The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has unveiled a mid- to long-term roadmap to support women across the entire lifecycle from startup to growth and global expansion. The plan aims to foster women-led corporations not merely as targets of social support but as key players in advanced and innovative industries and as a pillar of national growth.
On the 22nd, the ministry announced the Second Basic Plan to Promote Women-owned Business Activities (2025–2029) and presented a five-year policy direction focused on technology innovation, global expansion, and strengthened investment linkages for women-led corporations. This plan is a statutory plan established under Article 5 of the Act on Support for Women-owned Businesses.
The government will first concentrate support on helping women-led corporations enter new technology and new growth sectors. It will identify and nurture FemTech corporations that use advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) to innovatively improve women's health and quality of life, and support promising startups in women-friendly industries such as beauty and Foodtech.
Through the Super-gap Start - Up 1000 Project, it will promote women founders' entry into advanced fields and establish a women-only research and development (R&D) program. It will also run industry-specific programs—such as smart services, intelligent shops, smart factories, and smart manufacturing—to accelerate the digital transformation of women-led corporations.
By growth stage, it will expand tailored startup support. It will offer generation-specific startup programs for women university students, prospective founders, and women with career experience, and will identify outstanding women founders through programs that commercialize startup ideas and through women's startup competitions.
To scale up women-led corporations, the government will create a 10 billion won women-only mother fund each year and provide 500 billion won annually each in policy financing and new guarantees. It plans consolidation between outstanding women-led corporations and professional investment firms by expanding women investment managers and holding investment pitch sessions.
Support for global expansion will also be strengthened. The government will support promotion, research and development, and exhibition participation expense for women-led corporations entering emerging markets, and will grant extra points in the export voucher program. It will also form export consortia among women-led corporations to pursue joint overseas expansion.
It will also support market development. By supporting entry into online platforms and hosting expos for products from outstanding women-led corporations, it will help enhance their brands and develop private sales channels. In addition, it will increase public institutions' purchases of products from women-led corporations from 12.1 trillion won in 2024 to 20 trillion won by 2029, and improve purchasing convenience for frontline institutions by publishing a public procurement guide for products from women-led corporations.
Kim Jeong-ju, director-general for SME strategy planning at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "Women-led corporations are a new engine of growth and agents of innovation that can overcome the challenges of low growth and the demographic cliff," adding, "Under the second basic plan, we will establish and implement annual action plans each year, and we will continue to actively support women's startups and corporate activities so they can fully demonstrate their potential."