INCHEON ― The Tesco-Homeplus Academy will offer the highest standard of retail education programs, Homeplus CEO Lee Seung-han said Friday, celebrating the 100th day of the employee training institute in Korea.

Homeplus, the nation’s No. 2 supermarket chain, started in 1999 as a joint venture between Tesco and Samsung Group. The U.K.-based retail giant currently holds a 95 percent majority stake.

Tesco invested 52 billion won ($45 million) in the construction of its first global training center outside the U.K., which was completed on July 7 on the island of Muido, off the coast of Incheon.

Homeplus also poured an additional 10 billion won into creating “CO2 free” facilities that have cut greenhouse gas emissions in half.

“Korean companies make a lot of world-class products. Through this academy, we hope to prove we can offer top education programs too,” Lee said during a news conference.

The company expected that some 24,000 Tesco and Homeplus employees would visit the facilities from 14 countries every year. 

For their convenience, the center is located just a 15-minute drive from Incheon International Airport and equipped with multicultural facilities such as prayer rooms for Muslims.

Even though many training programs are offered by Tesco’s U.K. headquarters, the company said it was developing programs that are based on Korean retail know-how and experiences.

“This is an unprecedented facility where employees from 14 countries are trained in Korea and the lectures are offered in English. Some day they will become CEOs of overseas branches,” Lee said.

“Once they have been trained in Korea, they will have different thoughts about Korea. That will greatly help them better introduce Korean products in overseas markets,” he said. 

Homeplus, which currently operates in 125 locations nationwide, logged 11 trillion won in sales last year. This year, the company expects to see 12 trillion won in sales.

Lee said that the company would further strengthen its online operations as a new growth engine. In August, the company launched the world’s first “virtual store” in a subway station so that customers could buy products through mobile phones without visiting an outlet.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)