Kim Hak-do, Chairman of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, Visits Top Job-Creating Company Site

On the 4th, Visiting 'Oa', a Leading Small Home Appliance Company in Seocho-gu, Seoul

On the 4th, Kim Hak-do, Chairman of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (left), visited the Oa site located in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and received a product explanation from Noh Jeong-hwan, Director of Oa.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Small and Medium Business Corporation (hereinafter referred to as SBC) announced that Chairman Kim Hak-do visited Oa (CEO Kim Sang-mu) in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 4th to encourage business achievements such as being selected as the '2020 Korea Job Leading Company' and to listen to difficulties.

Despite the difficult economic environment due to COVID-19, Oa is leading job creation by rapidly growing its business using e-commerce. Oa, which manufactures and sells small home appliances such as humidifiers and massagers tailored to the consumption trends of single-person households in their 20s and 30s, achieved sales of 65 billion KRW six years after its founding in 2014, and sales of 100 billion KRW are expected this year.

The number of employees reaches 149. It created new jobs every year with 59 employees in 2018, 95 in 2019, and 122 in 2020. The average age is 31.5, making it a representative youth job company. Last year, it was recognized for efforts to share performance with workers, such as granting employee stock ownership, and received the Presidential Citation for 'Korea Job Leading Company.'

SBC supported product development and sales infrastructure by providing startup funds and growth-sharing funds in stages. An Oa official said, "With SBC's bold investment and financing support in the early stages of the startup, we were able to attract follow-up investments from private investment institutions and grow rapidly," adding, "Our next goal is to grow into a global company, and we will continue efforts to share performance with workers using programs such as the Tomorrow Filling Deduction."

Chairman Kim Hak-do said, "SBC plans to discover promising prospective unicorn companies like Oa and nurture them into global companies," adding, "We will continue to lead innovative growth through effective policy support reflecting field voices and contribute to creating high-quality new jobs."

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