Mayor Lee Yong-seop: "Small Business Owners Must Be Happy for Gwangju to Be Happy"

Visit to Small Business Support Agency for On-site Inspection

On the morning of the 12th, Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, visited the Gwangju Credit Guarantee Foundation located in Gwangsan-gu and consulted with small business owners at the civil service consultation desk. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] On the morning of the 12th, Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, visited the Gwangju Economic Employment Promotion Agency and the Gwangju Credit Guarantee Foundation, which are in charge of various small business support tasks, to check the implementation status of livelihood stabilization measures and encourage the staff.

Mayor Lee concluded the schedule of the ‘Special Week for Small Business Owners’ with this visit to small business support institutions.

On this day, Mayor Lee consulted with a small business owner, Mr. Park, who visited the Gwangju Credit Guarantee Foundation to receive the 3-No loan support of no collateral, no interest, and no guarantee fee, and examined the difficulties on site.

Mayor Lee asked in detail about the difficulties and the amount of funds needed, saying, “We fully understand the difficulties small business owners are experiencing due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic,” and encouraged, “Gwangju City will mobilize all possible means to support you, so please stay strong.”

He then held a meeting with on-site staff from the Gwangju Economic Employment Promotion Agency and the Credit Guarantee Foundation to identify the difficulties faced by small business owners and self-employed people at the counters and encouraged the staff who are dedicated to support projects.

The staff suggested supporting budgets for management consulting for small business owners, strengthening publicity for various support systems such as Small Business Protectors, additional budget support for non-face-to-face platform services and online sales channels for small business franchise projects, among others.

In response, Mayor Lee said, “If small business owners are not happy, the Gwangju community cannot be happy,” and urged, “Although the workload has greatly increased due to the implementation of various support measures and it may be difficult, please put in more effort to provide practical help to those facing difficulties due to COVID-19.”

Meanwhile, to mark the Special Week for Small Business Owners, Mayor Lee has been on a busy schedule starting with visiting Jangmi Street at Chosun University on the 8th, visiting stores around the back gate of Chonnam National University on the 9th, holding a meeting with representatives of 14 small business sectors on the 10th, participating in a flower-buying campaign to support flower farms, and discussing effective operation plans for public delivery apps and revitalization plans for general restaurants with representatives related to general restaurants on the 11th.

During this special week, small business owners voiced difficulties such as a sharp decline in sales due to prolonged social distancing, exclusion from disaster relief fund eligibility due to various restrictions, and burdens of fixed costs such as rent, labor costs, and public utility fees, requesting various support from the city.

In particular, they requested additional implementation of the 3-No special guarantee, extension of the discount period for the Gwangju Win-Win Card, support for quarantine supplies, resolution of blind spots in disaster relief funds, continuous promotion of the Good Rent Movement, and ongoing support for the promotion and stabilization of the Gwangju public delivery app, which will enter pilot operation from April 1.

Gwangju City plans to soon prepare and announce customized livelihood stabilization measures that can provide practical help to small business owners by reflecting the field opinions proposed so far.

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