[This Person] Park Junhee, Gwanak-gu Mayor: What Is the Secret Behind Entering the Final Stage of the 'Three Small Business Crisis Overcoming Projects'?

‘Interest-Free Loans for Small Business Owners’ Ended with Great Response, Supporting 1,012 People with a Total of 20 Billion Won... ‘Support for Small Business Owners in Closure or Restricted Sectors’ 680 Companies Received 340 Million Won... ‘Seoul Economic Vitality Fund’ Application Deadline Extended to August 31 to Provide Support to All Eligible Recipients... Additional Issuance of Gwanak Love Gift Certificates and Active Promotion of Second Half Small Business Support Projects Including Smart Supermarket Development

Park Jun-hee, Mayor of Gwanak District

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Junhee) announced that the ‘Three-Project Small Business Crisis Overcoming Program’ supported for small business owners who have been struggling for a long time due to COVID-19 is entering its final stage with great response.

Recently, the district secured 26.2 billion KRW through the 1st supplementary budget of 2021, city subsidies, and cooperation with commercial banks, and implemented three projects: ▲interest-free loans for small business owners ▲support for small business owners who closed due to gathering bans or restrictions ▲Seoul Economy Vitality Fund, focusing all efforts on supporting small business owners.

In particular, the ‘Interest-Free Loan for Small Business Owners’ project, with groundbreaking conditions such as ‘no interest,’ ‘no guarantee fee,’ ‘no collateral,’ and ‘0.8% secondary year interest subsidy from the 2nd year,’ received high praise from small business owners, and the total loan amount of 20 billion KRW was fully disbursed.

Additionally, the ‘Support for Small Business Owners Who Closed Due to Gathering Bans or Restrictions’ project was carried out for those who were in the blind spots of various support benefits, providing 500,000 KRW each as preparation funds for reemployment or re-startup to 680 people, totaling 340 million KRW. For small business owners who could not apply within the period, a second application and reception will be held in the second half of the year after the project announcement.

The ‘Seoul Economy Vitality Fund’ saw 6,454 applicants as of August 11 among approximately 7,000 small business owners in gathering-ban or restricted business sectors within the region, with a total of 5.1 billion KRW paid. To pay all eligible recipients, the application deadline was extended from July 31 to August 31.

Now, the district plans to actively promote second-half projects for small business owners through the 2nd supplementary budget.

In the first half of the year, the Gwanak Love Gift Certificates worth 32 billion KRW, issued on a large scale with a 10% discount rate to revitalize the local commercial district, were sold out early with great response. To increase the scale beyond the 7 billion KRW planned for issuance in the second half, the project budget was reflected in the supplementary budget.

More robust and diverse projects have been prepared, including the ‘Gwanak-style Artterior Project’ supporting improvements in the interior and exterior environment and product marketing design of small business stores; the ‘Smart Supermarket Development Project’ supporting the introduction of smart technology and unmanned stores in neighborhood supermarkets; the ‘Work Environment Improvement Project’ supporting production facility improvements for small and outdated clothing manufacturers; the ‘Collaboration Support Project’ for building a collaborative platform due to the absence of online distribution; and the ‘Traditional Market Environment Improvement Project’ to improve aging facilities in traditional markets.

Also, additional applications for the ‘Good Landlord Support Project’ will be accepted until the 31st, and the ‘Gwanak-gu Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund Loan’ worth 4 billion KRW will be supported monthly at a significantly reduced interest rate of 0.8% until funds are exhausted.

The 5th Disaster Relief Fund, based on the principle of ‘broader and thicker support,’ will also be implemented soon.

The ‘Small Business Hope Recovery Fund’ will increase the compensation amount significantly compared to existing support funds, providing up to 20 million KRW. Customized support segmented by type reflecting the degree of damage per business will begin rapid first payments from mid-August after the project announcement.

The ‘Small Business Loss Compensation’ project will compensate losses occurring after the promulgation date of the amended Small Business Protection and Support Act on July 7 of this year in a customized manner. After detailed guidelines are announced, applications will be accepted from mid-October, with payments starting at the end of October.

Mayor Park Junhee said, “Many small business owners are going through difficult times due to the ongoing domestic economic downturn caused by the continuous spread of COVID-19 and quarantine measures. We will continuously research and prepare support measures to overcome this crisis together.”

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