October 20, 2021 - Since June 2021, The Asia Foundation and its partner BPLUS have initiated its new support program to raise funds via crowdfunding (soft loans from peer-to-peer investors) to enable access to finance for women in Gyeonggi Province. As of October 2021, the program raise a total of 115 million KRW for four women entrepreneurs, an x12.5 leverage of the Foundation’s interest subsidy.

Both organizations selected a total of six women entrepreneurs in need for capital through a comprehensive evaluation on financial and non-financial criteria. Among these entrepreneurs, four have successfully raised the amount of funds they have required, and two are expected to open their fundraising projects in the coming weeks.

Most of the selected beneficiaries were starting, expanding, and/or taking new initiatives for their ventures and in need of capital. Use of funds varied widely, ranging from new product development, branding/marketing of existing products, and securing raw materials for large-volume production.

One notable beneficiary, K-Style Hub, a company that supports small and medium sized Korean cosmetic brands to enter the Indonesian market, successfully raised 10 million KRW to fund its development of an IOS mobile platform to connect Korean cosmetic products and Indonesian consumers.

Another beneficiary, Ddakddaguri, provides children educational content that reflects important themes such as social inclusion and gender. Ddakddaguri has previously been turned down upon funding from several investors, due to their lack of understanding of the product value and its potential market opportunities.  However, Ddakddaguri raised 30 million KRW of funding through the Foundation’s program, which will be used to develop an online platform that provides curated contents for young children and sell its products.

30km Per Hour, a firm that sells ‘packaged honey sticks’ as well as a beneficiary of The Foundation’s market assistance support (Revital Coaching), is expected to launch its crowdfunding campaign in mid-November. Through the campaign, the firm plans to raise 30 million KRW, which will be used to purchase an adequate amount of raw materials (natural honey) required for a stable supply of finished goods. 30km Per Hour has previously participated in Revital Program, The Asia Foundation’s support program for women entrepreneurs to access new markets.