The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced a "prepared re-startup support plan" that strengthens psychological and financial support to help re-startup small business owners settle and grow sustainably.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on the 12th that it held a meeting for "small business recovery and safety net reinforcement" at LICON Town in Jung-gu, Daejeon.
This meeting is the seventh session in the relay meetings for "small business recovery and safety net reinforcement," which began on Jul. 30. It was organized under the theme of "prepared re-startup support" related to the rebound safety net after closure. Attendees included the ministry, officials from the Small Enterprise & Market Service (SEMAS), and small business owners preparing to re-start.
The ministry also unveiled new re-startup support measures. First, it will formally introduce a psychological recovery program to help small business owners overcome anxiety experienced during closure and re-startup. After piloting it this year in the employment area, it will expand the target next year to re-commercialization.
The Hope Return Package re-commercialization (re-startup) program will also be upgraded. To support small business re-startups, it will provide expert diagnostics, customized improvement strategies, dedicated mentoring, and commercialization funds of up to 20 million won. It will strengthen the selection of eligible small business owners by adding competitive environment factors such as surrounding congestion levels to the existing evaluation items for re-commercialization applicants.
The ministry plans to ensure that outstanding experts take part in mentoring to help small businesses rebound. It will strengthen performance management of experts by reflecting the management results of small businesses that received existing consulting, grant incentives such as activity extensions to top-tier experts, and restrict participation by experts who remain in the lower tier.
The self-burden ratio for re-commercialization funds will be reduced from the current 100% to 50%. It will also be improved so that the special re-challenge loan, which small businesses could receive only in the year after business closure, can be used during the re-startup process to help with early settlement.
In addition, starting next year, the re-commercialization program for debt adjustment beneficiaries under the New Start Fund, which operated on a pilot basis this year, will be regularized to strengthen re-startup support for those who adjusted their debt. Small business owners who re-started with policy funds and have faithfully repaid for three years or more will also receive additional special re-challenge funds of up to 200 million won.
Deputy Minister Choi Won-young said, "Considering the economic difficulties small business owners face when closing, repeated closures can pose a critical risk to them," and added, "We will support prepared re-starters so they can leap forward through policies that can be felt in the field."