Ministry of SMEs and Startups Holds Conference for Small Business Cooperatives

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 5th that it held the ‘2024 Small Business Cooperative Conference’ at Jeonju Lahan Hotel to expand the achievements of the Small Business Collaboration Activation Project.

This event was organized to share the support outcomes and business models of the Small Business Collaboration Activation Project, and to provide a platform for communication and harmony between small business owners and business stakeholders through awards for outstanding cooperatives and contributors. Approximately 150 participants attended, including about 30 small business cooperatives and business stakeholders nationwide.

Since 2013, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has been conducting the Small Business Collaboration Activation Project to promote the organization and collaboration of small business owners and support sustainable growth. Approximately 257.5 billion KRW has been invested to support over 5,400 small business cooperatives with customized joint projects at various growth stages, such as establishing shared equipment, brand development, marketing, and exploring online and offline sales channels.

The conference was held in two parts under the theme ‘Together Us, Shared Future.’

In the first part, the support achievements of the 2024 Small Business Collaboration Activation Project were announced, and Ministerial Commendations from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups were awarded to 12 outstanding cooperatives that showed remarkable results in sales and job creation, as well as to 4 exemplary employees who performed the project diligently.

A special lecture titled ‘Strategies of Small Business Cooperatives Responding to Economic Recession’ was held to analyze the economic crisis faced by small business owners due to the rapidly changing market environment and the ‘three highs’ phenomenon of high interest rates, high exchange rates, and high prices, providing an opportunity to strengthen the response capabilities and competitiveness that cooperatives must have.

In the second part, a Business Model (BM) Competition was held where cooperatives possessing excellent products but facing difficulties in expanding sales channels and revenue presented their processes and success stories of building new business models through mutual trust and cooperation.

Won Young-jun, Director of the Small Business Policy Office at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “This conference is a meaningful occasion to celebrate the achievements and growth that small business cooperatives have created through voluntary cooperation and coexistence, and to share and spread excellent success models. We will continue to expand policy support so that competitive and outstanding cooperatives can take a step further and create sustainable growth models together with the local economy.”

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