JC youth business chief eyes investment, partnerships as reasons to stay

"I want to give members a reason to join JC — and a reason to stay."

That was the opening challenge Lee Yong-sik, head of the youth business division at the Junior Chamber International Korea, put on the table. The era of young entrepreneurs gathering simply to build connections is over, Lee argues; what members need now are tangible results from their involvement. Faced with declining membership, Lee's answer is a "business ecosystem" that links investment, market access and collaboration.

"Business owners these days want a clear reason to show up," Lee said in a recent interview in Seocho-gu, Seoul. "We have to give members the experience of taking on real responsibility and producing real results." Where JC's value once lay in person-to-person connections, Lee said, those connections must now translate into investment, transactions and collaboration.

The starting point is the JCI Scale-Up Fund No. 1, launched this year. The structure pools capital from JC members and professionals, then identifies high-potential member companies for investment. "It's the first project of its kind inside JC," Lee said. "We plan to finish raising Fund No. 1 by the end of this month and immediately begin forming Fund No. 2. Actual fund management will be handled by a professional asset manager."

For contributors, tax incentives are the draw. Lee explained that investors who meet the requirements set out in venture investment regulations can claim an income deduction — making the fund particularly attractive to high earners from a tax-saving standpoint. Lee has been meeting directly with potential contributors, including professionals, to make the case for participation.

The goal Lee has in mind is a virtuous cycle: senior entrepreneurs back the potential of their juniors with capital, and those juniors, once they grow, pass the support on to the next generation. A development program is already running to underpin that vision. "Fourteen member companies have gone through the training, and representatives from four major domestic venture capital firms attended the IR demo day we recently held," Lee said. "We are looking at narrowing it down to three or four teams for the first investment before the end of the year."

Behind the push is Lee's own experience as an entrepreneur. "I was in the food-and-beverage industry, pursuing government support programs and outside investment, and I spent about three years meeting with venture capital firms and preparing IR pitches — that's where I built my on-the-ground knowledge," Lee said. "If a sunbae who has been through it all shares how to attract investment and expand a business, the next generation can start from a much more advanced position instead of taking the long way around." That experience, Lee said, is also why the youth business division — dissolved last year — was revived this year.

Lee is also rethinking how members connect with one another. A "JC Connect" app, targeted for release before the end of the year, will include a communication space, a member-to-member marketplace and local chapter features — designed to let new members unfamiliar with JC's long-standing protocol culture participate comfortably and find business opportunities.

Continuity is the challenge. Because most key JC positions are one-year, non-renewable terms, Lee said safeguards are needed to ensure the next head of the youth business division can carry the work forward. "We are discussing sustainability plans for the fund with the Youth Policy Research Institute," Lee said. "Unlike Fund No. 1, which was structured as a blind fund, we are also considering a model for future funds — No. 2, 3 and 4 — where target companies are selected first and contributors are then recruited around them."

Lee, who will age out of active JC membership — capped at 45 — next year, said what remains is not a grand title or a one-off achievement. "I want to add new value — investment and results — to JC's oldest asset, which is its network," Lee said.