Busan City and Lotte Duty Free Join Hands to Foster Youth Startup Companies

Non-Face-to-Face Agreement on the 5th, Support for Business Expenses and Accelerating Programs for 5 Companies This Year

Lotte Duty Free Starups Project, 20 Companies' Achievements Over 5 Years in Busan

Busan City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Busan City and Lotte Duty Free are promoting a youth startup company development project.

Busan City (Mayor Park Hyung-joon) and Lotte Duty Free (CEO Lee Gap) announced that they will sign an agreement on the 5th through a non-face-to-face meeting to mutually cooperate in discovering and nurturing youth startup companies in the Busan area.

This is a project to promote Lotte Duty Free's social contribution program, Starups, in Busan for five years to discover local youth startup companies and support them with business expenses and education to help them grow.

This year, five companies will be selected and supported with up to 40 million KRW per company. A 12-week accelerating program (1:1 customized coaching) will be provided, and benefits to participate in L-Camp, Lotte Ventures' startup incubating program, will be given.

'Starups' is a project that supports youth startup companies with initial funding and accelerating education and connects investments to nurture youth startup companies.

Lotte Duty Free has fostered 20 youth startup companies through the first Busan Starups in 2019 and the second Jeju Starups in 2020, achieving increased corporate sales and creating about 80 local jobs.

In 2019, the first phase was conducted in Busan, supporting 10 companies with 500 million KRW.

It led the growth of startup companies such as Jim Carry (baggage transportation service), Moments (local guide), and Union Kid (eco-friendly sculpture production).

Lee Gap, CEO of Lotte Duty Free, said, “We have become able to nurture youth startup companies more systematically with Busan City and help young people. We will work together with Busan City to contribute to the revitalization of tourism and regional development in Busan and continuously cooperate.”

Park Hyung-joon, Mayor of Busan City, said, “We expect to diversify the startup ecosystem in the Busan area and create youth jobs by utilizing private startup infrastructure, moving away from a government-led approach.”

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