Korea South
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) is a Korean government agency responsible for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Established in 1996, MSS's primary objective is to strengthen competitiveness and support innovation in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Micro Enterprises (MEs).
MSS has three main missions: Promoting Business Growth, Fostering Business Start-ups, and Supporting Micro Enterprises. The agency implements various policies to promote the growth of enterprises at all stages - from start-ups to SMEs and from SMEs to global enterprises or Hidden Champions.
Additionally, MSS strives to foster new ideas into new businesses, particularly technology and knowledge-based start-ups, to bring innovation and energy to the business ecosystem. Furthermore, MSS facilitates a smooth business-funding cycle to support investment, collection, and reinvestment.
Moreover, MSS takes policy measures to enable the successful start-up, adoption of cooperation models, healthy growth, and successful turnaround of micro enterprises, which are an essential foundation of the domestic economy.
MSS has 12 affiliated institutions, including Korea Venture Investment Corporation (KVIC), Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KIBO), Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME), and others, to support and promote the growth of SMEs and start-ups in the Korean business ecosystem.
Overall, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups plays a pivotal role in fostering entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic growth in South Korea's business landscape.
