A support program will be operated nationwide allowing small business owners, whose management burden has grown due to high interest rates and sluggish domestic demand, to receive counseling on financing, debt adjustment, business closure, and re-startup issues all in one place.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) announced that it will hold the 'Comprehensive Counseling Fair for Overcoming Small Business Management Crises,' touring 14 regions nationwide from late October, starting with the Daejeon and Sejong regions on August 28.

■ Closure and Debt Burdens Persist... Small Business Closure Rate Exceeds Overall Average

The closure and debt burden on small business owners remains considerable. According to the 'Quantitative and Qualitative Statistics on Closed Small Businesses' released by the MSS on June 30, the number of closed businesses last year totaled 976,000, down 32,000 from the previous year.

However, the closure rate in six major industries with a high proportion of small businesses stood at 11.08%, exceeding the overall average closure rate of 8.64%. Among small business owners who closed their businesses, 68.5% still held debt at the time of winding down their operations, with an average debt size of 85.31 million won.

■ Financing, Debt, and Re-startup Counseling in One Place... One-on-One Tailored Sessions

This counseling fair was designed so that small business owners facing management difficulties can resolve interconnected issues—policy funds, debt problems, business closure and re-startup support—in one place, without having to visit different institutions separately.

The MSS will deploy experts by field so that small business owners can find support measures suited to their management conditions at regional venues. At the fair, one-on-one tailored counseling will be provided on ▲policy fund financing ▲credit guarantees ▲debt adjustment such as individual rehabilitation and bankruptcy ▲business closure ▲employment and re-startup support ▲labor and marketing consulting, among others.

Small business owners who find it difficult to decide whether to continue operating their business or to seek a new path after closing can also identify available support programs and procedures through expert counseling.

■ Free 'Management Diagnosis Report' Provided... Reference Material for Deciding Whether to Maintain or Close Business

Small business owners attending the fair will receive a free 'Management Diagnosis Report' analyzing local commercial district conditions and sales trends. Through this report, which allows business owners to grasp the objective management status of their establishments, they can review current business environments and changes in commercial districts, and use it as reference material for deciding on future business continuation, management improvement, or business closure.

Counseling areas largely consist of management diagnosis, finance, closure and re-startup, debt adjustment, and management consulting. From management diagnosis including commercial district analysis to policy fund and credit guarantee counseling, employment and re-startup support, individual rehabilitation and bankruptcy counseling, and labor and marketing consulting, the fair broadly covers problems small business owners frequently face in the field.

In particular, the fair's distinctive feature is that in situations difficult to resolve with a single support program—such as when funding shortages, debt burdens, and declining sales occur simultaneously—owners can find solutions by linking counseling across multiple expert fields.

The MSS plans to raise accessibility for small business owners experiencing management difficulties by sequentially holding counseling fairs in each region nationwide, starting with Daejeon and Sejong. The nationwide tour schedule is expected to continue until the end of October.

As small business management conditions have recently varied greatly by industry and region, the key question will be how much the support system—encompassing not only simple financial support but also debt adjustment, business closure, re-employment, and re-startup—will actually be utilized in the field.

[This article was written with AI assistance.]