Startup Ministry reveals policy slate aimed at helping businesses go global

Oh Young-joo, minister of SMEs and startups, introduces the ministry's plans to encourage local companies to go global on Wednesday. [NEWS1]

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced a set of policies to help Korean companies go global, including plans to offer export training courses for international students.

The Startup Ministry aims to help 1,000 small companies that are considered to be domestic companies — or those with exports that make up less than 50 percent of their revenue — to become export-oriented companies, with exports being more than 50 percent of their revenue by 2027.

The ministry also aims to have another 3,000 companies each reach annual exports worth $1 million by 2027.

According to the ministry, 84 percent of exporting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), or 79,531 companies, report annual exports of less than $1 million.

To achieve those goals, one of the plans is to encourage Korean companies to work with international students to gain a global mindset.

The startup ministry will offer export training courses to around 1,000 international students in Korea for the next three years. The ministry plans to start offering the courses through universities and career training institutes starting the second half of this year.

Students that finish the course will be connected to export-related jobs at local SMEs and startups.

Job opportunities will also be offered to international students abroad.

Overseas offices of the ministry's Global Business Center and K-Startup Center will seek partnerships with universities abroad, connecting outstanding students to positions at Korean companies' overseas branches.

The program will also start around the second half of this year.

Apart from programs for international students, the ministry will also offer the so-called export doctor program to small companies that export less than $1 million.

The program will help the companies negotiate export sales and write export contracts.

Scale-up programs for startups in tech and innovative fields will also be offered.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]