Government to Provide KRW 466 Billion in Financial Support to 35 Medium-Sized Companies

Rising Leaders 300: First-Half Selections Announced

Up to KRW 30 Billion in Loans and Preferential Interest Rates

Yonhap News Agency

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on April 19, 2026, that it has selected 35 companies for the first half of the year as beneficiaries of "Rising Leaders 300," a financial support program exclusively for medium-sized enterprises. The ministry will provide a total of KRW 466 billion in financial support to the selected firms.

"Rising Leaders 300" is a program jointly operated by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and Woori Bank. Its aim is to discover medium-sized enterprises with strong growth potential in four key areas: exports, research and development (R&D), ESG, and digital transformation (DX), and to nurture them into global leading companies. To date, the ministry and Woori Bank have selected 190 companies over six rounds and provided about KRW 1.8 trillion in funding. They plan to support a total of KRW 4 trillion in loans by 2027.

The selection for the first half of this year was conducted through an announcement in March, followed by recommendations from specialized institutions in each field—KOTRA (exports), Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (technology), Korea Federation of Middle Market Enterprises (ESG), and Korea Association of Smart Industry (DX)—and a review by Woori Bank.

The selected companies include Jahwa Electronics, Silicontwo, Powermax, and Dr.Ag, among a total of 35 firms. Each company is eligible for loans of up to KRW 30 billion and up to a 1.0 percentage point preferential interest rate. In addition, non-financial services such as customized consulting will also be provided.

The ministry plans to implement the program twice this year, in the first and second half. The announcement for applications for the second half will be made in September. Furthermore, the ministry intends to continuously expand growth capital support for promising medium-sized companies through policy finance measures such as loans, guarantees, and funds.

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