Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises said on the 2nd that it will run a Yellow Umbrella online enrollment promotion for the month of April as oil prices surge amid a recent Middle East energy crisis.
Through this promotion, heads of small enterprises and microbusinesses who newly enroll via the Yellow Umbrella website or mobile by the 29th can receive a mobile gas voucher coupon worth 50,000 won.
The gas voucher coupon being offered this time is an integrated package that covers major domestic refiner brands, allowing users to conveniently choose and use it according to preferred brands and gas station accessibility.
Yellow Umbrella is a mutual aid program operated by KBIZ since 2007 to support small enterprises and microbusinesses with livelihood stability and business recovery during management crises such as closure or old age; as of April, it has surpassed 1.87 million registered members and is a representative social safety net for small enterprises and microbusinesses. Yellow Umbrella enrollment provides income tax deduction benefits (up to 6 million won annually), applies annual compound interest to the paid principal to help build a lump sum, and legally protects the mutual aid payout from seizure, enabling minimum livelihood stability in times of crisis.
Meanwhile, the number of new Yellow Umbrella enrollees in the first quarter of this year came to 74,268, up 15% from the same period a year earlier (64,561). By metropolitan government, the rise in new enrollees stood out in regions including Gwangju, South Jeolla, Incheon, Gangwon, and Jeju. In addition, the number of online enrollees increased by 29.2%.
KBIZ recently held an asset management committee meeting and decided to raise the Yellow Umbrella benchmark rate for the second quarter by 0.2 percentage points to 3.2%, and will implement it. With this benchmark rate hike, the rate paid upon closure or death will also be raised from 3.3% to 3.5%, which is expected to further strengthen the accumulation effect of contributions by Yellow Umbrella members.