KUBS Students Supporting the Economy of Anam, “The Home of KU”

(From the left) Jungyoon Lee, Sunwoo Park, Sooah Jang

The year 2020 was a time that small and local business stores around the campus town area have been experiencing the deepest recession due to the COVID-19. “Ensemble”, a project group launched to support the stagnant Anam economy came up with a positive signal around the campus town community, and the members of Ensemble turned out to be the KUBS students. The three members – Sunwoo Park (KUBS16), Jungyoon Lee (KUBS18), Sooah Jang (Double Major in Business 18) – designed a prepaid-coupon issuance business that allows students to purchase restaurants/café coupons at a discounted price and to provide funds to the stores at the same time.

When asked of how Ensemble got started in March, Mr. Sunwoo Park, the group leader stated, “When we are in Anam, we feel as if we were in our hometown. People around the campus, including store owners, service providers, and other neighbors, have always lived in harmony with KU students. In this difficult times, we couldn’t just stand and watch the people suffering, and we thought that we should do something right away.”

From March to October, Ensemble initiated two online coupon sales projects. In version 1.0, Ensemble paid for large amounts of the merchandise at a discounted price decided in consensus with the vendor, and KU students could purchase them through an online platform.

In version 2.0, “Anam Restaurant Week” which was held for three weeks, provided coupons at a 20 percent discount on average, and students could provide funding through Ensemble’s website on the restaurants they wish to get coupons. As a result, seven restaurants got funding from more than 250 students and faculty members, and the project was closed with a successful sign of harmony along the campus community.

The outcome of two projects has left a package of implications in different aspects. “More than 500 of students have participated to support the small and local stores, and the whole community could build up an emotional sense of solidarity. Also, considering that 2020 was a difficult time for freshmen to get friendly with the campus town, Ensemble’s project was able to open up a new path to advertise the stories of KU community”, stated Mr. Park.

After that, Mr. Park also left a comment on the culture that students gathering for creative projects to solve the social issues. “I think students starting up with project teams and actively challenging to solve neighborhood problems is a very advanced culture. So far, there has been many project teams striving to revive the campus town economy after COVID-19, and I’ll be kind of proud if Ensemble could have contributed in those trends and culture as well.”

Mr. Park told the school that he has been working on another project to be launched in early March this year. KUBS is looking forward to watch another great social impact created by Business School students.