Press

GS Retail held the final presentation and awards ceremony for the second phase of its 'Social Impact Project' to support social venture startups, the company announced on the 21st. The event took place on the 19th at GS Gangseong N Tower in Yangpyeong-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. The winning team was 'Dajeonghang Market,' which creates pet snacks using 'ugly' agricultural products discarded by eco-friendly farms, earning a prize of 30 million won. Runner-up teams 'JeSyndrome' (selling accessories for metal allergy patients) and 'Re,move' (selling nipple patches to diversify women's underwear choices) each received 10 million won. All winning teams and participants in the final presentation plan to continue receiving GS Retail's infrastructure support and maintain ongoing exchanges. The 'Social Impact Project' is GS Retail's corporate social responsibility initiative conducted with Underdogs and the Social Economy Activation Support Center to support social ventures in the startup phase. The program places particular emphasis on discovering and nurturing social innovation startups in the manufacturing sector that solve social problems through business. Since its launch in 2017, it has produced a total of 8 companies. The second phase of the 'Social Impact Project,' which started with 23 teams selected in January this year, received 8 weeks of practical startup lectures and customized one-on-one business coaching. Additionally, 11 teams that successfully completed the program were finally selected to receive 3 months of intensive education supporting product development and business advancement. At the awards ceremony, the 11 finalist teams presented the results of their 5-month project. A panel of 20 judges comprised of GS Retail employees and investors listened to their presentations and selected the winning team by choosing items they wanted to invest in, considering business sustainability and social value. Park Min-soo, CEO of 'Dajeonghang Market,' which received the most investor votes, said: 'Through this project, I was able to think about business as a social innovation entrepreneur, and I was highly motivated by the passion of other participating teams. I hope that with this final victory, there will be more opportunities to collaborate with GS Retail.' Kim Jun-wan, Executive Director of GS Retail's HR Division, stated: 'GS Retail's corporate social responsibility activities began with sharing the capabilities and infrastructure we possess. We hope our infrastructure will be of great help to young entrepreneurs launching social ventures, and we always support their challenges.'