SK Chair Chey advises startups to address social issues for viability

In an event that marked the 10-year anniversary of startup accelerator SparkLabs, South Korean business magnate Chey Tae-won said now is the time for the private sector to focus on addressing the challenges that society faces. 

“The days of a corporation’s virtues aligning with generating revenue, paying taxes, and creating jobs are gone,” Chey said. 

The head of SK Inc. was speaking on a panel and stressed that for startups to be viable long-term, a corporation's agenda must include social issues. 

Chey elaborated that companies that solve social issues will survive and will be able to retain a quality workforce. He named Grab Holdings Inc., the No.1 mobility app in Southeast Asia, as a classic example. 

“Instead of beginning with the aim of generating profit from a mobility business, Grab paid more attention to the fact that there is a demographic vulnerable to using existing forms of transportation,” said Chey. 

He added the Grab founder’s continuous deliberation on how to provide the right solutions to those that have difficulty using public transportation or cannot drive themselves led to the startup’s mega success. 

Chey said now is also the time for a startup to concentrate on “how to escape the showers” instead of spreading itself too thin with business expansions. 

He also advised founders to do ample research about the market. 

“When SK considers an investment, we conduct more than 100 case studies and still fail most of the time,” Chey said. “Instead of worrying about failures, do the necessary prep work.” 

Chey and SparkLabs co-founder Lee Han-joo both studied at the University of Chicago. In support of his alumnus, Chey made a surprise appearance during a demo day in 2019. 

The SK chairman holds a doctoral degree in economics from the University of Chicago. 

Mirae Asset Securities Co. Chairman Choi Hyun-man was the keynote speaker at the Thursday event. 

“Even though an idea may be extremely innovative, it will not matter if it is not backed by technology and money,” Choi said. “We will do our part as an exemplary venture capital firm, in tandem with SparkLabs.” 

The startup accelerator was founded in 2012 and invested in around 270 startups since then including Balaan, H2O Hospitality and N.Thing.

Write to Jong Woo Kim at jongwoo@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.