​Startup minister Lee Young attends Saudi Arabia's biggest startup event

By Park Sae-jin Posted : March 10, 2023, 10:42 Updated : March 10, 2023, 10:42

[Courtesy of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups]

SEOUL -- South Korea's Minister of SMEs and Startups attended "Biban 2023," Saudi Arabia's largest startup conference event held at the Riyadh Front Exhibition & Conference Center, along with South Korean small and medium-sized companies and startups.
 
Biban 2023 is an annual startup event held in Saudi Arabia. This year, some 350 speakers and about 10,500 audiences will attend the conference to share ideas about the establishment of healthy and mutually benefiting startup ecosystems. Entrepreneurs from about 200 countries will also attend the event to participate in the "Entrepreneurship World Cup," a startup entrepreneurship competition event with one million dollar prize money.
 
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said that minister Lee attended the event on March 9 with prominent South Korean startups such as The Pinkfong Company, famous for its children's YouTube mega-hit song "Baby Shark," H20 Hospitality, a company specializing in the digital transformation of accommodation services, and Dot, a tactile graphics display solution maker.
 
The startup ministry said that Biban 2023 will become a bridgehead into the Middle Eastern market for South Korean startups. The invitation of South Korean startups was the result of a discussion that took place between Seoul and Riyadh at the Davos Forum in January. The booths and accommodation for participating South Korean startups were offered free of charge.
 
The startup minister made a keynote speech at the opening event of Biban 2023 and suggested that South Korean startups should create synergy by cooperating with Saudi Arabia with huge potential. "We will promote follow-up projects, such as dispatching a trade delegation in the first half of the year to help open up export routes and attract investment for small and medium-sized enterprises and startups in crisis," Lee said.
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