[Sponsored Report] Lotte joins fight against outbreak

A professional disease prevention team from Lotte World Tower sprays sanitizer at a traditional market to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. [LOTTE]

Lotte Duty Free will donate 300 million won ($247,000) to the Korean Red Cross to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus after cancelling the 40th anniversary of the corporation.

The money will be spent on relief supplies for the Wuhan province in China and on providing sanitation kits for the health of Korean children who have weak immune systems.

The sanitation kits will include masks for children, hand sanitizers, wet wipes, toothbrush sets and a small leaflet about disease prevention.

Lotte World Tower has also employed a professional disease prevention team to spray sanitizer to prevent the outbreak spreading in Macheon Traditional Market and Macheon Central Market.

Lotte World Tower employees also visited the markets and delivered 3,000 masks and disease prevention posters that are in both Korean and English.

Lotte is also providing support to start-ups through Lotte Accelerator which invigorates the start-up ecosystem and creates diverse job opportunities.

Lotte Accelerator was established in February 2016, and one of the main business models is the L-Camp which supports venture corporations in their early stages.

The companies that have been selected at the L-Camp receive the benefits of office space, professional consulting and a start-up support fund of 20 million to 50 million won over some six months.

L-Camp enables start-ups to collaborate with the diverse brands of Lotte Group that have some of the best points of contacts with domestic consumers.

Start-up companies can test their business potential in diverse fields which in turn can lead to high sales.

Once they are approved of their capabilities to carry out business, the start-ups are also eligible for follow-up investments.

According to Startup Trend Report 2018, Lotte stands in second place when it comes to the most active corporations in start-up related businesses which paves the way for future entrepreneurs.

Lotte Department Stores have been working on a trade delegation project as one of the small- and medium-sized enterprises collaboration projects along with the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency since 2016.

For the last three years, over 60 partnering corporations have collaborated in the trade delegation project and over 600 sales consulting sessions and generated over $610,000 worth of sales for local distributors abroad which has made the project one of the main routes to exporting to foreign countries.

By Kim Seung-Jun [kim.Seungjun@joongang.co.kr]