DAEJEON, Jun. 8 (Korea Bizwire) – The Korea Forest Service (KFS) will be pushing ahead with plans to foster local towns and social enterprises that take advantage of forest products. The KFS revealed today that it will support 18 community and social enterprises this year, expanding the figure to include 212 enterprises by 2022. According [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — A new payment system will be implemented aimed at addressing one of the top difficulties small businesses face, payment processing charges. Hong Jong-hak, the minister of SMEs and Startups, stated at a gathering relating to the issue today that an innovative payment system is needed to relieve small businesses [...]
SEOUL, May 29 (Korea Bizwire) — A new law will make it difficult for large corporations to expand into business sectors that small and medium enterprises are operating in. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that a special law regarding the issue has been passed in the National Assembly. The new law is expected [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — The total amount of investment in startups reached a record high 634.8 billion won (US$594 million) in the first three months of the year amid hopes of lucrative returns, government data showed Monday. The amount is up 56.6 percent from 405.4 billion won tallied a year earlier, according to [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are seeking to expand into overseas markets as they face mounting challenges at home, a poll by a local think tank showed Sunday. According to the Center for Large and Small Business Cooperation, 85.5 percent of all SMEs in the country said [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — The government will set up a 1 trillion-won (US$918 million) fund to restructure struggling small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as part of its drive for “market-oriented” corporate restructuring, officials said Monday. Under the scheme, eight state-run and retail banks, including Korea Development Bank, will raise 500 billion won by [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean government said Friday it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the state of Missouri to enhance cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The pact was signed in Seoul between Choi Su-gyu, vice minister of SMEs and Startups, and Missouri Gov. Eric Robert Greitens, [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — The amount of crowdfunding in South Korea shot up nearly 29 percent this year, data showed Friday, showing the platform growing as an effective financing option for startups. According to the data by the Korea Securities Depository, 106 companies raised a combined 14.2 billion won (US$12.6 million) from 5,826 [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — More than 90 percent of small merchants plan to lay off workers because of the expected minimum wage increase next year that is disapproved by nearly all of them, a survey showed Wednesday. In the survey carried out by the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise from July 21-28, 92.4 [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — A business lobby representing small-sized businesses on Friday filed a complaint against the government’s decision on next year’s minimum wage hike. Earlier this month, a tripartite commission of the government, labor and management reached an agreement to increase the minimum hourly wage to 7,530 won (US$6.68) in 2018, up [...]