Ministry of SMEs and Startups Recruiting Trainees for New Business Startup Academy

Discovering Prospective Small Business Owners for Stepwise Support, Recruiting a Total of 240 Participants

Logo of Shin Business Startup Academy.
Photo by Shin Business Startup Academy

[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 27th that it is recruiting trainees for the first half of 2021 at the New Business Startup Academy, which supports prospective small business owners in starting their businesses. Recruitment is taking place in 12 regions nationwide, including Seoul, Busan, and Daegu, with a total of 240 trainees. Applications can be submitted from the 28th until March 2nd.

The New Business Startup Academy is a program that discovers prospective small business owners with innovative ideas and unique manufacturing technologies or know-how, and provides phased support. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups began by establishing the academy in six regions nationwide in 2015, then expanded to 12 regions, selecting and supporting 2,170 trainees to date.

This year, a new field specializing in online startups has been established, and trainees for this field are being recruited separately. The online field targets trainees focusing on e-commerce products and services, and the program is designed to provide intensive support such as sales education and practical training optimized for online platform businesses. Additionally, up to 80% of the selected trainees in the online field will receive linked commercialization funding. Of the 240 trainees to be recruited this time, 190 will be in the offline track, and the remaining 50 will be in the online track.

Furthermore, the Ministry plans to reduce the existing hands-on training process focused on direct sales from 16 weeks to 12 weeks, while strengthening differentiated product commercialization education and practical support. Follow-up and linked support, such as assistance in participating in crowdfunding, will also be expanded to help trainees continue growing after starting their businesses.

Yoon Sang-jin, CEO of 'Hoa,' a pet furniture manufacturer who graduated from the New Business Startup Academy in 2018 and founded the company in September of that year, successfully raised 74 million KRW through crowdfunding in the second half of last year. This achievement exceeded the funding goal by 7,387%.

Those who complete this training and are eligible for commercialization support can also receive linked support through the Small Business Consulting Support Project, which helps resolve difficulties encountered during practical startup processes such as store leasing.

Detailed information on eligibility and application methods can be found on the New Business Startup Academy website.

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