Business Owners Who Have Thrived on Digital Platforms

Helping Lifestyle Brands Take Off

△Participants in “Impact Day,” a joint event organized by Kookmin University’s Platform SME Research Center and the Digital Small Business Association (DSBA), pose for a commemorative photo. [Kookmin University Platform SME Research Center]

Kookmin University’s Platform SME Research Center and the Digital Business Association (DBA) announced on the 26th that they had held “Impact Day” on the 25th at Park Byung-won Hall in D.Camp, Mapo, Seoul. Approximately 100 people, including digital business owners and related stakeholders, attended the event.

Impact Day is an event designed to support entrepreneurs who have grown through digital platforms in making the leap to becoming competitive lifestyle brands. The event featured lectures offering expert insights, presentations on challenge results, and awards ceremonies for outstanding divisions and entrepreneurs.

The Digital Entrepreneurs Association is a community representing approximately 1.7 million digital entrepreneurs active on digital platforms; it was officially launched in April of last year. Currently, over 150 member companies participate, and the association aims to help digital entrepreneurs grow into brand startups and, ultimately, global lifestyle brands.

Part 1 featured lectures providing insights necessary for the brand growth of digital entrepreneurs. Jeong Won-kyung, CEO of the lifestyle brand “Mokdan,” discussed how brand philosophy translates into competitive advantage, while Lee Seung-ah, Head of Strategy at Bluepoint Partners, introduced global capital flows, investment trends, and preparation steps for early-stage entrepreneurs seeking investment. Following this, Moon Kyung-won, a partner at Primer and co-CEO of JoCoding AX Partners, presented on methods for business innovation using AI.

In Part 2, presentations on the results of the subcommittee challenges took place. The Marketing track presented strategies for creating AI-friendly product detail pages; the Global track covered the establishment of global channels and listing on BuyKOREA; the AI track discussed AI-driven content creation and customer service automation; and the Brand Collaboration track introduced the development of collaborative products between brands. This was followed by an awards ceremony honoring the top-performing track—which had been the most active during the three-month challenge—and outstanding entrepreneurs from each track, with the latter also being offered opportunities for media interviews.

Ryu Pu-reum, Director of the Policy Research Office at the Platform SME Research Center, stated, “This Impact Day was an opportunity to share the results of the three-month challenge undertaken by digital merchants and to confirm their potential to evolve into lifestyle brands.” She added, “We will continue to support digital merchants in growing into competitive lifestyle brands through community-based collaboration and follow-up programs.”

Min Sang-dae, President of the Digital Entrepreneurs Association, remarked, “This event confirmed that collaboration among member companies has led to tangible results, such as new product development and exports.” He added, “We will build a community where member companies grow together based on mutual cooperation among businesses of different industries and sizes.”