SK Group announced that it will provide KRW 4.8 billion (USD 4.23 million) to 93 social enterprises which participated in SK Group’s Social Incentive Project, which has run from 2015 under the leadership of the Chairman, Mr. Tae-won Chey. The project is designed to convert social values created by the enterprises into currency paid back to them.
SK Group recruits enterprises to participate in the project and evaluates their social value every year. Each project runs for 3 years. Criteria for evaluations include the 4 sections of job creation, social service, environmental issues, and ecosystem issues.
The number of participating companies increased from 44 in 2015 to 93 in 2016, with their combined social value also increasing from KRW 10.3 billion (USD 9 million) to KRW 20.1 billion (USD 17.7 million). In particular, social value in relation to job creation increased from KRW 6.04 billion (USD 5.32 million, 1117 employees) in 2015 to KRW 8.4 billion (USD 7.4 million, 1368 employees) in 2016. Of particular note is that Dongbu Care, a care service company, hired 190 new employees in 2016, which was more than their total workforce in 2015 of 161 employees.
SK Group held a conference to announce the outcome and discuss the future direction of the project. Mr. Chey was quoted as saying “An environment which supports investment and financial services for social enterprises should be formed. Furthermore, a platform that can strengthen the business ecosystem through gathering and sharing information about good performance examples of social enterprises needs to be created.”