SC Jeil Bank Rolls Up Sleeves to Support Social Ventures Affected by COVID-19

On the 20th, at the SC First Bank headquarters in Jongno-gu, Seoul, (from the second left) Yoon Young-seok, Chairman of the Seoul Community Chest of Korea, Park Jong-bok, President of SC First Bank, and Kim Yong-duk, CEO of the Social Solidarity Bank, signed the 'COVID-19 Impact Social Venture Support Agreement' and took a commemorative photo. Photo by SC First Bank

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] SC First Bank announced on the 21st that it has signed a designated donation agreement worth 600 million KRW at its main branch in Euljiro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, together with the Seoul Community Chest of Korea and the Social Solidarity Bank, to jointly carry out a project supporting social ventures in overcoming and growing from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Social ventures encompass social enterprises, cooperatives, self-sufficiency enterprises, and village enterprises, and are also referred to as social economy enterprises. They are organizations that generate profits through business models aimed at solving various social problems, pursuing both social and economic values simultaneously.

This project is carried out with funds allocated to Korea from the global charitable fund established by the overseas headquarters of Standard Chartered (SC) Group to overcome COVID-19. Recently, SC Group announced a plan to provide financial support of 1 billion USD to companies supplying products and services necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19 or planning to produce products with rapidly increasing demand related to COVID-19 response, and to establish a global charitable fund of 50 million USD for emergency relief and economic recovery support in severely affected areas.

This domestic support will be provided by selecting social ventures that are experiencing management difficulties due to a sharp decline in sales caused by the COVID-19 aftermath or that have contributed to overcoming COVID-19 damage through public medical and health services.

The selected companies will receive not only emergency operating funds for business normalization over the next year but also assistance in developing sales channels and marketing to secure online sales. They can also receive additional support funds for continuous growth even after the project ends.

Detailed support requirements and application methods for selecting target companies will be announced through the Community Chest of Korea and the Social Solidarity Bank in July.

Park Jong-bok, CEO of SC First Bank, said, “As a member of SC Group, a global bank operating in 59 countries worldwide, SC First Bank holds a firm philosophy of ‘growing and developing together with local communities and customers.’ We are doing our best in various financial supports led by authorities and community contributions to overcome COVID-19, including this project.”

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