SK Group, South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate, delivered a total of 4.8 billion won ($4.2 million) in incentives to 93 social enterprises at an awards ceremony, the group said Thursday.

The ceremony is part of a project run by the group to provide incentives to enterprises by converting social value created by the companies to currency, the company said.

The awards event took place at Yonsei University and was attended by SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Labor Minister Lee Ki-kweon and some 500 officials.

The project led by SK Group began in 2015. Chey pitched the idea of for-profit businesses supporting social enterprises to settle social issues such as unemployment, climate change and poverty.

The project that started with 44 social enterprises two years ago is now attended by 93 enterprises, the group said.

The social value created by the companies expanded to 20.1 billion won from 10.3 billion won in the cited period.

“We need to create a more convenient environment to finance and invest in social enterprises in order to foster social enterprises and to draw more participation and interest,” Chey said.

“Furthermore, we need to build a platform to share successful cases and researches of social enterprises.”
 
By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)