Kibo Celebrates 31st Anniversary... "We Will Do Our Best to Support Companies Affected by COVID-19"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Korea Technology Finance Corporation (Chairman Jeong Yun-mo, hereinafter referred to as Kibo) announced on the 1st that, on the occasion of its 31st anniversary, it actively participated in the government's 'social distancing' measures due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and replaced the event with sharing a video containing the chairman's anniversary message within the company without holding a separate commemorative event.

In his anniversary speech, Chairman Jeong expressed gratitude to the executives and employees who have worked hard for Kibo to grow into a giant in technology finance, and urged, "I hope you will once again demonstrate the resilience that has overcome crises and achieved growth in difficult times due to COVID-19."

This year, in response to the unprecedented economic crisis caused by COVID-19, Kibo plans to expand the guarantee scale and support guarantees worth 21.9 trillion won, an increase of 900 billion won from the original plan. In particular, special guarantees will be concentrated on vulnerable industries and heavily affected regions, and to alleviate the burden on small and vulnerable companies, ultra-low interest loans and rapid, full guarantees will be prioritized. All efforts will be focused on providing prompt and practical support so that small and medium-sized venture companies and small business owners can minimize damage.

Kibo was established on April 1, 1989, to promote technology development of small and medium enterprises and to smoothly support fund supply. It pioneered the challenging field of 'technology finance' in Korea by introducing the country's first technology evaluation system and has supported 700,000 technology evaluations and 360 trillion won in guarantees since its establishment. In 2017, with the transfer of supervisory authority to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Kibo broke away from the framework of existing policy financial institutions and grew into a 'comprehensive support institution for SMEs and startups' by promoting various new businesses such as technology trusts and patent mutual aid to comprehensively support innovation and growth of SMEs and startups.

Chairman Jeong said, "Based on the accumulated technology evaluation capabilities and know-how, let us support the scale-up of innovative companies and play a leading role in realizing the venture powerhouse among the top four countries."

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