SEOUL, June 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly two-thirds of South Korea’s self-employed small business owners say their economic conditions have worsened this year, fueling renewed calls for a freeze or even a cut to the minimum wage, according to a new survey that underscores deepening financial pressures on the country’s smallest enterprises. The survey, released [...]
SEOUL, April 18 (Korea Bizwire) — On the first day of the lifting of all COVID-19 social distancing restrictions, small business owners said they are looking forward to seeing as many customers as before the pandemic. All social distancing rules, except a mask mandate, was lifted this week, allowing restaurants, cafes and other small businesses [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Banks will be encouraged to keep the loans they extended to small business owners and merchants until the date of maturity without withdrawing them all at once, even when such businesses are shut down, South Korea’s financial regulator said Monday. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced that such a [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Starbucks Korea held a completion ceremony Monday for the 2nd ‘Starbucks Restart Program,’ a training program designed to support the comeback of failed small business owners. For a group of failed small business owners who had no option but to shut down their businesses, Starbucks offered training twice in [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — Naver Corp., the operator of South Korea’s dominant Internet portal, said Tuesday it will invest 180 billion won (US$161 million) over the next two years in supporting small business owners and creators. “Naver aims to produce a new kind of business synergy by connecting business and creative works through [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Starbucks Korea has launched a new program aimed at helping middle-aged small business owners who want to open or work at a café. The company is now accepting applications for a program titled ‘Restart’, which is a professional education program specialized in teaching students how to open and run [...]
SEOUL, March 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Despite growing awareness of the importance of work-life balance, owners of small businesses have a poor quality of life, a study published on Monday has revealed. According to the study conducted by the Korea Federation of SMEs, South Korean small business owners work six days a week, 11 hours a [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Small business owners in South Korea are making moves to adapt to the country’s new minimum wage hike, as a new survey shows nine in ten will downsize to offset the expected economic impact. The surprising findings from a survey conducted by the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise last month [...]