The Asia Foundation supported Gyeonggi women entrepreneurs’ access to finance

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 se..

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October 20, 2021

The Asia Foundation supported Gyeonggi women entrepreneurs’ access to market

June 19 - September 9, 2021 - The Asia Foundation provided a comprehensive support program, “Revital Coaching,” for women entrepreneurs in Gyeonggi province to support their access to market and to enhance their capacity in digital marketing from June 19 to September 9. The program was implemented in cooperation with Gyeonggido Job Foundation and coaching group named KINSDAY, which consisted three experts (CEO Shin Hyunjung from KINSDAY, Co-Founder Kim Bosun from Asiance, and CEO Hyun Yoori from LivingD) in marketing strategy, branding, and access to market channels. A total of twelve women entrepreneurs in the region representing 30kmperhour, Chutney Project, Dearmantic, Kwangjin Co., Leather K, minfactory, PERSNINE, SOLEMAMAN, TIA, TUCK, TOF, and YURICOS INC participated in the program. The participating women entrepreneurs were able to establish their business vision and apply ESG into their business strategy, specify marketing strategies, expand oppor..

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October 15, 2021

2021-22 Luce Scholars begin placement at University of Seoul

October 5, 2021 – After a three-month remote selection process, the 2021–2022 class of Luce Scholars has been selected. Among the newly chosen scholars are Maame Boatemaa (left) and Elena Castellanos (right) arrived in Korea in September and began their professional placements. During her Luce Scholar year, Maame (MSc, The London School of Economics) will work as a researcher at the Environmental Planning Research Center (EPRC) at the University of Seoul. Elena (B.A, Claremont McKenna College) on the other hand will work as a researcher at the Community & Urban Design Lab at the University of Seoul. Both of the scholars support and participate in their respective labs’ research projects. The Luce Scholars Program promotes and broadens awareness of Asia among young future leaders. The program, launched in 1974, targets highly qualified young Americans – under the age of 29 – across various professional fields. The Asia Foundation ha..

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October 05, 2021

Personal Initiative Training for North Korean Refugee Entrepreneurs

September 15, 2021 – Supported by Community Chest of Korea, The Asia Foundation successfully delivered its ‘Personal Initiative (PI) Training’ for North Korean refugee entrepreneurs. A total of fifteen North Korean refugee entrepreneurs from diverse industries and ages participated in the six-week online training program. Based on findings by The Asia Foundation, the program aimed to strengthen the entrepreneurial mindsets of North Korean entrepreneurs significantly challenged by the extreme competitiveness of South Korea’s market-based economy. The PI training model is an alternative approach to traditional entrepreneurship training, developed by a group of researchers in Germany after the unification of the East and West. This model is empirically proven to generate better business results than best-in-class entrepreneurship training approaches, as peer-reviewed by the Journal Science in collaboration with the World Bank Group. From August to September 2021, the PI ..

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September 15, 2021

The Asia Foundation Organizes Session on Regional Perspectives on the State of the Korean Peninsula

September 1, 2021 — Despite many decades of efforts by Korea, the U.S., and other world leaders, the future of North Korea and its relationship with the rest of the world remains uncertain and unresolved. New perspectives are needed, and The Asia Foundation hosted the session “Asian Views on Peace and Stability of the Korean Peninsula,” which brought together regional perspectives on peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula, and highlighted engagement opportunities, particularly from Asian countries. The Korea Global Forum for Peace is a track 1.5 multilateral forum hosted by the Ministry of Unification of the Republic of Korea to discuss peace and unification of the Korean Peninsula. The Asia Foundation’s Korea office organized Asian Views on Peace and Stability of the Korean Peninsula, on August 31, 2021. The online session was moderated by Oh Youngju, President, Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, and panelists include C. Raja Mohan, Hoo..

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September 02, 2021

Impact for Breakfast Policy Working Group and its members continue its monthly sessions

August 27, 2021 – With active support and engagement from its members, the Impact for Breakfast (IFB) Policy Working Group continued its monthly discussions to identify key barriers and opportunities in Korea’s ESG and impact investment landscape. Since its inaugural meeting in May 2021, the Working Group has gathered an average of 20 members across different sectors for in-depth monthly conversations, providing civil society and private sector inputs to the Korean government. Key topics of discussion included data, standards, and reporting guidelines like the role of the public sector in funding, diversifying the investor base, and measuring impact. In addition, each member shared their own experiences and insights and discussed benchmarking best practices worldwide. In selected sessions, the Working Group invited relevant personnel, including the director of K-ESG development from the Korea Productivity Center (KPC) and Korean Representative for Global Steering ..

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August 27, 2021

[Newsletter] Summer 2021

The Summer edition of The Asia Foundation Korea newsletter is here! Please see our latest news. ..

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August 13, 2021

The Asia Foundation and Ewha W. University discussed future collaboration

May 28, 2021 – The Friends of The Asia Foundation Chairman Kook-Hyun Moon and Country Representative Kwang Kim visited Ewha Womans University and discussed future collaboration with President of Ewha Womans University and FOTAF Board Member Eun Mee Kim and Vice President Kyung Shik Shin. (Photo provided by Ewha Womans University)

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June 24, 2021

The Asia Foundation and the Gyeonggido Job Foundation Signs an MOU

June 8, 2021 - The Asia Foundation and the Gyeonggido Job Foundation signed an MOU to support women entrepreneurs in Gyeonggi province. The Asia Foundation conducted the research on women’s entrepreneurs in Gyeonggi province in 2018. Based on the report recommendations, The Asia Foundation and the Gyeonggido Job Foundation started a comprehensive program to support women entrepreneurs in 2020. “We established a milestone to continue our cooperation systematically through the MOU with The Asia Foundation to support women’s economic independence and empowerment,” Ms. Hong Chun-hee, the Head of the Women’s Development Headquarter at the Gyeonggido Job Foundation said. Emphasizing The Asia Foundation’s long-term interest in women empowerment, Director Lee Kyung-sook responded that, “We believe The Asia Foundation’s project to support women entrepreneurs in Gyeonggi province will prove successful through the cooperation with ..

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June 15, 2021