Most Small Businesses Have Under W50 Million Seed Money
08 November, 2018
Seven out of 10 small business owners in Korea started their mom-and-pop stores with less than W50 million in seed money, and one-third had less than W5 million (US$1=W1,122).
Statistics Korea said Wednesday that 32.2 percent of people who opened small businesses over the last year had less than W5 million in start-up money, while 70.5 percent had less than W50 million.
This suggests that many of them are people who were unable to find jobs and instead emptied their slim bank accounts to start their own business. That means they also face higher risks from growing overheads due to the minimum wage hike.
One year ago, only 28.3 percent had less than W5 million in start-up money. Some 64 percent cobbled together the start-up money from their own savings or with help from their family, while 26.3 percent turned to banks for loans and 22.4 percent said they did not need any help.
Some 87.3 percent spent less than a year preparing to open their own business and the rest more.
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