Retired Professionals in Their 50s and 60s Provide 'Knowhow' Consulting to Small and Medium Enterprises

Support for Online and Offline Consulting More Than 4 Times a Month

Reference photo [Asia Economy DB]

[Asia Economy Reporter La Young-cheol] Gyeonggi Province is promoting a project that utilizes the professional know-how of retired personnel from the 50s and 60s baby boom generation to provide customized consulting in research and development (R&D) and export sectors for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lacking specialized knowledge and skills.

The province announced on the 5th that it is recruiting participants for the "2021 5060 Retiree Job Creation Support Project," which aims to connect retired professionals aged 50 and 60 with SMEs to resolve management difficulties and create jobs for middle-aged and older adults.

The recruitment targets are retired professionals born before December 1972, currently unemployed, and registered residents of Gyeonggi Province, who are capable of consulting in the fields of 'R&D project planning' and 'export channels.'

Among these, the 'R&D' field is open to industry-academia-research experts who can support business diagnosis, assist in writing business plans, select business items, develop product certifications, and strengthen R&D capabilities.

The 'export channels' field is open to those with more than five years of experience in overseas marketing, trade, and export-related work, who have verified foreign language proficiency, consultation skills, and planning abilities.

Participating companies must be SMEs located within the province that have no restrictions on participating in R&D projects and wish to receive consulting to strengthen export marketing capabilities.

This year, the plan is to match 80 professional retired consultants with 140 SMEs.

After matching, consulting will be conducted at least four times a month for six months through online and offline methods. If necessary, the consulting period can be extended by an additional three months.

In particular, the project plans to conduct satisfaction surveys and identify requirements and improvements from participating companies, then provide feedback to the professional retirees to ensure the project offers tangible benefits.

Retired professionals acting as consultants will receive an activity allowance and travel expenses of 500,000 KRW per person per month (400,000 KRW from the province and 100,000 KRW from the company).

Retired professionals and SMEs wishing to participate can apply by submitting the participation application and related documents online (R&D field: www.egbiz.or.kr, export channels field: www.5060business.com). Applications can be submitted at any time starting this month.

A provincial official stated, "This project aims to help stabilize management and increase sales through customized consulting reflecting the needs of participating SMEs, while promoting stable job creation for the 50s and 60s generation."

Meanwhile, according to the province, last year about 80 professional consultants were matched with approximately 140 SMEs, resulting in 69 R&D research projects, 27 patent applications, 74 jobs created, and export contracts worth 7.87 million USD.

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