Ponyjeong Foundation Selects Kim Seul-ah, CEO of Kurly, for the 2nd Innovation Award

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] The PonyJeong Foundation announced on the 7th that it has established the second PonyJeong Innovation Award to support young innovators of our time in celebration of the foundation's 15th anniversary this year, and selected Kim Seul-ah, CEO of Curly Co., Ltd., as the first recipient.

The newly established PonyJeong Young Leader Award is the second PonyJeong Innovation Award aimed at supporting young innovators. Like the Innovation Award, it does not restrict the field but limits the age to under 40 to discover and encourage young innovators.

The foundation will select young talents with a spirit of challenge and innovation leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution era, awarding them a prize of 50 million KRW along with a plaque. The award ceremony will be held annually between September and October, separately from the PonyJeong Innovation Award held every May.

Kim, the first recipient, was born in 1983, graduated from Wellesley College in the United States with a degree in Political Science, and after working at overseas financial firms and management consulting companies such as Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Company, Temasek, and Bain & Company, founded Market Kurly.

Launched in 2015, Market Kurly introduced the concept of '7-day early morning delivery' for fresh food supply for the first time in Korea, and as of 2019, its sales reached 428.9 billion KRW.

Kim Cheol-soo, chairman of the PonyJeong Foundation, said, "By establishing the PonyJeong Young Leader Award to support young innovators and selecting CEO Kim Seul-ah as its first recipient, we aim to encourage young people who will lead Korea in the future with new attempts and innovative thinking." He added, "Since the launch of Market Kurly, CEO Kim has created a dawn delivery boom over the past five years, presenting a new model for the domestic distribution industry."

Meanwhile, the PonyJeong Innovation Award was established in 2006, named after the late Chung Se-young, honorary chairman of Hyundai Development Company and founder of Hyundai Motor Company. Starting with the first recipient Ban Ki-moon, former UN Secretary-General, the award has been given to figures such as figure skater Kim Yuna, pianist Cho Seong-jin, Lee Guk-jong, head of the Trauma Center at Ajou University Gyeonggi Southern Region, and this year marks the 14th award, presented to Bang Si-hyuk, chairman of Big Hit Entertainment.

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