YBI announces launch of ‘High Flyers South Korea: Supporting Underserved Young Entrepreneurs to Scale and Grow’ 

Youth Business International (YBI) is pleased to announce the launch of ‘High Flyers South Korea: Supporting Underserved Young Entrepreneurs to Scale and Grow’ implemented by our member in South Korea, Work Together Foundation, and funded by J.P. Morgan. Over 18 months, the programme will support early-stage young entrepreneurs with high-growth potential to secure funding and expand their market reach, with a particular focus on reaching 50 underserved young entrepreneurs, including 70% female entrepreneurs.

In South Korea, where small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute 99.9% of all companies, enhancing support services and promoting SME growth is key. This is especially vital for underserved youth-founded businesses with high-growth potential who face barriers and require tailored support to thrive.

High Flyers South Korea will provide tailored training, mentorship and targeted support for investment and market development via two tracks: the Investment Track and the Market Track. The Investment Track aims to engage 40 young tech-based companies seeking investment. Participants in this track will benefit from customised training, mentorship in specialised fields, and investor relations demo days. The Market Track will target 15 lifestyle-based youth-led companies aiming to expand their market presence. This track will provide participants with market development training, mentorship, and support for online and offline promotional activities.

Work Together Foundation will build its support on YBI’s High Flyers Guidelines, an experience-informed set of tools and resources for Enterprise Support Organisations (ESOs) to support young entrepreneurs in growing their existing businesses, fostering increased revenue, and creating sustainable jobs. The guidelines also assist ESOs in measuring the impact of their support on young entrepreneurs’ growth and understanding their impact over time. The expected outcome is to help young, underserved entrepreneurs improve their entrepreneurial skills, financial resilience, and ultimately drive revenue growth for their businesses.

Work Together Foundation, along with ten other YBI members, will actively contribute to our High Flyers Community of Practice, funded by Argidius, by offering feedback on the High Flyers guidelines, ensuring they are accessible, implementable, and practical for young entrepreneurs to realise their growth potential.

The inclusion of South Korea’s dynamic and diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem in this initiative will provide valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by underserved young entrepreneurs in different contexts. This initiative will further enhance YBI’s understanding of effective support for High Flyers globally. The final High Flyers guidelines will be distributed widely at the end of the project.

Lee Won-tae, Secretary General of the Work Together Foundation, said:

“We aspire to see young entrepreneurs driving innovative changes and achieving stable growth beyond the initial challenges of entrepreneurship.”

Anita Tiessen, CEO of Youth Business International (YBI), said:

“We are pleased that Work Together Foundation are joining our High Flyers Community of Practice to support underserved youth-led businesses in South Korea to gain investment and expand their market reach. Their learnings and insights will be invaluable to improve our support for High Flyers globally and empower youth-led businesses to grow, thrive and create sustainable jobs.”

Howard Kim, Senior Country Officer of J.P. Morgan Korea said: 

“J.P. Morgan has been supporting a range of corporate social responsibility programmes and initiatives through our collaboration with local NGOs. We hope this program will help the sustainable growth and development of early-stage young entrepreneurs.”