[2021 Start-up Station Lecture Series #2] Start-up Enuma Korea Gets Funded 5 Billion Won by Elon Musk Hyunju Kim, the Impact Business Director, lectures on “The Road to Social Venture: Educational Innovation in Developing Countries” The second round of the 2021 Startup Station Lecture Series, hosted by Korea University Business School (Dean=Jongseok Bae), was held on April 6th. The Lecture Series is a program organized by the Entrepreneurship Academy of Seung Myung-ho Entrepreneurship Education Center, the educational department of Start-up Station. Various start-up mentors are invited to give lectures in this series of events.   In this event, Hyunju Kim, the Impact Business Director of the start-up Enuma Korea, gave a lecture on “The Road to Social Venture: Educational Innovation in Developing Countries.” The speech was broadcasted online due to Covid 19.   Enuma Korea is an Edu-Tech start-up that develops and runs mobile education applications for children such as Todo Math and Todo English. In May 2019, it launched Kitkit School, a game-based program that enables self-directed learning for children, thereby winning the “Global Learning XPRIZE.” This eventually led them to be funded 5 billion won by Elon Musk.   Director Kim explained how Kitkit School helped children from developing countries with self-directed learning. There have been efforts in the existing digital education industries to utilize Edu-Tech to provide solutions for education in marginalized regions, but it did not lead to successful academic achievements. Director Kim commented on the problem, stating that “Many of them focused too much on hardware development, therefore paying less attention to the importance of user-based learning experience.”   Moreover, Director Kim explained the outlook of Enuma Korea in today’s society, where the education gap further widened due to Covid-19. She wrapped up the lecture by saying that “Enuma School Program is reaching out to children of regions such as Indonesia and Latin America, where children have difficulty accessing online education services.”   Article | Hyejung Park (College of Liberal Arts, Korean Language and Literature Major '19) Photo | KUBS Start-up Station

  KUBS Hosts the 1st Career Week of 2021: Global Vendor Financing and Working in a Global Company     The 1st Career Week of 2021, hosted by Korea University Business School (Dean= Bae, Johngseok) and organized by the KUBS Career Development Center, was held on Thursday, March 19th. The event was scheduled into two sessions: career lectures, which aimed to help students find their career paths, and special lectures on enterprises. This year’s Career Week was held online due to Covid-19.   Special lectures on enterprises, which provided information on various industries and departments, were given by personnel currently working in diverse business sectors. Jung-Nam Kim, the Country Business Leader (CBL) of DLL, a subsidiary of Netherland’s Rabobank Group, gave a speech on “Global Vendor Financing and Working in a Global Company.” DDL is a finance company that provides services based on global vendor finance.   CBL Jung-Nam Kim explained about global vendor financing based on DDL. Financing is the process of providing capital to businesses, consumers, and investors, which operates based on three major types: equity financing, debt financing, and a mix of both. Global vendor financing companies offer financing expertise to different companies by signing global partnership contracts with vendors or client companies.   Unlike traditional banking, where a two-way transaction is occurred between a bank and a customer, global vendor financing is conducted by three different stakeholders: vendor, dealer, and customer. CBL Jung-Nam Kim stated, “Our company professionally deals with diverse fields including IT, construction equipment, agriculture, and health care.” He emphasized that since vendor financing companies manage solutions such as product leasing and mortgage loan, it requires a high level of profession just like a vendor company. He continued his explanation by showing an organization chart of a financing company as well as the flow chart of financing products such as product lease.   In the second part of the lecture, CBL Jung-Nam Kim gave a speech on “Working in a Global Company,” dealing with the flextime system and meritocracy. He emphasized that communication skills, active participation, and teamwork are the key to working in a global company. Moreover, he advised that it is one good option to branch out into a global company after building work experiences in domestic companies.   Following, he introduced “Seven Principles of Reporting,” a book dealing with strategies of business reporting such as speaking to the point. Later, during the Q&A session, CBL Jung-Nam Kim gave an answer to the question on how to develop communication skills, saying that “Reading books and taking business courses are indeed helpful, but the best way is to learn through experience by participating in a variety of activities, such as internship programs.” He ended the lecture by advising that “You should come up with your own personal story and thereby appeal to the company how much you are suitable to the hiring position..”

Completion Ceremony of the 90th Advanced Management Program (AMP) Held The 90th completion ceremony of the Korea University Business School’s(Dean = Bae, Johngseok) Advanced Management Program (AMP) was held at the Supex Hall of LG-POSCO Building on March 8th (Monday). The ceremony was held in accordance with quarantine guidelines, with Dean Bae Johngseok, Associate Dean for MBA Yoo Yong Keun, AMP Association President Kim Moon-chan, AMP Academic Director Bae Bokyung and other AMP Alumni Association executives attending the ceremony.   The completion ceremony began with the congratulatory speech of Dean Bae Johngseok. “Congratulations on the successful completion of the AMP amidst such difficult times. We hope you glorify this fine club and become dignified alumni,” he said.   Next, AMP Association President Kim Moon-chan gave a congratulatory speech and said, “I hope you find a next purpose as an alumnus.”   AMP Academic Director Bae Bokyung said, “It’s a shame that we could not gather in many events due to COVID-19. From now on, we’ll provide opportunities where you can interact with younger classes as an alumnus.”   Afterwards, the graduate representative and AMP 90th class president Kim Won Seok gave a speech. “It was a dramatic six months, even more than when I received my Ph.D. It was a lifetime’s honor to have gone through these rough times with the best classmates.”   Finally, presentation of the certificate of completion, the plaque of honor, and the achievement plaque of alumni association followed. Kim Young Jin, representing the 90th class, received the certificate of completion. Next, various awards such as the Dean’s Award, Achievement Award, and Exemplary Award were presented. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the completion ceremony finished by silently singing the school song, throwing the graduation cap and taking a picture.   Meanwhile, Korea University Business School's AMP program, which was founded in 1976 for the first time in Korea and has a 46-year-old tradition, boasts a strong network of renowned alumni in each field.  

[2021 Startup Institute Lecture Series #1] ‘Startup WATCHAs “I Will Somehow Make It Happen” Spirit’ – WATCHA COO Jihyun Won. Korea University Business School (Dean=Johngseok Bae) Startup Institute (Director=Hojung Shin) hosted its first special lecture of 2021 Lecture Series last March 9 (Tuesday). Lecture Series is a part of entrepreneurship academy of Seung Myung-ho Entrepreneurship Education Center, an sub-organization for education within Startup Institute, and active startup mentors are invited to deliver lectures. The lecture, held online due to COVID-19, was delivered by co-founder of startup WATCHA, COO Jihyun Won with the title, “Startup WATCHA’s “I will somehow make it happen” Spirit’.   Since its establishment in 2011, WATCHA has presented WATCHAPEDIA, a movie review and recommendation service, and is growing with WATCHA (former WATCHAPLAY), a personalized OTT service launched in 2016, as its flagship service. Due to repeated growth of the firm after the launch of the service, WATCHA recently reached 10 million accumulated downloads, and is competing with Netflix, so called ‘dinosaur’, in domestic OTT market. Although WATCHA is doing well now, it had experienced a lot of hardships to reach its current position.   As indicated by the title, COO Jihyun Won introduced ‘I will somehow make it happen’ spirit, which is established as a culture of WATCHA. He told future startup founders that “it seems that people who keep holding out are the ones close to success” and advised them to not give up as it is “a world where you can succeed even without special experiences or good environment”.   COO Jihyun Won presented 3 important things important to founders. First, develop a habit of learning by releasing actual products in the market and checking reactions based on ‘lean startup methodology’ rather than empty talk. Second, just as WATCHA endured for [its success] after launching its OTT service, an optimistic attitude to persevere is required. Finally, for startups, people are so important that they are all of a company’s asset. COO Jihyun Won ended the lecture by emphasizing ‘people’, saying “business is about drawing and ejecting people well”.    

  Korea University Business School Students Ranked TOP 2 in International CSR Case Competition (From the left) Business School Professor Jungbien Moon, Sunghyun Baek (Business ’19), Minkyung Kim (Business ’19), Hyunsong Kim (Business ’19), Sangyoon Kim (Business ’19), and KUBS Dean Johngseok Bae.   Korea University Business School (Dean=Johngseok Bae) enrolled students ranked second place at Milgard Invitational Case Competition on Social Responsibility (MICCSR) hosted by University of Washington, Tacoma - Milgard School of Business.   MICCSR is a competition in which participants analyze real case problems related to social value, establish strategies and strategic direction and present them. Started in 2012 and celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, MICCSR was held from February 13 to 26. The event was conducted online due to COVID-19 and universities from many countries participated, including not only South Korea but also △United States, △Switzerland, △Italy, △Canada, △Australia, etc.   The students who participated in 2021 MICCSR and were honored to be the first Korean university students to be awarded were △Minkyung Kim (Business ’19), △Sangyoon Kim (Business ’19), △Hyungsong Kim (Business ’19), and △Sunghyun Baek (Business ’19). They gained the opportunity to enter the competition by winning the grand prize at ‘2020 Social Value Research Competition’ held by KUBS. The students have prepared for MICCSR with the guidance from Business Professor Jungbien Moon.   At MICCSR, 20 recommended teams are divided into 4 groups for the preliminary rounds, and only 4 teams, who won the first place in each group, compete in the finals. This year’s topic was deciding on whether to invest in a global cruise agent or not from a Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) point of view. One week was given to analyze the case and prepare presentation materials. Since the competition was held online, a presentation video was required as well.   On February 25, a Q&A and feedback session with the judges were arranged for all teams participating in the preliminary rounds. After the evaluation process, 4 finalist teams underwent the final round on February 26, and the results were in the following order: △University of Maryland (1st place), △Korea University Business School (2nd place), △University of Minnesota (3rd place), and △George Town University (4th place). It was a moment where KUBS stood out, especially since it won the second place among eminent American universities.    Mr. Kim Sangyoon, who led the team from ‘2020 Social Value Research Competition’ to MICCSR, “sincerely thanked business school professors who were of great help” and revealed “[our team spent the winter vacation preparing for the competition and we are happy that our efforts paid off”. He added that “social value knowledge learnt in major courses helped greatly to find a way in the competition”. Mr. Kim also said, “I am very grateful to the team members who have completed the 2-year journey without any conflicts while being very caring to and thoughtful for each other.”   KUBS Dean Johngseok Bae was full of praise for the students. He offered his congratulations, saying “I applaud the students for their efforts and passion, having stayed up all night in demanding situations”.   Meanwhile, KUBS is working on ‘KUBS-SK Business for Society Project’ to cultivate talents who understand and seek social values. As a part of the project, Social Value Research Competition will be hosted in order to give students opportunity to find a social value seeking business model themselves. 2021 Social Value Research Competition starts in upcoming April and every Business school student can apply for the event.  

Taking a step further into the world – The 113th and 114th Business School Commencement Ceremony (Undergraduate and Graduate) highlighting the 114th Commencement Ceremony, which appeared to be even more special with the first Business Analytics Major graduates and the 100th Korea MBA graduates     Korea University Business School (Dean=Johngseok Bae) held the 113th and 114th Commencement Ceremony on February 24th (Wed) and 25th (Thu). This year’s commencement ceremony took into consideration of not only graduates of 2020 Spring (February 2021) but also graduates of 2019 Spring (February 2020) and Fall (August 2020), who couldn’t participate in previous ceremonies due to the COVID-19.   The 114th Commencement Ceremony, which took place for 2020 Spring graduates, was even more special as it produced the first graduates of Business Analytics Major and the 100th graduates of Korea MBA.     The first part of the event took place in the SUPEX Hall of LG-POSCO Building. The event was streamed live and was held under strict social distancing guidelines, with a minimum number of people participating in the event, including the valedictorian. The 113th Commencement Ceremony began with a career outcomes report by Dr. Yongkeun Yoo, the Associate Dean for MBA Programs, and the 114th by Jaeuk Chun, the Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs.   Dr, Johngseok Bae, the Dean of Korea University Business School, stated, “We congratulate your graduation and completion of the curriculum, which could have been very demanding after all.” “We hope you would become social leaders who utilize one’s knowledge to contribute to the common good of the whole society,” he added, “Always have pride as a KUBS graduate, and we request your continuous support for the school.   The Graduate Commencement Ceremony was followed by a commencement speech by Hyunsik Chung, the President of Korea MBA Alumni Association. “Korea MBA Alumni Association has now become Korea’s one and only MBA alumni network where graduates ranging from the first to 100th actively participate,” he said, “We hope the Korea MBA Alumni Association becomes your lifelong network.”   Next, awards and degrees were presented to the students graduating summa cum laude in each department. The President’s Award, which is given to the valedictorian of undergraduate and all MBA programs, was presented to △Heewon Son (Undergraduate, Spring 2020) △Soyeoung Kim (Korea MBA, Spring 2020) and △Jiho Lim (Global MBA, Fall 2019).   The Dean’s Award, which is given to the students graduating summa cum laude in each MBA program, was presented to △Jangwoo Kim (Spring semester of 2020) △Bongook Noh (Spring semester of 2019) of Executive MBA; △Seokhyun Koo (Spring semester of 2020) of Korea MBA; △Nayoung Song (Spring semester of 2019) △Joonghyuk Choi (Spring semester of 2020) of Finance MBA; △Onyoo Lee (Fall semester of 2019) of Global MBA; and △Singh Jai (Spring semseter of 2019) △Hu Qidi (Spring semester of 2020) of S3 Asia MBA.   In the first part of the event, diplomas were presented only to the valedictorians of undergraduate, Ph.D., and MBA programs, along with Master’s graduates, to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The second part of the ceremony was prepared for the graduates who could not participate in the first part. As there were more than 1000 graduates from the undergraduate program, they were only allowed to receive their diplomas individually.     In the second part of the event, the Ph.D. and MBA graduates were individually scheduled with their participation time. The graduates were presented with diplomas under strict social distancing. The graduates, who participated in this unprecedented commencement ceremony, said, “It is too bad we couldn’t enjoy a large part of the campus life, but I am happy that I get to wear the graduation gown and receive the diploma in person.”     Although not everyone could gather and celebrate the event like before, that does not mean that the meaning of graduation fades away. Since all graduates overcame difficulties and made remarkable achievements, they must receive an even bigger round of applause. Graduation is only the beginning of a new chapter in life. We sincerely hope glory and happiness will come along in the future of all Business School graduates who are taking a new step into the world.