'Ecopro Celebrates 25th Anniversary, Growing from 1 Employee to 3,500'

CEO Song Hojun: "Let's Prepare for 5 or 10 Years with the 'Inbaekgicheon' Posture"

Song Hojun, CEO of Ecopro, is delivering a commemorative speech at the 25th anniversary ceremony held on the 20th at the headquarters in Ochang, Chungbuk. Photo by Ecopro

Starting with just one employee in a 10-pyeong office in Seocho-dong, Seoul, Ecopro has grown into a large corporation employing 3,500 people over 25 years since its establishment.

On the 22nd, Ecopro announced that it held a commemorative ceremony on the 20th at its headquarters in Ochang, Chungbuk, to celebrate its 25th anniversary, recognizing outstanding employees and long-term service employees who have practiced the company's core values.

At the ceremony, Ecopro CEO Song Hojun said, “Let us prepare for the next 25 years by building on the proud 25 years,” adding, “With courage and wisdom, warmth among ourselves, and confidence externally, let us adopt the attitude of Inbaekgicheon (人百己天: If others put in 100 efforts, I will put in 1,000) to prepare for the next 5, 10, and 25 years.”

Ecopro started on October 22, 1998, in Seocho-dong, Seoul, with one employee and has grown into a global cathode material company employing 3,500 people and approaching 9 trillion KRW in sales. Ecopro gained recognition for its technology by supplying battery cathode materials to Sony in Japan in 2013, and subsequently secured major clients such as Samsung SDI and SK On, playing a key role in the K-battery ecosystem. The company began its business with its headquarters in Ochang, Chungbuk, expanded to Pohang, Gyeongbuk, and this year established production bases in Hungary and Canada.

The founder, former chairman Lee Dong-chae, was inspired to enter the environmental business after reading about the Kyoto Protocol (an advanced countries' declaration to reduce greenhouse gases) signed in 1997, saying, “I will take the road less traveled.” In the early days, Ecopro invested 680 million KRW in bank loans to purchase equipment to develop catalysts that reduce harmful chemical gases emitted from factories. However, the produced products did not sell, leading to the failure and disposal of the equipment.

In 2005, Ecopro acquired the cathode material business that Cheil Industries had restructured. At that time, the secondary battery business was uncertain, and major corporations that had ventured into it were withdrawing. From 2006, Ecopro focused on the precursor business (a mixture prior to cathode materials), securing a 30 billion KRW bank loan to expand production lines. However, due to aggressive low-price competition from rivals, the precursor business was eventually discontinued.

After exiting the precursor business, Ecopro shifted to high-nickel cathode materials and made a comeback by trial supplying to Sony in Japan in 2013. In 2014, by securing Samsung SDI as a client, Ecopro opened the era of profitability in battery cathode materials. To outpace Chinese competitors, Ecopro spun off its battery cathode material business in 2016, establishing Ecopro BM, and used funds raised through a KOSDAQ listing to build a secondary battery ecosystem line in Pohang.

The Closed Loop Eco-System, which involved an investment of about 2 trillion KRW, integrates processes such as cathode materials, precursors, lithium conversion, utilities, and recycling on a single campus. By minimizing logistics costs and maximizing synergy among Ecopro Group affiliates, it has emerged as a benchmarking site not only for the battery industry but also for electric vehicle OEMs.

CEO Song Hojun stated, “Our growth so far has been because we brought the best products to market first, thanks to our leading development, quality control, and mass production technologies. We have accumulated this competitiveness over 25 years, and we must once again enhance and differentiate our technological competitiveness.”

Since June this year, Ecopro has been conducting overseas training for all employees. Every week, 100 to 140 employees participate in a 3-night, 5-day global cultural experience in Singapore. About 1,800 employees have completed the training so far, and with approximately 3,500 employees in total, the program is expected to continue until the first half of next year.

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