CJ Olive Young expands K-beauty incubation program to 30 brands in third cohort

CJ Olive Young announced Thursday it is launching the third cohort of its "K-Super Rookie with Young" program, a joint initiative with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to support the growth of promising small and midsize beauty brands.

The program has grown from 20 companies in its inaugural year of 2024 to 30 this year. Participants in the third cohort were selected through the ministry's K-Export Strategic Product Development project.

Starting Thursday, participating brands will showcase their products for six weeks at dedicated "Ollyeong Sinsang" display shelves in 23 major stores nationwide, including locations in Gwanak and Seomyeon.

CJ Olive Young plans to evaluate customer response, sales performance and growth potential to select the top 10 brands for intensive development.

Those 10 brands will receive support to expand their overseas reach through sales on CJ Olive Young's domestic online store and its global mall from Nov. 16 through the end of the year.

The company will also support online promotional events, live commerce broadcasts and marketing content production, and will provide customized consulting based on actual sales data after the program concludes.

"Our goal is to help emerging brands with potential build a solid growth foundation and scale up in the market," a CJ Olive Young official said. "We will support small and midsize brands in developing the self-sustaining competitiveness to compete on the global stage, and contribute to creating a healthy virtuous cycle across the broader K-beauty ecosystem."