"Disaster Relief Funds, Support for Small Business Stores"

Baek Dong-wook, president of the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise (59), who has been visiting various sites and meeting with small business owners, stated, "The nationwide disaster relief fund has been quite helpful."
[Photo by Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise]

Baek Dong-wook, President of the Small Business Association: "Revived Consumption After a Period of Contraction"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] "Disaster relief funds are helping, and consumption is increasing."

Baek Dong-wook, President of the Small Business Association (59, photo), said, "After visiting the field, I found that the disaster relief funds are quite helpful. I visited shopping districts even on weekends and met with small business owners, many of whom said that consumption seems to be reviving."

On the second day of the nationwide emergency disaster relief fund application on the 12th, President Baek also issued a public appeal urging people to "use the disaster relief funds at small business establishments struggling due to COVID-19," aligning with the purpose of the relief funds. It was rare for the Small Business Association to make such an appeal to the public, but citizens who took this appeal seriously frequently visited small business stores.

In an interview with Asia Economy on the 20th, President Baek expressed gratitude, saying, "I thank the citizens who have not forgotten and continue to visit small business stores," and added, "The number of people visiting small business stores is gradually increasing, and it seems that the previously contracted consumption is slowly reviving, which is fortunate."

However, he expressed regret toward the government. He could not hide his disappointment over the government's delayed response in the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis, which increased the damage to small business owners. He said, "If the government had supported small business owners with employee wages or rent payments early on, the damage would have been less than it is now," and lamented, "Loans were provided only after employees were laid off or rent was overdue for 2-3 months, which was somewhat late."

He emphasized, "Since we do not know if a situation like COVID-19 will occur again, we need to create a manual now to support small business owners promptly." The recent initiative by the Korea Federation of SMEs to reform the small business support system reflects President Baek’s determination.

The Korea Federation of SMEs recently reviewed and planned improvements to the operational system for small and micro business management support activities. The core of the improvement plan is to strengthen cooperation not only with existing professional organizations but also with government ministries and related institutions so that field situations can be directly reflected in policies.

President Baek, who was elected in the by-election on the 24th of last month, has a term of only 11 months. Although re-election will be decided early next year, he is smoothly advancing the pledges he made. The representative pledges include the "Establishment of a Small Business Policy Research Institute" and the "Construction of a Small Business Federation Hall." Although less than a month has passed since his inauguration, the preparatory committee of seven members, led by General Chairman Kim Jae-hyun, has been completed.

The preparatory committee is preparing proposals necessary for establishing the Small Business Policy Research Institute and other projects. They plan to submit these proposals to the government soon so that they can be reflected in next year’s budget. They are also preparing to designate the Small Business Association as a donation organization. President Baek said, "We were rejected when applying for donation organization status three years ago, but this time we will prepare well to get designated."

Since these projects require significant budgets, they plan to supplement government funds with donations to establish the Small Business Policy Research Institute and build the Small Business Federation Hall. One of the key projects President Baek is focusing on is the nationwide organization of small business owners.

Although branches of the Small Business Association operate in each city and province nationwide, only about 60% of small business owners are currently networked. President Baek said, "This year, we will raise this network coverage to about 90%," and added, "We also plan to lead educational projects for the re-education of small business owners through the association."

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