Do you know what TGIF stands for? You probably think it is ‘Thank God It’s Friday’ which is the name of a famous franchise restaurant. In the IT industry of the United States, however, TGIF stands for ‘Twitter, Google, iPhone, and Facebook. These four companies represent the rise of social media services from popularization of smart phones. The other common thing these four companies share is that the CEOs of these companies founded their own companies when they were young. Jack Dorsey founded Twitter at the age of 30. When Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed Back Rub program, they were graduate students at Stanford and founded Google when they were 25 years old. In 1976, at the age of 21, Steven Jobs founded Apple with Steve Wozniak. When Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2004, he was only 19 years old. Now these four companies are world-dominant IT companies and their services and brand names span around the globe.

In Korea, according to National Statistical Office, youth unemployment rate in the first-quarter of 2013 is 8.4%. To overcome unemployment crisis, a lot of university students are becoming interested in starting own companies. Accordingly the Korean government is supporting youth business to raise young and competent CEOs like the CEOs of TGIF. Currently many organizations including Kookmin University are providing a range of support to students who would like to start his or her own company.

In KMU, there is a department called “the Business Incubation Center.” KMU students can easily call this center and get an evaluation of their business concepts. This center can tell you whether it is a good business concept or not and help you to structure a business plan. This center can actually nurture your plan to start your own company. Also the center organizes a business startup competition which is another good opportunity to start your own company. The center provides a variety of support to the winner of the competition including office space, financial aid, and feedback. The next competition is planned for next year. Furthermore this center is associated with the Small and Medium Business Administration. If any KMU student wants to participate in ‘Real Business Startup League’ sponsored by the Small and Medium Business Administration, this center provides full support. Besides, the center posts useful information about business opportunities and business startup competitions on its webpage. You can find the center’s homepage under industrial-educational cooperation / research tab from the main homepage of KMU.

Outside KMU, there are also myriad opportunities to start your own company. For example, Goyang city has recently started a project with the Ministry of Employment and Labor and National Social Enterprise Institute to support and nurture young social entrepreneurs. Any young people who have passion for business can apply for the project. Goyang city selects the winning teams. It provides various types of support including financial support (up to 30,000,000 won), office space, mentoring and consulting services. In fact, of the twenty teams applied last year, seven teams received the support. Each of the seven teams received an average amount of 22,000,000 won. So far, ten teams received education and twenty five teams received individual consultation support from professionals related to accounting, labor, and management.

Nationally, the Korean government runs a business startup fund for people who are younger than 39 years old. The loan is available to the representative of a company in the knowledge service industry and cultural content industry and to people who are preparing to start own companies. The loan is divided into two funds: facility fund and management fund. These two funds can almost cover the entire costs necessary to found a company. The Small and Medium Business Corporation accepts applications for business startup and provides consulting and education services. They select applicants by evaluating business plans and provide financial loans. The interest rate of the loan is fixed at under 3% a year and the term is 3 years. The limit of the loan is 100,000,000 won. Moreover Kakao Corp. created a youth business startup fund worth 30 billion won with the SMBA. The fund is set up to invest in companies that CEOs are younger than 39 years old and 50% of the employees are younger than 29 years old. The purpose of the fund is to build an environment that challenges young people to start own business without the fear of failures and at the same time establish a pure circulation venture ecosystem: foundation-→ investment → growth → return → reinvestment.
The CEOs of TGIF founded their companies at such a young age and made their companies world-dominant companies in the IT industry. Their fresh perspectives and young minds act as critical factors for success. The Korean government wants to develop young and competent entrepreneurs like the CEOs of TGIF. They are waiting for young people to support. If you have passion for new business, try it. Korea is waiting for you.