Ages 13 to 78: 5,000 selected for 'Everyone's Startup' program

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced Tuesday it has finalized the selection of 5,000 entrepreneurial talents for its Everyone's Startup project.

The Everyone's Startup Project, introduced this year for the first time, is designed to let anyone with a business idea take a shot at entrepreneurship. The first cohort drew more than 63,000 applicants, a competition ratio of roughly 12.6 to one. The ministry will provide selectees with startup activity funds, mentoring and AI solutions to help turn their ideas into actual businesses, and will also offer a re-challenge program for those not selected.

The 5,000 selectees comprise 4,000 in the general and technology track and 1,000 in the local track. Those aged 39 or under account for 68.4 percent of all selectees. The youngest is 13 and the oldest is 78.

Kim Tae-in, the youngest selectee overall, proposed a safety system that detects school bullying in blind spots using only Wi-Fi signals. The oldest selectee proposed an eco-friendly naphtha manufacturing technology using carbonized food waste. A foreign national proposed developing an AI-based manuscript practice application for the written portion of the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK).

In the local track, the youngest selectee — aged 17 — proposed a regular welfare check service linked to the local community. The oldest, aged 72, proposed developing a water-free, dissolvable K-apple energy powder stick made from misshapen apples from North Gyeongsang Province. A foreign selectee, drawing on a Japanese entrepreneur's perspective, proposed building a Busan travel information platform targeting Japanese tourists.

Regional entrepreneurs made up 74 percent of all selectees. By track, 70 percent of general and technology track picks and 90 percent of local track picks came from outside the capital area, reflecting a diverse range of innovative ideas from across the country.

In the general and technology track, IT led all sectors at 32 percent, followed by lifestyle at 17.8 percent, biotech and healthcare at 10.1 percent, and education at 6.8 percent. In the local track, everyday living products topped the list at 48.2 percent, followed by food and beverages at 37.3 percent and beauty at 9.3 percent. AI-related ideas accounted for 29.3 percent of all selected items in the general and technology track, underscoring the spread of AI across industries.

All 5,000 selectees will receive 2 million won (about $1,290) in startup activity funds. They will also receive early-stage mentoring from top mentoring institutions as well as AI solutions to help rapidly refine their business ideas.

The roughly 58,000 applicants not selected for the first cohort will receive written feedback from the mentors who evaluated their ideas. They will also be offered online and offline re-challenge mentoring programs to help them strengthen their proposals.

"We will provide full support so that the ideas of the 5,000 selected in this first cohort of the Everyone's Startup Project can grow and take flight," Minister of SMEs and Startups Han Sung-sook said. "For the 58,000 challengers who were unfortunately not selected, we will build an even more robust startup ladder in Korea through systematic re-challenge support so they can try again."