Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Private Sector-Led Discovery and Development of Local Commercial Districts

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] On the 19th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups visited the site of the privately-led commercial district project ‘Incheon Gaehang-ro Project’ to listen to difficulties and discuss measures to revitalize the local commercial district.

This field visit by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is a follow-up measure to the ‘New Government Policy Direction for Small Business Owners and Self-Employed’ announced on the 25th of last month, which aims to actively discover and nurture alleyway commercial districts led by creative local small business owners.

The Gaehang-ro Project is a privately-led local brand commercial district linking the declining commercial area with local content, initiated by Incheon-born innovative entrepreneur CEO Changgil Lee since 2018, together with about 20 entrepreneurs, over 60 long-established stores with more than 30 years of history, and local innovators. The Gaehang-ro Project was also selected as a ‘2022 Local Creator Activation Support Project Collaboration Task.’

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups plans to fully utilize private innovation capabilities to nurture creative local small business owners as local brands and create alleyway commercial districts where small business owners can be happy.

Deputy Minister Juhyun Cho of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups expressed gratitude to small business owners who are innovating their regions led by the private sector despite difficult situations such as COVID-19, and promised, “To support the continuous growth of innovative entrepreneurs, we will establish a growth-stage support system to nurture small business owners into ‘high value-added service companies’ and ‘creative new manufacturing companies.’”

After the meeting, Deputy Minister Cho toured major stores in Gaehang-ro such as ‘Lighthouse,’ ‘Garden Craftsman,’ and ‘Gaehang-ro Tongdak’ to encourage the merchants.

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