One of the government's "creative economy" initiatives is encouraging young people in Korea to make something out of nothing by setting up their own businesses. <br />To help them turn ideas into viable business models, the government has been running start-up programs throughout the country. <br />Oh Soo-young with the details. <br />It's been said that every generation needs a revolution. <br /> <br /> <br />"Young people are the future of Korea. It is a crucial task to invigorate our economy with their creativity and their daring, revolutionary minds." <br /> <br /> <br />Throughout her term in office, President Park Geun-hye has pushed for the creation of policies and programs to support young people and their entrepreneurial aspirations. <br />One of these is the Youth Start-up Academy,... set up in 2011 to train aspiring entrepreneurs who are 39 and under. <br /> <br /> <br />"Students are provided with our one-stop assistance during all stages of creating a business,... from product development to marketing,... as well as grants of up to 70 percent of their business expenses." <br /> <br />They also get education, coaching and mentoring from industry experts along the way,... as well as the necessary tools and working space. <br />The academy has produced more than 12-hundred business leaders in the past five years, creating almost 5-thousand jobs through the companies they've started. <br /> <br />The government is also working with big players in the private sector to support youth start-ups. <br />One example is the E-commerce Dream Project, co-organized by Korea's biggest online portal Naver. <br />It helps participants set up online retail businesses on Naver's e-commerce platform, <br />with step-by-step tutorials on designing and managing their shops and marketing their products. <br />There were roughly 700 participants last year and almost half of them went on to launch their own businesses. <br /> <br /> <br />"We hope this will make them realize that it doesn't have to be a difficult process,... and developing good products based on original ideas can succeed without a huge amount of money."
