Hana Financial to invest 5 billion won over 4 years to nurture 4,000 young small-business owners

Hana Financial Group announced Wednesday it will launch a shared-growth project to revitalize local commercial districts by nurturing young small-business owners.

The group signed an MOU with the Small Enterprise and Market Service on June 23 at its Myeong-dong headquarters in Seoul to launch the "Hana On, Youth On" project. Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo and Small Enterprise and Market Service head In Tae-yeon attended the signing ceremony, pledging to build an integrated support framework for comprehensive assistance to local commercial districts where young small-business owners operate.

The two organizations plan to identify and develop about 4,000 small-business establishments across 60 local commercial districts nationwide over four years through 2029. To that end, Hana Financial will commit 5 billion won ($3,260,000) to support capacity-building education for small-business owners, commercial district revitalization projects and integrated promotional activities. The initiative aims to strengthen young entrepreneurs' management capabilities through online courses covering digital tools, customer management and business operations, as well as offline sessions on policy literacy, sales strategy and collaboration.

"The goal of this partnership is to breathe new energy into local commercial districts by nurturing young small-business owners, and ultimately to build sustainable local commerce led by those young entrepreneurs," Ham said. "Every member of our group will stand alongside small-business owners — the roots of the local economy and the foundation of everyday livelihoods — from their first steps through growth and beyond."

The project will also support young small-business owners in planning and running joint ventures tailored to the characteristics of their local areas. Open to entrepreneurs aged 49 and under, the program will select 14 general-type teams — each comprising five or more small-business owners from a local commercial district — and one specialized team made up of 30 or more owners drawn from commercial districts across the country. General-type teams will receive up to 50 million won each, while the specialized team will be eligible for up to 150 million won.

Selected teams will receive not only financial support but also customized assistance including night-market and discount-event tie-ins, local festival-linked programs, shared facility improvements, sales strategy consulting, and the production of online and offline promotional content. The program is expected to generate a virtuous cycle for the broader local economy by driving more visitors to the area and stimulating consumer spending beyond direct store support. The entire process — from recruitment through participation to results — will be documented across various content formats for promotional purposes, and the actual impact on commercial district revitalization will be tracked and assessed.

"Starting from this MOU, we will put the 'Hana On, Youth On' project into full operation to build up entire local commercial districts, and we will continuously refine a virtuous-cycle model in which young entrepreneurs and local commerce grow together," a Hana Financial spokesperson said.

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