Press

2026 Small Business Nurturing Action Seminar for Corporate Social Contribution and Mutual Growth Partners - Sharing Support Plans for 'K-Small Businesses' Scale-up and Global Expansion toward 'Vibrant People's Economy' - Highlighting 'LICORN' Public-Private Collaborative Nurturing Model Aligned with Regional Balanced Growth of '5 Poles 3 Specialties' Underdogs (CEO Kim Jung-heon), a practical startup education specialist, successfully held a '2026 Small Business Nurturing Action Seminar' on the 12th at UD Building, targeting corporate social contribution and mutual growth cooperation managers. The seminar was conducted under the theme of 'Speaking the Success Formula Verified with Domestic Leading Platforms,' and covered government small business policy direction analysis for 2026 as well as practically applicable corporate social contribution education models and public-private cooperation strategies. In particular, in line with the government's direction of 'Vibrant People's Economy' and 'Small Businesses Standing Up Again,' in-depth discussions were held on what role corporations should play as 'growth partners' that help small businesses grow beyond simple support. 'SME Growth Roadmap' for Corporate Mutual Growth and Platform Utilization Strategy Underdogs unveiled an 'SME Growth Roadmap' for sustainable management of small businesses at this seminar. This model subdivides small businesses' growth stages into △Entry △Execution △Growth △Expansion, helping corporate managers design mutual growth programs such as infrastructure connection, branding, and networking suitable for each stage. In particular, e-commerce based platforms are defined not as simple sales channels but as 'stages where the most dense experiments and data accumulate,' emphasizing the need for structural impact design where corporations link platforms and funds to accelerate small business growth. '5 Poles 3 Specialties' Regional Balanced Growth and 'LICORN' Nurturing Model In the following session, a 'LICORN (Lifestyle & Local Innovation uniCORN)' support strategy for nurturing small businesses as innovative enterprises was introduced. Aligned with the government's region-led balanced growth policy based on '5 Poles 3 Specialties,' a private investment linked model for fostering region-specific commercial areas and local bases was presented. Underdogs shared the future direction of the LIPS (Private Investment Linked Matching Loan) system, where private operators select promising small businesses for investment and the government matches funds, as well as scale-up cases utilizing it, emphasizing that corporate social contribution funds can serve as seed money helping small businesses achieve self-reliance and global expansion. Recommendations for Realizing Fair Economy through Cooperation and Mutual Growth Kim Do-yeon, Head of SME Impact Division at Underdogs, stated, "2026 small business policy is undergoing a major transformation from protection-focused to 'growth-focused nurturing,'" and "Corporations must now redefine their role from being support providers to 'growth partners' that jointly create small business growth." Underdogs continues to operate as a 'growth structure designer' leading small business innovation by advancing platform cooperation, materializing global expansion support, and actively implementing AX solutions through specialized AX consultants to realize regional mutual growth values.