Press

SOVAC 2023' (Social Value Connect), the country's largest private festival related to social value, was held on the 15th at the Grand Walkerhill Hotel in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. This year's SOVAC theme is 'A New Dimension of Connecting: New Connections and Cooperation, Sustainable Growth.' The event expanded participation from both private and public sectors including corporations and local governments, presenting methodologies to fundamentally solve problems faced by social enterprises and social ventures. At this year's opening ceremony, Enuma CEO Soo In Lee delivered the keynote address. Park Chan-jae (CEO of Two Hands), Jo Sang-mi (Director of Central Social Service Agency), Yoo Dong-joo (Head of Cocolong F&C ESG Impact Team), Cho Sang-lae (CEO of Underdogs), and Lee Hyun-yi (Ambassador for Happiness Alliance, broadcaster/model) and other experts from various fields took the stage as speakers, sharing five different perspectives on connection, cooperation, and growth for creating social value. ▲ CEO Soo In Lee Soo In Lee, CEO of global edtech company Enuma, delivered a keynote speech on the theme 'Startups are tools for change.' Enuma was established in Berkeley, California, USA in 2012. Soo In Lee, former designer at NCsoft, and her husband Lee Gun-ho, former technical director at the same company and now Enuma's Chief Technology Officer (CTO), jointly founded Enuma with the goal of creating the best learning tool that children with learning difficulties and children with disabilities can use independently, making it available to all children in the world. As of 2023, approximately 120 employees work at Enuma's offices in California, Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing, and Jakarta, using Korean and English. Enuma plans to focus more on solving problems that the existing education system has failed to address. Enuma has demonstrated that illiterate children who don't attend school can learn basic reading, writing, and arithmetic at a level similar to children attending school using only tablet software. The Global Learning XPRIZE is an international competition hosted by 'XPRIZE,' the world's largest non-profit venture foundation, for developing educational software for developing countries. The competition's goal is to 'develop software that helps children in areas lacking teachers and schools learn reading, writing, and arithmetic on their own.' Enuma won the Global Learning XPRIZE competition in 2019, which took five years to complete. Enuma's submission, 'KitKit School,' was created to precisely match the language, culture, and learning methods of the target region's children. The app recorded the highest learning outcomes and usage frequency in a randomized controlled trial conducted by UNESCO and RTI over 15 months. "I hope everyone can read and do arithmetic at a second-grade elementary school level. Be able to take a taxi alone, buy things at a store and receive change, and read basic signs. Once children with disabilities and children from developing countries reach this level, they can study on their own afterwards." CEO Soo In Lee stated, "The company that started from my mission to enable all children in the world to read using the technology I have creates changes in public education globally through connections with global stakeholders. Help for children who have difficulty learning is created not only by private tech companies but through connections and cooperation among infrastructure service providers, local governments, educational institutions (schools), politicians, and international cooperation between nations." The CEO conveyed a message: "Work that cannot be accomplished alone even with a lifetime of effort requires finding ways to cooperate as much as possible with numerous organizations pursuing the same goal, and doing your best in the work you can do best and want to do most. Enuma, as a tech startup, is working with the hope of becoming one piece of a puzzle that others can trust and cooperate with in this huge flow. The problems Enuma can solve are among the smallest portion of countless global problems, and even that cannot be solved alone. What Enuma can do is work the hardest while cooperating as much as possible with others," and concluded the speech with, "I hope more help can flow between SOVAC participants toward each other." ▲ (Top left, clockwise) CEO Park Chan-jae, Director Jo Sang-mi, Head Yoo Dong-joo, CEO Cho Sang-lae, Ambassador Lee Hyun-yi. Next, Park Chan-jae, CEO of Two Hands, took the stage as the first omnibus speaker and shared Two Hands' experience under the theme 'The Power of Connection: Turning Business Crisis into Opportunity,' discussing how connection and cooperation were driving forces for growth during a crisis (fire). CEO Park shared the company's journey of starting with help from many ecosystem stakeholders who empathized with the company's social value, growing through the power of connection, and overcoming crisis, introducing how the value of 'new connection' could be implemented in business. Central Social Service Agency Director Jo Sang-mi spoke on the theme 'Journey to Sustainable Welfare State: Innovation through Connection,' discussing what kinds of connections and cooperation public institutions are preparing sustainable welfare through in the era of social value. Director Jo stated, "Innovation is connection. Connecting existing good things toward a common goal is true innovation," and added, "The Central Social Service Agency, together with 16 metropolitan and provincial social service agencies, is faithfully performing such a connection as a hub role." Yoo Dong-joo, Head of Cocolong F&C ESG Impact Team (KOA CEO), shared cases of solving carbon emissions and waste problems in the fashion industry through open innovation with large corporations and social ventures pursuing circular fashion. Cocolong F&C acquired the social venture 'KOA (K.O.A)' that develops fashion impact business last year, and inspired by the sustainable cashmere material project KOA conducted in Mongolia, designed an expanded version of circular fashion that transforms discarded clothing and inventory back into textile materials. Circular fashion is Cocolong F&C's concrete realization method of 'Rebirth,' the ESG management philosophy it has established. Head Yoo emphasized, "When large and small companies each fulfill their roles to solve the same social problems, the social impact becomes greater." Choe Sang-lae, CEO of Underdogs, founded in 2015 and conducting practical entrepreneurship education, spoke on the theme 'Building an Entrepreneurship Education Universe through Connection and Cooperation'