Eight Public Institutions Including Kibo Deliver 'Busan Social Economy Support Fund'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Korea Technology Finance Corporation (Chairman Jung Yoon-mo, hereinafter referred to as Kibo) and eight other public institutions in the Busan area announced on the 29th that they delivered 1.04 billion KRW from the Busan Social Economy Support Fund (BEF) to the Social Enterprise Research Institute, the fund management organization, at the Busan International Finance Center (BIFC).

The eight public institutions in Busan, including Kibo, have raised a fund worth 1.79 billion KRW over the past two years to revitalize the social economy and create jobs in the Busan area, providing comprehensive support such as finance, investment, and consulting to over 100 social economy enterprises to date.

In particular, this year, to promote the early revitalization of the Busan regional economy, which has been stagnated due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, the fund disbursement will be advanced by about two months compared to previous years. The scale of financial support projects will also be expanded to foster social economy enterprises and develop sales channels.

This year’s supported companies are social economy enterprises in the Busan area, with a total of 25 companies finally selected through a public contest held in March. For the selected companies, a total of 680 million KRW in financial support, including investment and interest-free loans according to their growth stages, will be provided. Besides financial support projects, the delivered support fund will be used for crowd fund matching, management consulting, growth support education, and cooperative establishment to help the startup and growth of social economy enterprises in the Busan area.

Kibo Director Kim Young-chun said, "I hope that the BEF support projects will revitalize the Busan regional economy, which has been stagnated due to COVID-19, and serve as an opportunity to foster innovative projects that can enhance social value." He added, "We will continue to actively support the economic recovery of the Busan area by closely cooperating with BEF partner institutions."

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