Pohang City Focuses Support Efforts on Small Business Owners for Revitalizing the Local Economy

Active Promotion of Four Major Strategic Tasks Including Support for Small Business Growth Stages

Establishing a Robust Social Safety Net for Vulnerable Small Businesses Amid Economic Crisis

Efforts to Secure Stable Business Foundations for

Pohang City is focusing its efforts on creating a self-sustaining ecosystem where local small business owners, who form the foundation of the livelihood economy, can grow into innovative entrepreneurs equipped with creativity and digital capabilities.

A briefing session on support policies for small business owners and traditional markets held last January.

To support small business owners, the city is actively pursuing four major strategic tasks: ▲supporting growth at each stage of small business development ▲expanding and advancing digital transformation for small businesses ▲fully implementing development plans for local commercial districts and traditional markets ▲establishing a comprehensive social safety net for recovery, closure, and restart.

The city supports the startup and advancement of small business owners by fostering growth at each stage. To this end, it actively discovers prospective entrepreneurs, selects and nurtures promising small business owners, and supports scale-up through investment and loan funding.

To support young small business owners with weak management foundations, the city has created a fund of 10 billion KRW to assist young entrepreneurs’ independence through special guarantees and interest subsidy support. Additionally, for small business owners facing difficulties securing funds, a guarantee fund of 15 billion KRW has been prepared, and business growth is promoted by providing a 3% interest subsidy for two years.

Furthermore, the city is promoting the expansion and advancement of digital transformation for small business owners by introducing smart technologies in workplaces and strengthening online entry capabilities to adapt to changes in the non-face-to-face consumption ecosystem. Through the Pohang Excellent Products Ontact Business project, the city supports online marketing education for small business owners and their entry into online shopping malls, and actively works to strengthen responsiveness to changing consumer culture through live commerce broadcasts.

At the same time, the city is driving transformation of local commercial districts and traditional markets in line with current trends. Seven markets were finally selected in the ‘Specialized Market Development Project’ announced by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and with a total project budget of 1.1 billion KRW, the city is focusing on creating differentiated traditional markets through customized projects that highlight each market’s unique characteristics, while enhancing commercial district vitality through private sector collaboration.

Moreover, the city plans to establish a comprehensive social safety net for recovery and restart to support micro small business owners vulnerable to economic crises.

To stabilize the management base of micro small business owners vulnerable to crises, the city has secured a budget of 2 billion KRW to support card fees and implement support measures such as subsidizing employers’ employment insurance premiums, ensuring social safety nets and rapid recovery.

Through the Small Business New Wind Change-up Project, the city supports management stabilization by providing professional consulting for stores experiencing management difficulties, improving store management environments, safety and hygiene, establishing POS systems, and producing packaging materials.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok said, “We will discover active support measures for small business owners struggling with management amid the economic crisis to accelerate the recovery of the livelihood economy. We will listen to voices from the field and make continuous efforts through ongoing monitoring to ensure that local small business owners can secure a stable business foundation.”

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