2023 Korea-Africa Forum seeks to promote relations via startups
Jin Seug-hyuk, CEO of the Korean AI startup Klleon, presents his experience during the 2023 Korea-Africa Youth Forum, which was held at the Anniversary Museum in Banpo Hangang Park in Seoul, Nov. 9. Courtesy of Korea-Africa Foundation
The Korea-Africa Foundation (KAF) hosted the 2023 Korea-Africa Youth Forum, Nov. 9, in the Anniversary Museum at Banpo Hangang Park in Seoul, aiming to facilitate discussions and explore avenues for collaboration between Korean and African youths, with a focus on leveraging startups.
The forum, which has been held annually since 2018, serves as a platform to ignite young people's interest in Africa. An active role and participation by young people is increasingly vital in building and maintaining friendly relations between Korea and Africa, according to KAF. Furthermore, the forum has emerged as a space for the exchange of innovative ideas aimed at promoting and enhancing Korea-Africa relations.
This year’s forum centered around the theme of "Unlocking the new possibilities – the spark of change with Korean and African startups," inviting two authorities on startups in Korea and Africa to share their experiences and insights with 100 Korean and African youths who attended the forum.
Jin Seug-hyuk, CEO of the Korean AI startup Klleon, shared valuable insights on fostering cooperation for the mutual prosperity of Korean and African youths. Notably, he was recognized as one of Forbes' 30 Asian leaders under 30 last year.
Jin emphasized the case of applying Klleon's proprietary AI-based technologies, KLone and KLing, in providing educational content to the nation of Burundi in East Africa. He showcased the potential of these technologies in delivering high-quality educational content.
KLone, a virtual chatbot service utilizing AI, allows users to create customizable virtual characters, a technology already employed by companies like Hyundai Motor for virtual tour guides.
Another highlight of Klleon’s technology is KLing, an automatic video dubbing service available in five languages – Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese and Spanish. This service stands out by learning the voice of the original speaker to generate multilingual voices and synchronizing mouth movements with the voices, eliminating the awkwardness associated with conventional dubbing services.
Klleon's advancements in these technologies led to its inclusion in the top 100 for the Korea AI Award and securing of three CES Innovation Awards this year.
Andreas Valavanis, the vice president of the investments department at MNT-Halan, an Egyptian fintech startup, gives a presentation during the 2023 Korea-Africa Youth Forum, which was held at the Anniversary Museum in Banpo Hangang Park in Seoul, Nov. 9. Courtesy of Korea-Africa Foundation
On the African front, Andreas Valavanis, the vice president of the investments department at MNT-Halan, shared insights into fintech startups in Africa.
MNT-Halan, established in 2018, stands as Egypt's pioneering fintech startup, providing digital financial services through mobile wallets and cards, approved by the central bank and boasting 4 million users in Egypt alone.
Valavanis underscored the potential and growth opportunities within fintech startups in Africa and emphasized the effectiveness of collaboration between Korean and African startups.
In particular, he introduced the African fintech market to young Koreans and domestic fintech startups attending the forum. He stressed the importance of digital innovation in delivering financial services such as mobile wallets and cards, expressing hope that the forum would encourage young Koreans to actively engage with the burgeoning fintech market and startups in Africa.
"We hope that this forum has provided a significant opportunity to share creative and innovative ideas related to startups, a shared interest among the youths in Korea and Africa. We aim to inspire more young Koreans to take an active interest in Africa as well,” said Lyeo Woon-ki, the president of KAF.