Women-led venture corporations called for tailored government support to expand into manufacturing and high-tech industries. They noted that because women-led corporations face structural difficulties in hiring and attracting investment, institutional reforms and policy support are urgent.
The Small and Medium Business Ombudsman held a "women venture entrepreneurs on-site communication roundtable" on the 19th at Tipstown in Gangnam, Seoul, together with the Korea Women Entrepreneurs Association. Eighteen people, including Ombudsman Choi Seung-jae, Korea Women Entrepreneurs Association President Seong Mi-suk, and heads of women-led venture corporations, attended to share on-the-ground challenges and policy proposals.
Recently, women-led venture corporations have continued to grow. Women-led unicorn and pre-unicorn corporations and successful scale-up cases are steadily emerging, and over the past five years, key indicators such as the number of women-led venture corporations, sales, employment, and exports have shown an overall upward trend.
However, the industry says structural limitations remain significant. Many women-led corporations are still concentrated in services, making them sensitive to economic swings, while the share of women-led corporations in high-tech industries such as semiconductors, biotech, and AI, as well as in manufacturing, remains relatively low. In particular, early research and development (R&D) investment and financing are critical, but women-led corporations face difficulties in attracting investment, constraining their growth.
The roundtable discussed various pending issues, including market expansion, R&D support, workforce management, and improvements to certification systems.
Lee Jin-hee, head of Riyoonbio, said, "Although the government is implementing various R&D support programs, evaluating corporations solely by financial statements could exclude technology corporations with growth potential from government programs," and added, "A separate liability ratio standard should be applied that takes the share of development costs into account."
Choi Seung-in, head of Hephek, called for raising the mandatory purchase ratio for women-led corporations under the public procurement system to expand sales channels for products made by women-led corporations. Under the current public procurement system, state agencies, local governments, and public institutions are required to purchase products from small and medium-sized corporations for at least 50% of their total procurement. They are also required to make mandatory purchases of at least 5% (3% for construction) from women-led corporations, 1% from corporations led by people with disabilities, and 8% from startup corporations.
In addition, attendees proposed: ▲ flexible recognition of performance for utilizing personnel at early-stage startup corporations ▲ mutual recognition of duplicate test reports across institutions ▲ expanded support for operating funds for manufacturing corporations due to rising raw material prices.
Ombudsman Choi Seung-jae said, "We will support women-led corporations so they do not remain in services alone but actively advance into manufacturing and high-tech industries and succeed."