▲ Kim Won-kyung, a COO of COMOVE.

Today many people fail to find jobs, despite having graduated from university. This may be due to a lack of the skills required for the jobs or because there are too many people applying to the same major companies. How about considering other kinds of jobs? Dankook University (DKU) has foundations that can help you out.

The Dankook Herald (DKH) investigated what these foundations are and how they work. To get to the bottom of it, DKH interviewed founding program officials at DKU and founders themselves.

To begin with, DKH met staff of the DKU business support foundation as we as some young entrepreneurs themselves. First of all, The Dankook University Enterprise Support Foundation(DKUESF) has a tailored business startup program, a youth business startup program and mock business startup program, etc. DKH interviewed Lee Hyun-kyung (Manager, DKUESF). “The biggest difference between founding your own business and finding a job is the existence and nonexistence of regular wages. Founders have to make their wages by themselves and this is the hardest part. However, the nonexistence of regular salaries provides infinite possibilities. Entrepreneurs can run their own companies successfully by working with mentors, who teach them the keys to business startups and as a result can eliminate a large part of the risk elements,” he said. “DUESF provides monetary and educational support. The biggest monetary support is in the ‘business startup item-commercialization’ program which offers successful applicants up to seventy million won,” he said about how DKUESF supports students.

“Students don’t have to think that a business startup is an insurmountable task. Our university provides the support they need to get started. Do not think of starting a business as anything different from finding a job. Starting a business can also be a great thing when preparing for the job market,” He added.

DKH interviewed Kim Won-kyung (senior, Dept. of Business, Hanyang University) who started his business while in school. He is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at his company. ‘COMOVE’ which means ‘move together.’ He talked of the merits and demerits of founding his own company. “I met various levels of people and grew up rapidly because I had to keep up with the contractors. The greatest merit of founding my own company was that I could confirm my identity, and learned who I wanted to be. After six month of running my own business, I am questioned why I should continue to run the company. I overcame my doubts thanks to the advice I received from coworkers,” he added.

However, when a person starts up their own business, there is a lot of outside pressure. “I had a hard time because there were no teachers to show me how to run the business. At certain points in the business development, entrepreneurs have to keep in mind, they need to concentrate more on a team than an item. So, it is important to gather together team members who have the same purpose,” he said.

Next, DKH interviewed doing Park Ji-sang (CEO of SOMIMM DESIGN), He did architecture, planning, and design. The motto of SSOMIMM DESIGN is ‘using all parts of space for users, reducing unnecessary parts, and youth’

DKH asked what were some of the problems he faced and how he overcame them. “One difficulty I faced was having a sense of inferiority and rivalry compared with other companies when my company had less orders. I also had problems with employees. In order to overcome these things, I created a variety of programs including study of design, visiting exhibitions, and collecting design data for employees in exchange for giving themselves up to their work. I also solved problems with employees by giving them another chance.” He said about how he overcame his problems.

“To have patience is important, even when employees are under performing. A CEO should have patience in such situations,” He said In addition, students should pay attention to ‘rules concerning the foundation, fund use, and patience’, when they establish a new company,” he said. He passed along some advice to students who are interested in becoming an entrepreneur by saying they should spend a great deal of time studying before the get started and have a lot of patience.

Like those discussed above, you can start up your own business. However, if you start it up hastily, you risk experiencing a big failure. It is better to do your homework before you start, seek out information and learn from the experiences
of other entrepreneurs. Lastly, you have to run the business with strong will and patience rather than in a haze of illusions. Now you are ready to found your own business.