Gwanak-gu hosts 'NEXT FOUNDER Parent Startup School' to expand youth entrepreneurship education

Gwanak-gu is extending the innovative capacity of Gwanak S-Valley — Seoul's southwestern startup hub — into the classroom, stepping up future career and entrepreneurship education that now reaches parents as well as young students.

The district, together with the Gwanak Small and Venture Business Promotion Agency, held the "2026 Gwanak S-Valley NEXT FOUNDER Parent Startup School" at Gwanak Middle School on Wednesday.

The event was a companion program to the "Gwanak S-Valley NEXT FOUNDER Youth Startup School," which ran at four high schools in the district from May through July. It was designed to help parents better understand the startup environment and entrepreneurial spirit of a rapidly changing era, and to support their children in proactively exploring career paths based on their own aptitudes and interests.

The speakers were Jeon Jun-su, chief executive of MetaX, and Kim Ki-hwan, chief executive of Wepair, both active in AI-based industries.

Drawing on their firsthand experience in the startup world, the two executives spoke about the qualities future society will demand of its talent, the mindset entrepreneurs need, and the process of spotting opportunities in everyday problems and turning ideas into reality.

The speakers said that as AI rapidly replaces routine knowledge and tasks, the ability to ask questions from one's own perspective and find solutions becomes ever more critical. They added that entrepreneurial thinking — identifying problems in one's surroundings and taking action — helps young people develop creativity and problem-solving skills.

The session also addressed the role of parents and effective ways to communicate with their children. Speakers said parents should act as facilitators who help children discover their own strengths and explore their own paths, rather than making career decisions on their behalf.

One parent who attended said the program showed her that entrepreneurship is one career option a child can choose based on their own aptitude. "I will respect my child's challenges and be a strong supporter as they forge their own path," she said.

The district said it will continue to expand what it calls a "virtuous-cycle startup education model" — one in which students and parents grow together — by drawing on Gwanak S-Valley's startup infrastructure and specialist talent through the Gwanak Small and Venture Business Promotion Agency.

Gwanak-gu District Mayor Park Jun-hee said he hopes the Parent Startup School will give families a chance to view entrepreneurship positively as one of many career options available to their children. "We will continue to offer a wide range of entrepreneurship education programs so that young people can grow into future innovators who are unafraid of failure and ready to realize their ideas and potential," he said.