SME Ombudsman Holds Meeting with Women's Venture Business Community: "Separate Debt Ratio Standard Needed"

Women's Venture Business Field Communication Meeting Held

"Mandatory Public Procurement Ratio Should Be Increased"

The women's venture business community has raised the need to expand support for the manufacturing and high-tech industries. This is because a significant number of women-owned companies are concentrated in the service sector, making them vulnerable to market fluctuations, and they also face structural difficulties in attracting investment and securing talent.

On May 19, the Office of the Ombudsman for Small and Medium Enterprises announced that it held the "Women's Venture Business Field Communication Meeting" with the Korea Women Venture Association at Tipstown in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. This meeting was organized to discuss current issues and policy proposals for the women's venture sector following last month’s Growth Ladder Forum. The event was attended by Choi Seungjae, the Ombudsman, Sung Misook, President of the Korea Women Venture Association, and 18 women business leaders.

Recently, unicorn and pre-unicorn companies have emerged among women-led businesses, and key indicators such as sales, employment, and exports are showing growth. However, it is noted as a limitation that women-owned businesses are heavily focused on the service sector and there are relatively few companies in high-tech and manufacturing sectors such as semiconductors, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence (AI).

In particular, many women-led venture companies are small businesses with an average of 8.3 employees, and there are concerns that they face difficulties entering the manufacturing and high-tech industries, which require substantial initial capital, equipment, and technical personnel.

At the meeting, there were continued calls for improvements to support systems for women-owned businesses. Lee Jinhee, CEO of RiyunBio, said, "The government's research and development (R&D) support programs are evaluated mainly based on financial statements, which may exclude technology companies with high growth potential," and added, "There is a need for a separate debt ratio standard that considers the ratio of development expenses."

Choi Seungin, CEO of HEFEK, requested an increase in the mandatory public procurement ratio to expand public market access for products from women-led companies. The current public procurement system requires public institutions to purchase products from women-owned companies at a rate of at least 5% (3% for construction) of total purchases.

Additionally, other participants proposed: easing the criteria for recognizing the employment performance of early-stage startups; improving debt ratios to reflect the characteristics of R&D-centric companies; mutual recognition of test reports between institutions; and expanding working capital support in response to rising raw material prices.

Ombudsman Choi Seungjae stated, "We will help women-owned businesses move beyond the service sector and enter manufacturing and high-tech industries more actively," and added, "We will also strive to ensure that women-owned businesses are not disadvantaged in R&D support and public procurement systems."

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