The Ministry of SMEs and Startups is a central administrative agency established under the Government Organization Act.
The Minister of SMEs and Startups is in charge of planning and compiling SME policies, protecting and fostering SMEs, supporting start-ups and venture companies, cooperation between large and small businesses, and protecting and supporting small business owners.
In other words, it is a major department in charge of the present and future of Korean companies.
Although the ministry started ambitiously in 2017, the appointment of ministers was delayed due to the stock trust system.
Initially, the government set the concept of a “field-experienced venture company” as a minister, but small and medium-sized businesses, who feel burdened with high-risk ministerial positions due to the stock trust system, refused to appoint ministers.
If appointed as a minister, he must sell all but about $30,000 of his corporate shares or trust financial institutions to dispose of them under the Public Officials Ethics Act.
In order to preserve this, it is necessary to prove that one’s duties and stocks and the company are completely irrelevant.
This is why former lawmaker Chung Mong-joon, a major shareholder of Hyundai Heavy Industries, spent a long time as a member of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee among the standing committees of the National Assembly.
However, this is impossible, contrary to the intention of the presidential secretary’s office, as the job area of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is SMEs.
In particular, if you are not a professional manager but an owner of a company such as a major shareholder, you have to give up management rights, which is a greater burden.
And on August 24, the Moon Jae Inn government nominated Park Sung-jin, a professor at Pohang University of Science and Technology, as its minister, but controversy arose over political and religious bias and eventually resigned voluntarily on September 15.
Former lawmaker Hong Jong-hak was later appointed on October 23 and appointed on November 21.
Since then, the ministers have been Park Young-sun and Kwon Chil-seung, and as a result, all ministers have been filled with former lawmakers since the promotion of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.
In 2000, the fourth minister Lee Young founded a venture company called “Therten Co., Ltd.” with the item “Digital Content Security Solution.
” He has since served as a director of the Software Industry Association, the Software Professional Enterprises Association,
the Information and Communication Industry Promotion Agency, and the Knowledge Information Security Industry Association, and served as the 9th president of the Korea Women’s Venture Association from 2015 to 2017 Terten, an information security company. For more than 20 years,
it has stood out in the field of screen and video security by providing a “multimedia content protection solution” for the e-learning industry.
Terten means “people looking for treasure to save mankind” in Tibetan, and is jumping into various business fields to contribute to corporate, social, and even human information safety.
Since content such as videos and music frequently used by the public is secured, it is highly likely that they are using their products even if they do not know Terten.
In particular, small and medium-sized companies often find services difficult due to security even though they have their own content.
Therefore, in addition to the built-in method of installing servers inside customers, it provides SaaS (service-type software), a rental method that is a monthly charge cloud, and is receiving great response from customers.
Terten won the 2013 Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning Award and the 2018 Venture Talent Management Award recognized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups for its unique technology Attention is being paid to the investment and trading behavior of venture capital (VC) Wire Alliance Investment, which was established just before entering the National Assembly.
Some lawmakers took issue with the fact that the company invested in companies with guaranteed profits such as overseas companies (Nanox),
contrary to its original purpose of fostering youth startups. It is also pointed out that it received three correction orders from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in accordance with the Venture Investment Promotion Act because it did not make investments for a long time.
However, as of November 4, the Minister himself has created tax incentives to make the venture,
small and medium-sized enterprise ecosystem more fluid and invest in active VCs, and plans to implement bold policies led by private investors and pushed by government ministries.
Early investment after the start of small and medium-sized enterprises is very important,
and it is seen as a move that makes good use of Minister Lee Young’s characteristics as a female venture founder and even a venture investment company.
However, what is regrettable is that the global vision, the specific linkage plan of overseas investors, and the overseas marketing direction and policies of small and medium-sized companies are regrettable.
SOPHIA KIM
ASIA JOURNAL
