“Enterprise itself will soon be referred to as social enterprise” ∙∙∙ Lecture from Donggubat Soonho Noh

The special lecture of ‘2022-2 Entrepreneurship Academy Lecture Series’, hosted by KUBS Startup Station (Director=Hojung Shin), was held at The Stage, the second floor of Business School Main Hall on November 8^th. This lecture was given by Soonho Noh, the CEO of the social venture ‘Donggubat Factory’ (hereinbelow Donggubat) and a total of 59 students attended. ‘Donggubat’ led by CEO Noh, is conducting business focused on solid cosmetics & daily necessities and seeks to find solutions for people with developmental disorders.

 Prior to the main lecture, CEO Noh started with a question . He pointed out the problem on the employment of disabled people in real life, saying “We are focusing only on employment rate when we talk about the independence of grown-ups with developmental disorders in Korea”. He said, “The process to find an answer to the question above is our goal and value” and “Donggubat seeks for business that allows people with developmental disorders to work for a long time”. There are currently 27 employees with developmental disorders working in ‘Donggubat’.

‘Donggubat’ was started from a project in a social innovation club that he was in when undergraduate. The project aimed to allow people with developmental disorders and non-disabled people, to do farming together in the city. The name ‘Donggubat’ which means ‘a small garden on the entrance of a village”, also came from that. ‘Donggubat’ was first started in Gangdong-gu and officially launched business managing 22 gardens in Seoul in 2015. After that, ‘Donggubat’ went through ‘Pivoting’ along with re-organizing team members and some business items. CEO Noh explained “We chose natural soaps as our new business item. considering the low entry barrier as well as the convenience for people with developmental disorders to handle. 

Sustainable business based on trust and essence was able to make achievements. Today, ‘Donggubat’ continues to be the best in the field of solid cosmetics, keeping pace with the eco-friendly trend. CEO Noh emphasized the capabilities and value of a company, saying “We have considered a lot to prevent failure, rather than aiming for success.” In conclusion, he said, “As e-mail has become a representative of mail nowadays, the term ‘enterprise’ itself should be referred to as social enterprise in the future.” He expressed his view on the social enterprise model saying “This trend would become reality since start-ups and commercial enterprises are also now dealing with social issues.