Foreign startups in Korea send mixed signals

The Seoul Global Center hosted the “International Start-ups Business Fair” at the Seoul Business Agency on Thursday. / Korea Times photo by Chyung Eun-ju

By Chyung Eun-ju

Is Seoul a good place for foreigners to set up a startup business?

Foreigners who attended the “International Start-ups Business Fair” in Sangam-dong, western Seoul, had a mixed reaction to that question.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government held the fair on Thursday for startups established or run by foreigners here to promote a startup-friendly business environment. It was also to foster collaboration and cooperation between local and international companies and to provide a venue for networking.

The fourth annual event was held at the Seoul Business Agency where 12 international startups participated. They told The Korea Times about how support from the government has helped grow their businesses, and the hurdles they had to face.

“The Korean government has been very helpful,” said Kychele Boone, CEO of educational content creator Open Education in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. “I have been in an incubator sponsored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Without their funding, I don’t know where I would be.”

Kychele Boone, CEO of Open Education. / Korea Times photo by Chyung Eun-ju

Finnish product designer Milla Niskakoski, from Almond Studio in Yongsan-gu talked about how Korea was a “playground for a professional designer.”

“The market was very small in our home country,” Niskakoski said. “In Korea, we can work closely with materials and manufacturing. We found this potential in Korea because we found fantastic material markets in Dongdaemun district, including Sinseol Market in Sinseol-dong, where we can find almost any material.”

Erlend Storsul Opdahl, another designer from Almond Studio, said: “We started from having no clients to having more clients than we can handle.”

Despite the opportunities in Korea, Opdahl said there also were some difficulties for a foreigner due to the language barrier. “Without our Korean partner, it would be impossible,” Opdahl said.

Erlend Storsul Opdhal, left, and Milla Niskakoski from Almond Studio. / Korea Times photo by Chyung Eun-ju

For Gordon Dudley, the country manager of human resource consultant Research Direct International in Seocho-gu, Seoul, launching a startup in Korea wasn’t easy.

“Every day I faced difficulties,” Dudley said. “The environment for startups and small businesses is still very immature in Korea, where the ecosystem has not been developed. Korea is the land of chaebol, so if you’re not with the big companies, it’s very difficult to do well in Korea.”

Dudley didn’t recommend setting up a startup in Korea. “There are better places to set up,” he said. “The government policies and the protectionism cause many barriers.”

Boone, an African American from the United States, said she didn’t expect her “gender and race” would be hurdles in doing business in Korea.

“I was trying to find a prototype developer and mass producers for our educational content materials,” she said. “But when I met them, they had an issue with working with a woman.”

Boone reached out to her Korean mentor who helped her communicate with them to get through the job process. She doubted that if she made a contact with the manufacturers they would have been “receptive.”

“Predominantly white males did not have a lot of problems, but I myself, being a black female, faced difficulties,” Boone said. “Also, people think that black people are not smart, so they kind of have an issue with education as well.”