Hana Financial Group Recruiting Participants for Customized Startup Education Program for Middle-Aged and Older Adults

Recruitment Begins for "2025 Hana Power On Second Life - Startup Program"
Collaboration with Four Regional Hub Universities Nationwide
Expanding a Regionally Integrated Lifelong Education Model for Local Residents

Hana Financial Group announced on August 14 that it has launched the "2025 Hana Power On Second Life - Startup Program" to promote job creation and economic activity among middle-aged and older adults through entrepreneurship, and has begun recruiting participants.

This startup program is part of Hana Financial Group's "Hana Power On Second Life," which has been running since 2022. This year, the scope of support has been expanded from employment training to include entrepreneurship education as well.

The program will be offered in eight cohorts across four major regions nationwide-Seoul, Busan, Daejeon, and Gwangju-selecting 32 prospective middle-aged entrepreneurs per cohort, for a total of 256 participants. Hana Financial Group will partner with four regional hub universities-Myongji College in Seoul, Dong-A University in Busan, Woosong University in Daejeon, and Chosun College of Science and Technology in Gwangju-to provide sequential training in each region starting in September. Through this initiative, Hana Financial Group aims to expand a regionally integrated lifelong education model that enables local residents to participate, by collaborating with regional universities.

Hana Financial Group has structured this startup program into three customized tracks, reflecting the evolving entrepreneurial landscape and the needs of the middle-aged demographic.

First, the "One-Person Knowledge-Based Track" is designed to help individuals leverage their experience and expertise to prepare for small-scale startups in the knowledge services sector, including online lectures and content creation.

The "Cooperative Track" teaches participants about social economy-based startup models, such as tourism businesses, eco-friendly product distribution, and education and care services, through joint investment and management.

The "Space-Based Track" focuses on running stores that incorporate digital technologies, such as unmanned shops and smart cafes.

Each training course consists of 16 hours of online instruction and 60 hours of offline entrepreneurship competency development, as well as one-on-one expert consulting and mock pitching. The curriculum is divided into three stages: strengthening individual capabilities, designing business models, and preparing for startup execution.

After completing the program, Hana Financial Group will also provide follow-up support to help participants launch their businesses. This includes three months of access to local shared offices, legal support for establishing cooperatives, domain and hosting assistance, and other practical support needed during the startup process. In addition, those who successfully launch a business will receive a congratulatory grant of 300,000 KRW. Outstanding teams participating in the demo day will receive additional mentoring and prize money.

An official from the Hana Financial Group ESG Win-Win Finance Team stated, "The core of this initiative is to support middle-aged and older adults facing challenges from early retirement, so they can reestablish themselves as economic agents through entrepreneurship. Going forward, Hana Financial Group will continue to lead the way in practicing inclusive finance that spans regions and generations."

Meanwhile, Hana Financial Group is contributing to the creation of a sustainable job ecosystem through various initiatives, including "Hana Social Venture University," which discovers and nurtures young local entrepreneurs; "Hana Power On Innovative Enterprise Internship," which expands job opportunities for vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities and women with career breaks by matching them with social innovation companies; and the "Hana ESG Double Impact Matching Fund," which supports startups with job creation capabilities and environmentally friendly technologies.