Executive Vice Chairman Suh Seung-won of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (K-biz)

“An overseas market exploration team of SMEs will be dispatched to Oman, the Middle East, in which concern over hallyu (Korea Wave) is high and demand for home appliances is also greater, next February.” said Executive Vice Chairman Suh Seung-won of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (K-biz) in a recent interview with a vernacular economic daily.

“The Middle East, African and Central Asia are regions whose markets can be tapped by Korean SMEs,” he added.

K-biz Executive Vice Chairman Suh made the remarks on Oman in which he recently toured as a potential market to be explored by Korean SMEs. There are few Korean SMEs doing business in Oman, but the Middle Eastern country is a state in which concern on hallyu such as K-pop are high and Korea is recognized greatly, he said. Vice Chairman Suh stressed the need for utilizing an export business incubator of Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) as a center of market exploration there.

SMEs’ tapping of overseas markets is not an elective one, but an essential task. Korean SMEs, which can no longer depend on a saturated domestic market, needs to explore overseas market as their growth strategy, he stressed.

Exporter SMEs have logged 5.9 billion won in average annual sales, an equivalent to 14 times more than the average of the whole of the nation’s SMEs whose average annual sales stand at 430 million won.

K-biz is providing active support to this end by inaugurating market exploration teams, he said.

The government is engaged in “New South” and “New North” market exploration initiatives with a focus on Korean SMEs’ market entry, Vice Chairman Suh said. K-biz has dispatched market exploration teams to “New South Initiative” countries such as Vietnam and India and “New North Initiative” countries such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Products made by Korean SMEs are enjoying more popularity in Southeast and Central Asian countries, riding on the back of hallyu than the United States and European countries. Not only India, Vietnam and Thailand in which domestic demand and income have risen amidst economic growth but also Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar emerge as potential markets for Korean SMEs, he added.

One-on-one business meetings with local buyers have gotten a good reception, but differentiation localization strategies such as local marketing need to be explored, he said.

Korean SMEs suffer from woes and problems such as inexperienced overseas market entry and investments, and insufficient market entry information. Korean SME businessmen who have successfully explored overseas markets have been designated as “overseas civilian ambassadors” to extend a helping hand to inexperienced overseas market late-comers.

K-biz has put the regime in place since 2011 to help SMEs which have zeals to tap overseas markets, but suffer from insufficient overseas network and knowhow. Currently, 51 people from 30 countries, including China, have been designated as overseas civilian ambassadors. They hold annual one-on-one meeting with SMEs to providing consulting on overseas market entry.

K-biz implements projects to support SMEs’ exports such as an export consortium program, he said. The export consortium program is an integrated marketing project in which consortia are formed according to each business category and regional organizations to participate in overseas exhibitions, conduct overseas market surveys.

Under the stewardship of K-biz, 62 organizations have been dispatched or are to be sent to a combined 140 overseas exhibitions during this year. K-biz will support 29 organizations which have held or will hold a combined 36 overseas export consultation sessions.

Members of a market exploration consortium, dispatched by K-biz, have a one-on-one meeting with local buyers in Stockholm, Sweden, in June. (Photos: K-biz)