From Closure to Restart, Let's Begin Again with the 'Hope Return Package'

2021 Hope Return Package Project Announcement

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jonghwa] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Kwon Chil-seung) announced that from the 10th, it will operate the 2021 Hope Return Package project to support the swift recovery of small business owners.

The Hope Return Package is a project that supports small business owners who have closed or are planning to close their businesses due to deteriorating business conditions, providing assistance from business closure to employment and re-startup education.

It has been alleviating the burden of business closure through consulting on business closure methods such as disposal of fixtures and facilities, store demolition costs (up to 2 million KRW), and legal advice on labor and finance, while supporting employment through job information exploration education and job transition encouragement allowances (up to 1 million KRW), and operating practical education and mentoring for business type transition and re-startup.

This year, the plan is to strengthen education so that small business owners facing management difficulties due to decreased offline consumption and the expansion of the non-face-to-face economy caused by COVID-19 can transition to employment, and to focus on reducing costs for business type transition and re-startup.

In collaboration with institutions such as the Seoul Financial Welfare Counseling Center, it will quickly resolve obstacles to recovery such as debt adjustment and rehabilitation caused by business closure and link support for employment and re-startup.

To support employment and re-startup in cafes for small business owners aged 40 and over, the 'Starbucks Restart Program,' piloted in 2020, will be expanded regionally, private incubating through shared kitchen entry will be supported, and eco-friendly small business owner rents by Shinhan Credit Information Co., Ltd. will be provided.

To supplement the theory-centered education courses for employment and re-startup, specialized technical programs linked with private, public, and university sectors will also be discovered and operated.

Additionally, to alleviate the management burden of small business owners, a new business expense fund (12 billion KRW, with a private sector burden of 50%, up to 10 million KRW) for business type transition and re-startup, including specialized item development, business method improvement, and marketing, has been established.

Meanwhile, to simplify the submission documents of small business owners such as business closure certificates and value-added tax taxable standard certificates, efforts are underway to utilize the administrative information sharing network of the Small Enterprise and Market Service, the project management institution.

Baek Seok-hee, head of the Small Business Management Support Division at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "We will diversify recovery paths by discovering programs reflecting the demands of private companies and strive to provide practical support during the recovery process by reflecting the opinions of small business owners."

Small business owners wishing to receive support this year must complete business type transition and re-startup education before the detailed announcement date (scheduled in March) to participate, and detailed support information and application methods can be found on the Hope Return Package website (hope.sbiz.or.kr).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.