5 out of 23 preliminary unicorns (unlisted companies with a corporate value of more than 1 trillion won) selected at the end of 2020 belong to Hanyang University's "HYU Unicorn Club". All of them were formed through the excellent start-up support program of Hanyang University's Startup Support Foundation, which is steadily attracting attention. Jeon Sang-kyung, the director of the Startup Support Foundation at Hanyang University, introduced Hanyang University's start-up support program in an interview with Money Today on May 5^th.

Hanyang University's Start-up Support Foundation started off as the Center for Global Entrepreneurship in 2009 and has been in charge of start-up support for Korean universities for 12 years. It has provided a start-up support system from the preparation stage to actual execution, growth and fund recovery. Hanyang University is the only university in the Seoul metropolitan area that takes charge of the "preparatory, initial, and leap start-up packages" of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. The annual operating budget alone is more than 10 billion won, and 2, 286 start-ups have been produced within seven years.

The Start-up Support Foundation subdivided the start-up support business into specialized organizations. The "Center for Global Entrepreneurship" is in charge of start-up education and global start-up support, the "Student Start-up Care Center" is in charge of start-up dormitories and Commax Start-up Town, the "Start-up Investment Center" is in charge of domestic and foreign investment, and the "One-stop Start-up Counseling Room" is in charge of ideas and project model counseling. In addition, there are the "HYU Holdings", the "Hanyang Start-up Support Foundation Investment Fund" for investment, the "Advisory Board, Mentor Group, and Start-up Convergence Major Curriculum Committee" for counseling and advice.

The benefit of Hanyang University's startup support program is that it supports the entire process from the beginning to the end of the startup. This is why many students start their own businesses. In fact, the number of student start-ups increased from 43 in 2016 to 53, 55 and 58 in the following years, and 54 last year even with the effect of COVID-19.

Jeon said, "Hanyang University has established a Korean-style start-up education system, including start-up education, networking, care, investment attraction, and global advancement." He explained, "Every year, 450 courses are opened and 12, 000 students take these classes and some of the students naturally decide to start-up."

Hanyang University's startup support program is also a benchmark for many universities and organizations. In particular, "Mentors on Call" and "247 Startup Dome" are examples of networking platforms for chosen mentors. "Mentors on Call" connects its mentor groups and founder to a manual, and 100 mentors are selected every May in 14 different fields, including tax, accounting, legal, labor, investment, and technology. "247 Startup Dome" is a founder's dormitory that provides free dormitories and collaborative spaces for about 30 prospective founders each semester. In addition, Commax Start-up Town, an office support space, and Startup Academy, an actual startup program, are also being operated.

The goal of the year is to produce a preliminary unicorn with a corporate value of more than 100 billion won. Jeon said, "We produce more than 280 startups every year, including 40 to 50 student start-ups," adding, "Our goal this year is to establish a system where start-ups can naturally scale up."

In addition, he plans to increase direct and indirect investment in order to create qualitative growth. Currently, the Startup Support Foundation operates  investment funds worth 12 billion won, including HYU Holdings and Hanyang Angel Club, and has formed an investment consortium of 2 billion won with Hanwha Investment Securities and other organizations. Employees of the Start-up Support Foundation invested 200 million won in investment funds. The purpose of the meeting is to provide funds directly to early-stage companies that are unable to raise operating funds immediately.

Jeon stressed that college students should not only try to start their own business but should also experience failure. He said, "In the 21st century, where there is no job for life, anyone can come across start-up," adding, "Not everyone will succeed and this is the reality, but universities should help students overcome it and move on to the next stage."

He added, "There are several organizations and foundations that support startups, but universities cannot only pursue profits as they are basically responsible as educational institutions. We will provide a stepping stone for anyone, professor or student, who has a passion for starting a business, and also provide them with a safety net to hold them back from falling."