MBA Proposed by Chey Tae-won 10 Years Ago... Blossoming Social Enterprise Ecosystem

10 Years Since the Establishment of KAIST Social Entrepreneur MBA

Rightroot is a social enterprise that recycles discarded secondary battery separator films to develop and produce high-performance fabrics and clothing. It was founded by CEO Shin Min-jung, who completed the KAIST Social Entrepreneur MBA program in 2016. Before developing the technology, CEO Shin struggled with funding, but SK Innovation provided 200 million KRW in growth support funds, and SK IE Technology supplied waste separator films. As a result, Rightroot succeeded in developing 'TEXNIC,' a high-performance recycled fiber material with breathability, waterproof, and windproof functions. Rightroot received the Innovation Award at CES 2022 and the Minister of Environment Award at the 2022 Challenge K-Startup.

CEO Park Hyung-soo, founder of Devotion Foods, is a chef who studied cooking abroad. Through the KAIST Social Entrepreneur MBA program, he conceived a business to solve environmental problems caused by the livestock industry while developing safe future foods and established the company. After two years of research, he developed and is selling alternative meat that sufficiently provides nutrition while reproducing the juiciness and texture of meat.

Proposed by SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, the KAIST Social Entrepreneur MBA, launched in March 2013 as the world's first master's program for training social entrepreneurs, has celebrated its 10th anniversary. During this time, the total employment of social enterprises founded by graduates has exceeded 1,000, creating a sustainable social enterprise ecosystem.

SK Chairman Chey Tae-won is delivering a congratulatory speech at the Impact MBA graduates meeting held in December 2022 at the Walkerhill Hotel in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.

According to SK Group and KAIST on the 15th, a total of 153 graduates have completed the Social Entrepreneur MBA over the past 10 years. The 144 social enterprises they founded to solve social problems cover areas such as upcycling, carbon reduction, eco-friendly fashion and food, healthcare, regional regeneration, and youth finance.

SK surveyed the business status of 60 of these companies and found that by the end of last year, their total employment reached 876 people. SK estimates that the total employment of all 144 social enterprises is around 1,500. Additionally, the average annual sales per company, which was about 175 million KRW in 2019, rapidly grew to approximately 700 million KRW in 2022, three years later.

This is regarded as the fruit of Chairman Chey’s philosophy of nurturing social entrepreneur talent. In 2012, Chairman Chey stated, "Youth unemployment is a serious social problem, but existing for-profit companies have reached their limits in solving it," adding, "If the spirit of challenge that young people showed during the past venture boom arises in the form of social enterprises, a breakthrough can be found," proposing the establishment of the Social Entrepreneur MBA.

Accordingly, SK supports the tuition fees for all 20 MBA scholarship students annually. SK also established the KAIST-SK Impact Business Center to support social enterprise startup incubation, offer MBA curriculum development and faculty training, and support academic activities for social entrepreneurs.

Furthermore, SK has provided a total of 3.1 billion KRW to companies such as Sallim Medical Welfare Social Cooperative, Beautiful People Welfare Association, and Fragrant People through the Social Performance Incentive program, which offers 'cash' proportional to the 'social outcomes' created by social enterprises. SK affiliates have also assisted After Rain, garden management business (SK Forestry), development of eco-friendly synthetic leather by Conscious Wear (SK Chemicals), and production of eco-friendly campaign products by Moncenue (SK Innovation).

The Social Entrepreneur MBA was expanded and reorganized into the Impact MBA last year by adding the Green Management Policy program sponsored by the Ministry of Environment. This reorganization is expected to establish it as a top-level integrated ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) entrepreneurship program encompassing the environmental sector.

Cho Kyung-mok, Chairman of the SK SUPEX Council SV Committee, said, "We will continue to do our best to nurture capable and innovative social entrepreneur talents by utilizing KAIST’s specialized education in social entrepreneur training and SK Group’s resources."

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