Gangwon Land In-House Venture 'AppleChain' Accelerates Growth... "Leading the Green New Deal Era"

Among 20 Domestic Public Enterprise In-house Ventures, First to Achieve 80 Million KRW in Sales... "Entering 2nd Year This Year, Achieving Billion KRW Sales"

Photo by Kangwon Land

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Kangwon Land announced on the 18th that its in-house venture 'Apple Chain' has become the first among about 20 in-house ventures in domestic public enterprises to start generating sales. In the era of the 'Green New Deal,' it aims to increase farm productivity through Korean-style eco-friendly permaculture.

In the second half of 2018, Kangwon Land adopted the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' in-house venture system and held a workshop for over 5,100 employees to discover on-site business ideas.

With the help of the Social Consulting Group (SCG), 26 in-house venture ideas including natural healing meditation were derived, and Apple Chain, an eco-friendly permaculture in-house venture focused on regional contribution, was selected.

According to Kangwon Land, Apple Chain achieved sales of 80 million KRW after one full year, the first among about 20 in-house ventures in domestic public enterprises. It is expected to record cumulative sales of 170 million KRW from April to the end of the year.

A Kangwon Land official explained, "Most startups without a distribution commerce-based business model generally fail to achieve even 10 million KRW in sales by their second year of preliminary entrepreneurship."

Apple Chain structurally designed the demand market and developed a customized business model.

They continuously identified trends such as the ultra-aged farming households trend in Korea, naturalism trend, pesticide-free natural farming trend, city gardening trend, semi-return-to-rural and semi-return-to-farming trend, indoor landscaping trend, natural learning center trend, and green urban regeneration trend.

Accordingly, they refined various know-how from the pilot-operated permaculture farm and internalized the optimal model suited to Korea's climatic conditions.

Source=Kangwon Land

From the early stages of the in-house venture, they established a knowledge management strategy and accumulated detailed expertise. As a result, they signed contracts to contribute annual expert columns to Korea's three major magazines on gardens, flowers, and housing, generating sales and providing content services.

They pioneered Korea's first 'Kitchen Garden' concept. They planned and conducted the 'Kitchen Garden Academy' and secured customers by holding special lectures and their own daily classes for over 200 potential customers at exhibitions such as the Kyunghyang Housing Fair.

They also created several successful cases that well reflected local trends, such as kitchen gardens in houses with gardens in Itaewon.

In collaboration with Yonsei University's Department of Residential Environment, a four-season carbon-free kitchen garden is being established where local seniors directly participate and cultivate.

Lee Jin-ho, team leader and representative of Apple Chain, said, "In-house ventures not only realize social value and play a pioneering role in new innovations but will also act as a representative innovation mechanism in the era of the 'Green New Deal.'"

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