[Public Voices]A Festival for All: The 'Small Business Owners Convention'

Held at KINTEX for Two Days Starting November 3
A Series of Experience Events for Visitors
A Chance to Witness Innovation and Challenge of Small Business Owners

Oh Sehee, President of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business

When you leave your home and enter the alley, you encounter laundromats, restaurants, cafes, hair salons, real estate agencies, supermarkets, flower shops, interior design stores, and more. Numerous small business owners settled in the neighborhood are responsible for the people's basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter, laying the foundation of South Korea's economy. The number of small business establishments is 7,335,397, accounting for 95% of all businesses, and the number of employees is 10,461,890, representing 45.8% of all workers. Most have fewer than five regular employees and annual sales under 1 billion KRW.

November 5th is a very special day for small business owners, the main players of alley commercial districts and the cornerstone of South Korea's economy, as it is the legal commemorative day called "Small Business Owners' Day." The week prior is designated as "Small Business Owners' Week," during which the Ministry of SMEs and Startups hosts events such as the Small Business Owners Convention and the Small Business Skills Competition, organized by the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise and the Small Enterprise and Market Service. The nationwide festival uniting 7.34 million small business owners, the "2023 Korea Small Business Owners Convention," will be held for two days from November 3rd to 4th at KINTEX Exhibition Center 2 in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.

This year’s theme is "Small Business Owners Among the People, Leading the Korean Economy." It clearly establishes the status of small business owners as economic agents who lead national economic growth by supporting innovative and creative entrepreneurs and nurturing them into entrepreneurial small business owners called "Lycon." Although the event is named the "Small Business Owners Convention," it is a festival open to everyone. Various "experience zones" are set up for general visitors to try activities such as cookie making, total beauty consulting, latte art creation, nail art recommendations, flower arrangement decoration, and rice cake pounding. Through these programs, small business owners and local residents can come together to experience the duties of small business owners, discovering new fun and talents previously unnoticed. Additionally, a special product sales area linked with local brands and regional festivals representing each area is established, allowing visitors to directly see, taste, and purchase excellent products from local small business owners who had limited access due to time and space constraints.

The concurrently held Small Business Skills Competition features 2,010 small business owners competing in 41 categories across seven industries, including custom tailoring, makeup and beauty, gift wrapping, pet grooming, food service, automotive glass, and floriculture, showcasing their honed skills. Despite the challenging times of complex crises, this event will be an opportunity to witness small business owners quietly focusing on their work, continuously growing through innovation and challenge.

When many of our small business owners, though small, become stable, the local economy grows, the national economy develops, and the livelihood economy revives. Even the leading domestic conglomerates that have grown into global companies started as small business owners in the alleys of neighborhoods. Based on the infinite potential for small business owners among the people to grow beyond alley commercial districts and become key players in Korea’s economy, it is recommended to visit KINTEX on November 3rd and 4th, 2023, for the "2023 Korea Small Business Owners Convention" to gain courage. It is a time when the active interest of all citizens is needed so that small business owners, the lifeblood of the economy, can overcome the current crisis and demonstrate their full capabilities.

Oh Sehee, President of the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise

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