Gwangju City Provides 30 Billion Won 'Structural Advancement Fund' to Small and Medium Enterprises

Facility and Operating Funds, etc... Applications Accepted from the 16th of Next Month

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 26th that it will provide structural advancement funds worth 30 billion KRW in 2021 to upgrade the production and service base of local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggling due to the spread of COVID-19 and to promote management stability.

The support targets are manufacturing companies with a manufacturing employment rate of 30% or more located in Gwangju, manufacturing-related service companies, and knowledge industry center construction companies. Selected companies will receive startup support or competitiveness enhancement support.

The support conditions are as follows: for facility funds, a grace period of 3 years with equal repayments over 5 years, with a limit of 1 billion KRW per company; for operating funds, a grace period of 1 year with equal repayments over 2 years, with a limit of 300 million KRW per company.

Additionally, from this year, Gwangju will provide additional support up to 10% of the loan amount during the certification period to city-selected premium small and strong enterprises, PRE-premium small and strong enterprises, excellent job-creating companies, Gwangju-type job companies, outstanding SMEs, and companies excelling in industrial safety and health.

The application period starts from the 16th of next month until funds are exhausted. SMEs wishing to receive support must apply online through the Gwangju Economic and Employment Promotion Agency website, then prepare documents such as the loan application form, business plan, copy of factory registration certificate, and recent financial statements, and submit them in person to the Gwangju Economic and Employment Promotion Agency.

For detailed information, search for "Small and Medium Enterprise Structural Advancement Fund" on the city’s website under notices and announcements or refer to the Gwangju Economic and Employment Promotion Agency website.

The Small and Medium Enterprise Structural Advancement Fund has been provided annually since 1994 to manufacturing-related SMEs with a scale of about 34 billion KRW, and this year, companies in need of funds will receive loans from nine banks including Gwangju Bank after document submission and review.

Son Hang-hwan, Director of Enterprise Development at the city, said, “We support startups of manufacturing companies or manufacturing-related service companies established within the last 7 years and competitiveness enhancement for companies operating for more than 7 years to help the growth of local SMEs,” adding, “We will implement various corporate support policies to help stabilize management of local SMEs and alleviate financial difficulties caused by the COVID-19 economic crisis.”

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