'100 Small Giants in SoBuJang' 2nd Call for Applications, Competition Rate 17 to 1... Half Are New Applicants

100 Small Giants, 45 Companies Selected in 2nd Round with a Total of 779 Applicants
More Than Half of Applicants Are 'New Support' Companies

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 6th that a total of 779 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) applied for the second recruitment of the '100 Strong Small and Medium Enterprises in Materials, Parts, and Equipment,' recording a competition rate of 17.3:1.

A total of 45 companies will be selected in the second recruitment of this project, which responds to the rapidly changing global value chain due to Japan's export regulations and the spread of COVID-19 through focused nurturing of SMEs specializing in materials, parts, and equipment. Despite entry restrictions to prevent COVID-19 during seven regional business briefing sessions, over 500 companies participated, showing high interest.

Among the applicant companies, 56.9% (443 companies), more than half, did not participate in the first announcement, indicating that more than half are newly challenging to become strong SMEs. Additionally, companies recommended by demand companies accounted for 63% of the total, and preferential treatment will be given during future evaluations by reviewing the possibility of linkage with demand companies and purchasing.

'Small but Strong Materials, Parts, and Equipment 100' Second Recruitment Application Status. Table = Provided by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups

By sector, many SMEs in the machinery and metal sector accounted for 29.1% (227 companies), and the electrical and electronics sector accounted for 22.5% (175 companies). By region, Gyeonggi accounted for 35.6% (277 companies), Gyeongnam 13.9% (108 companies), and Busan 8.1% (63 companies), with Gyeonggi and Gyeongnam regions making up half of the total. By size, companies with sales under 10 billion KRW accounted for 47.4% (369 companies), and those with sales between 10 billion and 30 billion KRW accounted for 32.1% (250 companies).

An official from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups said, "After going through document evaluation, on-site evaluation, and in-depth evaluation, we plan to finally select about 45 strong SMEs by September at the latest."

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