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Underdogs Holds 'Under Woman Impact Conference' on the 7th\n\n'Adaptfit,' 'Parentree,' 'Rueleep' Representatives Share Startup Know-how\n\nHeo Jae-hyung CEO: "The Entrepreneurial Journey is Lonely, Community is Essential"\n\nAs the proportion of female entrepreneurs has recently increased, they have grown into a pillar of economic growth. According to the results of the 'Female Business Survey' announced by the Small and Medium Business Administration in March this year, the number of female-owned businesses as of 2019 increased by 4.4% compared to 2018, reaching 2.77 million, a record high. This accounts for 40.4% of the total 6.89 million businesses. However, female entrepreneurs still face difficulties such as career interruptions due to childbirth and childcare, difficulty pursuing new ventures due to caregiving responsibilities, and various forms of discrimination due to their gender.\n\nUnderdogs, a social enterprise that educates entrepreneurs, has been operating 'Under Woman,' a program to support women entrepreneurs, since 2018. This year, it organized the 'Under Woman Impact Conference,' which provides information and insights on female startups in the social innovation sector. The event was held on the 7th at Space Salim in Daebang-dong, Seoul, under the theme 'Gathering in the Square to Talk About Women Entrepreneurs,' and was live-streamed on Underdogs' YouTube channel.\n\nThree female entrepreneurs active in the healthcare, community, and beauty sectors participated as panelists at the 'Under Woman Impact Conference' held on the 7th, sharing their startup experiences.\n\nFirst, Jung Go-un, CEO of Daily Movement Research Institute, which operates 'Adaptfit,' an O2O healthcare service for vulnerable populations in exercise, started her company based on know-how accumulated over 10 years as a physical therapist. She developed an app that breaks the vicious cycle of people with physical disabilities due to disability, illness, or aging not being able to do rehabilitation exercises and becoming even less fit. The app allows communication with dedicated coaches and proposes customized exercise programs.\n\nCEO Jung stated, "Although I operate a technology-based app, I faced many difficulties since I'm not from a developer background. I studied to acquire basic development knowledge and solved problems through sufficient communication with developers." She also noted, "Since I provide services for people with disabilities, I often received questions like 'Will this make money?' If your customers tell you that this is right, never give up, even if you face limitations due to prejudice around you."\n\nYoon Ji-min, CEO of 'Parentree,' a community for millennial-generation caregivers, started the company based on experiences she felt as a mother while giving birth to and raising two children. The online community was built to help young caregivers in their 20s and 30s who didn't want to sacrifice either their life as parents or their personal lives catch both rabbits at once. The approach divides parenting styles into categories such as nature, reading, immersion, innovation, respect, independence, and global perspectives, and connects parents with matching values to communicate with each other.\n\nCEO Yoon said, "I juggled working at a company while starting up, studying, and parenting, and I was ambitious about doing everything well. Parenting is really a long and tough process, and I thought we needed a community to support us through this journey together. I wanted to reflect the characteristics of MZ generation parents who want to do parenting according to their own values and make parenting a valuable career as well."\n\nWon Hye-sung, CEO of 'Rueleep,' which pursues sustainable beauty where people and Earth coexist, discovered that many harmful substances are contained in lipsticks that women apply when doing makeup and decided to manufacture them herself. She also wanted to solve the problem of numerous cosmetic containers being discarded as waste and polluting the Earth. She makes safe lipsticks without chemical components that even pregnant women or cancer patients can use, and manufactures cosmetic containers and packaging only with ingredients that don't leave residue on Earth.\n\nCEO Won stated, "The impact of the beauty industry on the environment is at a level that can no longer be overlooked. We must think about healthy methods that are safe for the human body and don't leave residue on Earth." She added, "Since I only make lipsticks, I receive many suggestions to make skin products, lotions, sunscreen, and cleansing products. After experiencing the pandemic era, I realize that what survives is small but strong cells."\n\nMeanwhile, Heo Jae-hyung, CEO of Root Impact, shared his startup story under the theme 'Sustainable Social Innovation Startup Ecosystem for Changemakers.' Root Impact, which marks its 10th year of establishment this year, supports various stakeholders including impact entrepreneurs and investors who contribute to solving social problems.\n\nCEO Heo emphasized, "For entrepreneurs to succeed, support from helpers and supporters is absolutely necessary." He organized an 'Impact Alliance' by gathering organizations in Seoul's Seongsu-dong that are concerned with social innovation, and partnered with 13 social ventures to open a daycare center called 'Forest for All.' These are the results of community collaboration. As an entrepreneur and business leader with 10 years of experience, he also revealed four pieces of know-how he has learned.\n\n△Don't lose your authenticity. All leaders are different and leadership styles vary; exercise your own strengths. △Build healthy colleague relationships. Since people relationships are more difficult than work, solve conflicts honestly rather than accumulating them, and build mutual trust. △Manage stress and mental health. Find stress-relief methods that work for you, such as walking, meditation, exercise, food, or travel. △Create and participate in communities. The entrepreneurial life is lonely, so establish relationships with those who share the same circumstances and support each other in overcoming difficulties.\n\nMeanwhile, Underdogs is recruiting participants for the 'Impact Salon,' a community program where early-stage female entrepreneurs can share concerns, until the 18th of this month. The program will select 20 teams targeting social economy businesses, nonprofits, and startups pursuing social innovation and provide capacity-building and community programs for six months from October this year to March next year.