,000 KRW per intern per month. Additionally, outstanding interns will be offered opportunities for overseas training in advanced agricultural food countries after evaluation upon completion of the internship, and may be selected as recipients of the 'Agricultural Food Venture Development Support Project,' which provides up to 30 million KRW in commercialization funds.

Moreover, this year, completing the internship program allows for the acquisition of field practice academic credits. This pilot program is currently available only to students of Konkuk University, Induk University, and Pyeongtaek University, with plans to expand to other universities that can recognize academic credits in the future.

Since 2018, the Agricultural Food Venture Startup Internship Program operated by the Korea Venture Business Association has matched a total of 88 interns with participating companies, supporting field practice and mentoring. Among them, 20 have completed startups, and 12 have been employed by participating companies. Furthermore, three of the employed interns plan to establish in-house ventures with support from their companies, and 18 other interns who completed the program are preparing to start their own businesses.

The recruitment for this program is open until April 6, and online applications can be submitted via email. Detailed information can be found in the announcement posted on the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Venture Business Association websites.

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