Presented at: Asia Policy Dialogue, Seoul 2018

Organisation: Korea Central Council of Social Enterprises (KOSE) Mutual Aid Fund 

Date: July 6th, 2018

Presenter: Ms. Jungeun Ha (President)  

Contacts: ha.jungeun70@gmail.com 

Summary: 

The new government of Korea is devising plans to effectively facilitate social Economy. The Social economy in Korea is in the following situation. There are 5 steps the current government is devising to enhance the social eco system: 

1. Supporting social value fund (SSVF) which will be detailed later on was established by the public sector 
2. Foster more organizations
3. Establish infrastructure and come up with different incentives
4. The government and public sector has to lead the economy
5. Connections between social finance measures and supporting mechanism  

There are 7 challenges the Supporting Social Value Fund (SSVF) must overcome:

1. Challenge to overcome is to develop the financial market and revise existing legislations and enhance solidarity of finance.
2. The realistic measure being decided to establish a foundation as a legal entity. There are many limitations regarding foundations. Only indirect investments are legal, and these legal formats distract investors. To facilitate social finance first, a robust legal entity is essential.
3. Another factor to consider is the Intermediaries. It is important to foster social, financial intermediary enterprises with different disciplines. The status quo does not enough have sufficient legal status and plan. 
4. The social enterprises have to conduct market research to evaluate the demand for social finance.
5. Some problems that need to be resolved is yet to be solved.
6. Governance should sustain transparency and sustainability.
7. The need for communication and trust. It is difficult to converge different ideas, and in order to respect differences, conscious efforts are rudimentary. Without the effort, it is impossible to reach the goal. Thus, we need to communicate as much as possible.