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| Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon |
In an email interview with The Korea Times, Park said, "this offers a great opportunity for those in the social economy to learn from each other, especially those in Asia." Park thanked the International Labour Organization (ILO) for its collaboration ― ILO representatives will take part in the academy as a speaker.
During the week, social entrepreneurs, scholars and international organization representatives will discuss different aspects of the social economy which is defined by pursuit of social goals beyond making profits. From Thursday to Saturday, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will roll out a fair on the sidelines where people can learn about social enterprises and see their products.
Park was a social entrepreneur himself and a big advocate of the social economy.
He was one of the founders of Beautiful Store, a secondhand shop. He started the business in 2002, and now 143 shops are up and running across the country.
He also purchased handcrafts and coffee from Southeast Asian producers and sold them in the shops.
"First, I imported handcrafts, but it failed. I began importing coffee and I made a lot of money," he said with a laugh at a recent event. "By the time I quit Beautiful Store, the annual profit was almost 3.5 billion won."
He said the coffee success was possible because of participation of local Koreans. "With Koreans' participation, we were able to accommodate the tastes of local consumers. For handcrafts, however, it failed because all the products were ready for sale when they arrived in Korea. And the products weren't attractive to Korean consumers," Park said.
Swearing in as Seoul mayor in 2011, Park pushed hard on policy and financial support for social enterprises and cooperatives. As of last December, the number of registered social enterprises increased to 3,501.
"Unlike the market economy that aims at maximum profit and competition, the social economy's priorities are on people and building communities," Park said. "The social economy helps minorities, the elderly and women to be able to work and offers care and welfare to them. It is a new solution to problems that have resulted from the market economy."
In 2014, Mayor Park launched the biennial Global Social Economy Forum in Seoul. Last year's forum was hosted by Montreal, and the 2018 forum will take place in Bilbao, Spain.
The city's support for the social economy continues this year, with an increased amount of financial support and other administrative assistance.
"The social economy is a solution to inequality, which erupted during last year's candlelit protests. To be hopeful, we need a path that's good for the community and their survival, not for immediate returns for only a few people," Park said.
