Seoul, officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of the Republic of Korea. Despite the situation in chaotic problems between South and North Korea, there are a lot of companies because of Seoul is forming the heart of the Seoul Capital Area. Additionally, the Seoul is a peaceful and charming city surrounded by mountains, mainly on the Han River. The Seoul Capital Area houses about half of the country’s population of 50.22 million people with 678,102 international residents.
Today, Seoul is considered a leading and rising global city, resulting from an economic boom called the Miracle on the Han River which transformed it to the world’s 4th largest metropolitan economy with a GDP of US$845.9 billionin 2014 after Tokyo, New York City and Los Angeles. In 2015, it was rated Asia’s most livable city with the second highest quality of life globally by Arcadis.
According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), as of 2017, the number of Korean venture companies has grown up to 30,000. Among them, approximately 23% of venture companies are located in Seoul. South Korea’s venture business market is growing every year, but concerns about the survival of startups are also raised. According to the National Statistical Office’s Life and Public Administration statistics, the survival rate fell to 47.5% two years later and to 38.8% three years later. Korean venture companies are equipped with the technology to make excellent products, but they have difficulties due to stringency of capital and lack of information along with the low size of private venture investment scale.
To overcome these problems, the city of Seoul is carrying out investment promotion support projects for small and medium sized enterprises. The purpose of this project is to provide enterprises with difficulties in financing, strengthening their capabilities through systematic and professional support programs and providing them with opportunities to attract investment.
Youn-Ho Kim, head of the Investment Promotion Department, said that the satisfaction of participating companies was very high because they selected a total of 10 companies go through deliberation and provided a method-oriented curriculum. In addition, it is a business based on the name of the city, so they work hard with a sense of duty and said that it is also responsible because it produces results.
Currently, only a small number of companies are supported, but in the future it will be getting bigger and hope to get support from many companies that need help.
Irene Kim
K-Herald Korea
(Los Angeles Times Advertising Supplement)
