Ministry of SMEs and Startups Selects Final 60 'Strong Small Businesses'

60 Finalists Selected from 7,147 Companies
Up to 100 Million Won in Commercialization Funds Provided

On September 10, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it has selected a total of 60 companies as strong small business owners expected to grow into 'Licons'.

The 'Strong Small Business Growth Support Program' is a program designed to help small business owners innovate their existing products and services through collaboration or convergence with creators and startups. The program is operated in five categories: lifestyle, local brands, long-standing small businesses, global, and online sellers.

In the first audition held in May, the Ministry selected 160 companies out of 7,147 applicants, providing up to 60 million won in commercialization funds per company. Through the final audition held from August 25 to 28, 60 companies were ultimately selected, each receiving an additional commercialization fund of up to 40 million won, along with connections to private investment and support for overseas market entry.

Among the 60 final companies, Bansuk Industry, based in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, was selected as the 2025 Strong Small Business Integrated Grand Prize winner. Bansuk Industry, under its 'OlGok' brand meaning 'right grains', developed Korea's first smooth peanut butter without granules and capsule-type peanut butter using peanuts from Gochang, and has successfully expanded into overseas markets as a promising small business.

The Integrated Excellence Award went to 'Pasteless', which developed a spray-type oral care product for pets. 'Girin Company', which developed various processed foods such as flakes, caramel, and pesto using seaweed from Seosan, and 'Yulart', which developed over 1,300 products utilizing traditional folk paintings, were each selected as the top companies in the local brand and lifestyle categories, respectively.

In the long-standing small business and global categories, 'Morning Farm Agricultural Corporation', which developed a stick-type product that minimizes the loss of blueberry nutrients and allows for easy consumption, and 'Simmi (Yangcheon-gu, Seoul)', which launched the pure K-fashion brand 'NACHE', were each selected as the top companies.

Lee Daegun, Director of Small Business Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, "The Ministry will continue to spare no policy support to discover more strong small business owners and help them grow into Licons."

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