Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency holds 2nd SE Bridge Day

Event features sharing of best practices and delivery of contest grants

Participants pose for a photo holding panels representing the significance of social enterprises at the Social Enterprise Day commemoration held at the Textile Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, in July. [Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency official YouTube]
Participants pose for a photo holding panels representing the significance of social enterprises at the Social Enterprise Day commemoration held at the Textile Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, in July. [Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency official YouTube]

The Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency held the 2nd SE Bridge Day on Friday at Seoul2 Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, to share innovative cases of social enterprises addressing social problems and to expand collaboration with private and public institutions.

About 100 people attended the event, including corporate social responsibility and ESG officers from private and public institutions as well as representatives of social solidarity economy enterprises, sharing collaborative efforts to address social problems and exploring new avenues for cooperation.

The first SE Bridge Day, held July 1, focused on raising awareness and interest in collaboration with social enterprises. This second edition shifted emphasis toward identifying concrete partnership opportunities and building substantive working relationships.

The first session featured SK Gas and Korea Eisai, the collaboration partners of the 2nd SE Bridge Contest, delivering grant funding to the contest's selected enterprises. The second session included the main program along with company-specific exhibition and consultation programs.

The main program was organized into three tracks: changes in the policy environment for the social solidarity economy and corporate social contribution, innovative solutions and collaboration cases from social solidarity economy enterprises, and the SE Bridge collaboration platform.

The first track examined shifts in the policy environment surrounding the social solidarity economy and the evolving role of corporate social contribution, and discussed the potential for collaboration with social enterprises based on major social contribution activities in 2026 and social contribution strategies for 2027.

The second track showcased best practices from enterprises that participated in the agency's growth support project, the SE Bridge Contest and public-private partnership programs. Innovative business models and collaboration cases addressing social problems across diverse fields — including care services, residential support, environmental and resource recycling, and rural communities — were presented, along with proposals for expanding cooperation with private and public institutions.

One featured enterprise, Damwoo, an agricultural corporation based in Goheung in South Jeolla Province, is a social enterprise that develops and sells processed food products using locally grown agricultural produce, contributing to income growth for local farming households and job creation for vulnerable populations.

The company started as a startup team under the social entrepreneur development program, won the grand prize at the agency's social enterprise investment competition in 2025, and has seen sales grow roughly 1.5 times over the past two years — demonstrating an innovative business model built on local resources and strong growth potential.

The third track outlined the direction for expanding collaboration in 2027 and introduced opportunities for new partners to join. The SE Bridge platform was also presented as a vehicle for connecting the resources and expertise of private and public institutions with the innovative capabilities of social enterprises to identify and support collaborative models for solving social problems.

Running alongside the main program, the Value Connect segment provided exhibition and consultation spaces where social enterprises introduced their innovative approaches to social problems, and participants discussed specific collaboration plans and follow-up partnership possibilities through tailored consultations with private and public institutions.

Jeong Seung-guk, president of the Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency, said he hopes the event will serve as an opportunity to connect the innovative capabilities of social enterprises with the resources of private and public institutions to uncover new collaboration opportunities. "We will continue to support follow-up linkages so that tangible collaborative outcomes can be achieved, and we will work to expand sustainable public-private partnership models," he said.

Further details are available through the Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency website and the Social Enterprise Portal.


thlee@heraldcorp.com