Seoul Global Center shifts focus to support entrepreneurs
Limited career opportunities and difficulties in starting a business are some of the top reasons foreign students decide to leave Korea. Seoul Global Center hopes its change to a career-focused support center will contribute to solving this issue.
“We think there shouldn’t be any cases in which foreigners who want to start their own business or work in Seoul leave because of issues such as visas or paperwork,” said Ahn Tae-min, head of the Seoul Global Center.
The Seoul Global Center used to be a place that did a bit of everything, serving as a help center for any foreigner struggling to adapt to life in Seoul.
Although many of its popular programs such as free Korean classes and multilingual consultations will remain, its main goal this year is to offer more business-related help under Invest Seoul, an investment promotion agency established by the Seoul Metropolitan government,
To discuss more about what business and employment support Seoul Global Center is planning to provide, the Korea JoongAng Daily sat down with Ahn for an interview last week.
Below are edited excerpts.
Q. Starting this year, Seoul Global Center is under Invest Seoul. What changes does that bring?
A. One of the well-known functions of Seoul Global Center was that we offered consultations in 11 different languages to improve the living conditions of foreigners in Seoul. But we also have the goal of making Seoul a global city and are trying to improve the business environment for foreigners by helping them create start-ups and get jobs. In that matter, Invest Seoul is in charge of attracting investment for start-ups. For us, because there needs to be people who are willing to build start-ups and pursue careers, we provide support for foreigners who are having trouble in those areas.
Can you tell us more about the business-related programs that will be offered at Seoul Global Center starting this year?
We started offering training for those who want to start their own business through business Korean classes and also teach basic business etiquette that will help those who don’t know much about the business environment here. We are also planning to connect job seekers with people who have already started their careers with E-7 visas through one-on-one mentoring programs, so they can work as mentors and teach others.
What are some difficulties that foreigners who want to create start-ups face in Korea?
The biggest difficulty is the visas and necessary paperwork they need to submit to establish their own businesses. For instance, there are administrative documents that need to be submitted for foreigners to set up a venture firm. Although organizations such as the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency offer help and guide foreigners on what documents are needed, there are some documents that aren’t officially translated and are hard for those who aren’t as fluent in Korean.
Some people also have trouble because they go to submit those papers, but don’t have a Korean-speaking person that can help them even if they have any questions in the process. For such cases, we have a team of licensed administrative agents that can come with them and help. We also offer consultations so foreigners can get the right visas issued or renewed.
One of the main problems international students in Korea face is the lack of companies willing to hire foreigners. Does the center provide any help regarding this area?
If foreigners who get entrepreneurship training at our center end up establishing their own business and want to hire people, we plan to match them with students looking for jobs who come to us. There’s also foreigner-established start-ups that are part of the Seoul Global Startup Talents Hub and received help from other Seoul-affiliated organizations, which we can also connect the students to. We plan to further increase our database of companies and job seekers by building partnerships with immigration offices and Seoul-based universities, which will make it possible for us to match the right people, at least in Seoul.
Seoul Global Center also offers labor counseling for foreigners. What are some of the common reasons people come to the center for help?
For the case of labor counseling, workers would come straight to us if they suffer from industrial accidents or have any overdue wages. Then consultants here will first call the employer and discuss the problem. If that doesn’t work, they will write petitions to be filed with the employer to the labor office for the workers. But if the situation is serious, we also have professionals such as labor attorneys and lawyers here who can offer further help.
BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]