CKI Donated US$260,000 to KOSBI to foster women-owned SMEs

SEOUL--(Korea Newswire)--Citbank Korea Inc. (CEO Ha, Yung-ku) signed an agreement for the “2013 Women-Owned Enterprise Competitiveness Enhancement Program” with Korea Small Business Institute (KOSBI, President Kim, Dong-sun) and contributed KRW 290 million (US$260,000) to KOSBI in support of the program. In the signing ceremony held at the Grand Conference Room on the 3rd fl. of SME DMC Tower in Sangam-dong on Apr. 11th, 2014, approximately 130 people participated including Kang, Jung-hoon, COO Group Head of Citibank Korea(vice-chairman), Kim, Dong-sun, President of KOSBI, and Cho, Eun-kyung President of Korea Women Inventors Association, Women Enterprise Academy (WEA) course takers, and program coordinators.

Under the sponsorship of Citi Foundation, the program that has been in place since 2008 is aimed at identifying the role models for women-led SMEs and enhancing their competitiveness through training and business network expansion. The fund will be used for Citi-KOSBI Women Enterprise Academy, Citi-KOSBI Women Enterpreneur Award, and Citi-KOSBI Business Start-up Relay Camp.

“It is very important to better utilize women workforce and identify and support prospective SMEs led by female CEOs to cope with the challenges that Korean society is facing such as limited economic growth stemming from the low birth rate and workforce shortage. Making better use of women resources will help improve national competitiveness, and the delicate senses, the perseverance, and the guts that women have will inject vitality into the Korean economy,” said vice-chairman Kang expressing his great expectation for the program. KOSBI President Kim, Dong-sun also encouraged saying, “With the renovated and strengthened Training Institute of Citi-KOSBI Women-Owned Enterprise, we will help female CEOs of SMEs to overcome difficult situation in front of them, which could be new potential power of Korea economy”.

The signing ceremony coincided with the entrance ceremony of the “7th Citi-KOSBI Women Enterprise Academy.” The special course that is tailored to the CEOs and middle managers of women-owned SMEs will continue till Jul. 17 (Thursday) at the KOSBI office located in Sangam-dong, Seoul. In this 14-week course, 21 lectures will cover how to achieve corporate management innovation and how to bolster SMEs’ global competitiveness, and the lectures on culture and humanities like “Ms. Wicked reborn as a plow woman” by a famous gagwoman Kim, Mi-hwa, and “Cultural management, power of SMEs” catering to the needs of the women CEOs who will lead the 21st century will also be given. The participants will take the courses free of charge as the full amount of the tuition fees, which is approximately KRW 3 million, will be sponsored by the Citi Foundation. Along with this, female university students who are interested in starting up their own businesses or landing jobs can also benefit from the online lecture and networking program with female CEOs.

You can visit the program website (www.citikosbi.net) or call KOSBI +82-2-7-7-9832 for any inquiries on Citi-KOSBI Women Enterprise Academy or Women Enterpreneur Award.

Website: http://www.citibank.co.kr

This is a news release distributed by Korea Newswire on behalf of this company.