SK Co., Ltd. Expands 'Good Company Investment' Leading ESG Practices

Operating 'Impact Investment Program (Deep Impact Day)' with Member Participation
Selected 4 Social Ventures in Education, Employment, Disability Mobility, Environment Sectors with Approximately 10 Billion KRW Investment

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Investment specialist SK Inc. is expanding its 'Impact Investment' targeting companies that lead in solving social issues, continuing its differentiated ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) management efforts.

'Impact Investment' refers to so-called 'good investment' that invests in businesses pursuing solutions to various social problems such as environment, poverty, and education, while also considering financial performance, thus gaining increasing significance in the investment market. Based on its demonstrated investment expertise, SK Inc. continues to invest in social ventures that can create social value and exert positive influence, using criteria such as ▲ commitment and achievements in solving social issues ▲ technological capabilities for solving social problems ▲ business growth potential. Additionally, SK Inc. plans to expand its unique ESG member participation program, where members with professional investment capabilities actively engage in the impact investment process.

Since starting its investment in Enuma, a digital education venture company addressing educational gaps among marginalized groups, in February last year, SK Inc. has selected three additional social ventures in vulnerable employment, mobility rights for the disabled, and environmental sectors. The total scale of impact investment has reached approximately 10 billion KRW.

Enuma is a social venture that developed a game-based learning app and caused a sensation after its release in 2013, surpassing 9 million cumulative downloads worldwide. Enuma’s self-developed app 'KitKit School' was recognized for its outstanding technology and differentiated game-based approach by jointly winning the 2019 'Global Learning XPRIZE' competition, sponsored by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla.

TodoWorks, which recently completed investment, developed a power assist product that can be easily attached to manual wheelchairs to enable electric movement. The joystick allows easy wheelchair operation, greatly improving convenience for wheelchair users while significantly reducing cost burdens. Recently, purchase inquiries have been received from the UK, Italy, and other countries, and overseas market entry is being pursued.

Other social ventures invested in by SK Inc., TestWorks and The WaveTalk, have been recognized for social achievements in vulnerable employment and environmental fields, respectively. TestWorks, a company that refines and processes AI training data, actively employs people with autism, intellectual, and hearing disabilities, and developed its own recruitment, education, and management systems to create workplaces where employees can work long-term. The WaveTalk is a social venture that developed a product capable of detecting invisible water pollution easily, quickly, and at low cost. Based on its technology, it received the CES Innovation Award in 2020. Notably, TodoWorks and The WaveTalk are significant as impact investments directly involving SK Inc. members.

Impact investment has recently recorded rapid growth due to the rise of ESG management. According to the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), the scale of impact investment grew more than tenfold from 70 trillion KRW in 2015 to about 830 trillion KRW in 2019. In Korea, since the announcement of the social finance activation plan in 2018, funds totaling 500 billion KRW have been raised over the past three years, marking the start of substantial growth.

Meanwhile, SK Inc. has been leading ESG management not only through impact investment but also by introducing an ESG perspective investment review process since 2019 and utilizing social value creation effects in investment decision-making. This year, it established an ESG committee under the board of directors and has been proactively promoting ESG management. SK Inc. plans to conduct the ‘Deep Impact Day’ program involving all members again this year, expecting that through this program, members will empathize with the need to solve social problems and strengthen a ‘new entrepreneurial spirit.’

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