Selected as an Excellent Case of 'On-site Clinic' Including Support for Bientrinity Export Contract

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jonghwa] BNT Trinity, a cosmetics manufacturer, faced difficulties as domestic and international distribution networks were cut off and existing contracts were canceled due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). The company switched its product line to hand sanitizers. However, as market development was not easy, they applied for the 'On-site Clinic' and, with help in finding buyers, secured a $100,000 export contract to the United States and are currently proceeding with additional contracts.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 22nd that it selected 10 excellent cases of support from the 'On-site Clinic' project, where experts directly solve management difficulties faced by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on-site.

Clinic committee members and companies selected as excellent cases will be awarded the Minister's Award (5 committee members) and the Chairman of the Guidance Society Award (5 committee members, 10 company representatives). However, due to strengthened quarantine measures following the resurgence of COVID-19, the awards will be sent by mail.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups operates business support groups at 13 local offices nationwide and provides free consultations on all areas of management difficulties faced by companies, including finance, manpower, export, tax, and accounting, through phone, visits, and online.

When problems cannot be solved through simple consultations, experts in the relevant fields visit SME sites directly to provide short-term consulting and solve issues through the 'On-site Clinic' project.

This year, 1,957 companies were supported through the On-site Clinic. Among them, 53 cases with excellent performance were recommended, and after reviewing the thoroughness of support content, support outcomes, and ripple effects, and undergoing expert evaluation, 10 final cases were selected. The selected excellent cases will be produced as videos and used for corporate promotion.

Among the major excellent cases, K&Bio, which had only conducted indirect exports by manufacturing health functional foods such as ginseng beverages, sought to switch to direct exports to increase profits and turned to the 'On-site Clinic.' With the help of clinic committee members, they obtained the Certified Exporter of Origin certification to prove that the raw material, ginseng, is a well-known Korean product, successfully exporting to Vietnam.

Kyungdong Hangwa, a family company producing traditional Korean sweets, had always struggled with cost calculation. With the help of clinic committee members, they established a standard cost calculation system and utilized it for product-specific cost calculations, aiding in determining delivery prices.

The On-site Clinic project has been supported since 2009, and especially this year, due to the impact of COVID-19, the number of companies wishing to receive support increased significantly, leading to early closure of applications in July. Reflecting this, next year, the budget will be increased by about 50% from this year's 1.68 billion KRW to 2.52 billion KRW.

Kim Youngsik, Customer Informatization Officer at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "We have significantly increased the scale of support for companies facing management difficulties and provide star reviews for clinic committee members. We hope many companies will select experts that perfectly match their areas of concern and achieve results."

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