Press

Underdogs, a startup education company led by CEOs Kim Jung-heon and Cho Sang-rae, announced on the 3rd that it will officially begin practical training for the '5th Eco Social Impact Project' starting with an in-person orientation with GS Retail on May 2nd. The 'Eco Social Impact Project' is GS Retail's corporate social responsibility initiative to actively support social ventures and startups in the sustainable environmental manufacturing sector. Since launching as the 'Social Impact Project' in 2017 with Underdogs, it has discovered and nurtured a total of 39 startup teams to date. The 5th in-person orientation was held at Underdogs' headquarters located in Waryong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, bringing together the 15 finalist teams selected on April 26th with Underdogs and GS Retail representatives. Over approximately 7 hours, the session included △introduction to Underdogs' curriculum and coaches △introduction of finalist teams △entrepreneurial aptitude diagnosis ('DOGS test') sessions developed based on data from over 10,000 entrepreneurs trained by Underdogs to assess startup team situations. Moving forward, the Eco Social Impact Project will run over approximately 4 months until September with both online and offline education and 1:1 startup coaching sessions. Underdogs startup coaches, field-specific experts, GS Retail executives, and current MDs will lead startup team growth through special lectures and customized business mentoring. Startup teams will receive approximately 100 million won in support including startup funds and prototype manufacturing. Depending on performance, teams can also gain opportunities for GS Retail resource connection and market development support. Cho Sang-rae, CEO of Underdogs, stated, "Underdogs has trained over 10,000 innovative entrepreneurs nationwide, and we have approached startup education with the belief that we can solve various problems faced by communities across the nation through an entrepreneurial perspective." He added, "We look forward to many future opportunities to practice ESG through entrepreneur development in various fields."