Center operates joint pavilion at Cosme Week Osaka 2026

Supports buyer matching, product promotion for 10 startups

Builds cooperation network with Osaka industry bodies

The Women's Enterprise Support Center operates the K-beauty Women's Startup joint pavilion at Cosme Week Osaka 2026 at Intex Osaka, Japan. [Women's Enterprise Support Center]
The Women's Enterprise Support Center operates the K-beauty Women's Startup joint pavilion at Cosme Week Osaka 2026 at Intex Osaka, Japan. [Women's Enterprise Support Center]

The Women's Enterprise Support Center has stepped up efforts to help domestic K-beauty startups founded by women break into the Japanese market.

The center announced Tuesday that it participated in Cosme Week Osaka 2026 at Intex Osaka, Japan, from Wednesday through Friday, operating a joint pavilion for K-beauty women-led startups.

Cosme Week Osaka is a business-to-business trade fair that brings together Japanese beauty companies, retailers, importers and global buyers. This year's event drew more than 230 firms.

The joint pavilion was organized as part of the "2026 Women's Startup Global Accelerating" project, hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and run by the center. The center selected 10 K-beauty startups founded by women through a screening process and supported their participation in the pavilion, along with product promotion and local buyer matching.

The participating companies were Nerve Bioscience, The Frameless, Les Chemie, Rockies, Betterdays, Bidan & Company, As As, SPNBT, ORNP and Iplme.

During the exhibition, the companies held business meetings with local beauty industry contacts to showcase their products and assess their prospects for entering the Japanese market. They also refined export strategies tailored to local retail channels.

Beyond supporting exhibition participation, the center worked to expand cooperation with local institutions in Japan. It visited the Osaka Industrial Bureau and the women's division of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry to share startup support case studies and lay the groundwork for helping Korean women-owned businesses enter Japan. The center also hosted a networking session with local investment and industry experts to discuss ways to expand market access for the participating companies. The initiative focused not just on raising product awareness but on helping startups secure local retail and buyer networks. For early-stage companies that struggle to build overseas distribution channels on their own, it offered direct contact with local buyers and a chance to gauge market response.

The center also devoted considerable effort to securing cooperation channels with local support organizations. By sharing startup support case studies with the Osaka Industrial Bureau and the women's division of the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, it broadened the cooperative foundation for backing Korean women-owned businesses in Japan. It also established contact with local investment and industry experts to build a network supporting the participating companies' future market expansion.

"Going global is an essential challenge for companies' survival and sustained growth, and this joint pavilion was a meaningful occasion to showcase the strong potential of K-beauty women startups and confirm their prospects for entering Japan," said Park Chang-sook, chairwoman of the Women's Enterprise Support Center. "We will spare no effort in providing follow-up support that translates into tangible export results, so that women-led startups with strong products can successfully establish themselves in global markets."


boo@heraldcorp.com