Minister Oh Young-joo: "We Will Make Small Business Owners the Core Economic Actors of Korea"

9th Small Business Owners' Practical Policy Consultation Meeting

Oh Young-joo, Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, emphasized the commitment to nurturing small business owners into innovative enterprises.

On the 29th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups held the ‘9th Small Business Owners’ Practical Policy Council’ at Gamjabat Cafe in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. At this event, they shared excellent field cases under the theme of ‘Fostering Entrepreneurial Small Business Owners’ together with the selected teams of the 2024 Strong Small Business Growth Support Project and investors.

Oh Young-joo, Minister of SMEs and Startups, is attending and speaking at the Economic Ministers' Meeting and the 1st Investment Activation Ministers' Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno, Seoul, on the 2nd. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

Now in its ninth session, the Small Business Owners’ Policy Council is a communication platform for small business owners newly established by Minister Oh immediately after taking office, fulfilling a promise made during her candidacy. Minister Oh personally visits the field to communicate with small business owners and openly discuss future policy directions.

This Small Business Owners’ Policy Council was held at Gamjabat Cafe, which has grown into a representative local brand in the Chuncheon area within five years of its founding. The event included a session to hear success stories from the agricultural corporation Bat and various stories from companies selected as strong small business owners.

Following this, presentations were given on Welcom Ventures’ Lycon Fund and LIPS (private investment-linked matching loan) investment operation cases, Oasis Business’s STO-linked innovative finance case, and CSP’s small business investment exit (EXIT) model. Finally, an introduction to the Ministry’s 2025 policy direction to activate investment was provided.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups newly included the ‘Innovative Small Business Investment-Linked Support Project’ with a budget of 30 billion KRW in the 2025 government budget proposal. This project is a small business version of the TIPS program, allowing small business owners who receive investment from investors to be matched with up to three times the investment amount, up to a maximum of 200 million KRW, as commercialization funds.

During the subsequent open discussion, selected strong small business owners, investors, and experts freely debated ways to support the accelerated growth of entrepreneurial small business owners.

Hong Ju-seok, CEO of the Local Brand Forum (LBF), expressed expectations, saying, “Until now, policies for small business owners have focused on protection and support, while growth and nurturing have been concentrated on technology-centered startups, which has always been regrettable. Seeing discussions on activating investment for small business owners, I believe that finally, lifestyle innovative companies like Nike or Starbucks can emerge in Korea.”

Minister Oh emphasized, “Growing small business owners into innovative enterprises is the most important task in resolving the crisis of small businesses and self-employed sectors and further advancing Korea’s growth.” She added, “By combining the creativity and passion of small business owners with the government’s policy capabilities, we will make small business owners a core economic actor and a new growth engine of Korea.”

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