The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Han Sung-sook, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) announced that it has selected a total of 60 companies, including Banseok Industry Co., Ltd., as strong small business owners who will grow into LICORN.
The "Strong Small Business Growth Support Project" supports small business owners to innovate their existing products and services through collaboration or integration with creators and startups. It is divided into five categories: lifestyle, local brands, long-standing small business owners, global businesses, and online sellers.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) selected 160 companies out of 7,147 through the first round of auditions held in May, providing each company with up to 60 million won in commercialization funding. The final auditions, held from August 25th to 28th, selected 60 companies, which will receive up to 40 million won in additional commercialization funding and support for private investment and overseas market expansion.
Among the 60 companies ultimately selected, Banseok Industry Co., Ltd. (Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province) was selected as the winner of the "25-Year Strong Small Business Integration Award." Banseok Industry, with its "Right Grain" brand name, utilizes Gochang peanuts to develop Korea's first kernel-free peanut butter smoothie and capsule-type peanut butter, and is a promising small business that has expanded into overseas markets.
The winner of the Integrated Excellence Award was Pastelles Co., Ltd. (Yongin, Gyeonggi Province), which developed a spray-type pet oral care product for pets that hate brushing their teeth; Kirin Company Co., Ltd. (Seosan, Chungcheongnam-do), which developed various processed foods such as flakes, caramel, and pesto using discarded Seosan seaweed as raw material; and Yul Art (Gangjin, Jeollanam-do), which developed over 1,300 products using traditional folk paintings, were selected as the best companies in the local brand and lifestyle categories, respectively.
Also, as the best long-lived small business owners and global type companies, 'Morning Farm (Jeongeup, Jeollabuk-do), an agricultural corporation that developed a stick-type product to make it easy to squeeze and eat blueberries while minimizing nutrient loss,' and 'Simmi Co., Ltd. (Yangcheon-gu, Seoul),' which launched the pure K-clothing brand 'NACHE,' were selected.
Lee Dae-geon, Director General of Small Business Policy, said, “This was an event that proved that any small business owner with an entrepreneurial spirit can take on challenges and work hard to become a strong small business owner, and even an innovative company,” and emphasized, “The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will continue to provide policy support to discover more strong small business owners and help them grow into LYCONs.”
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