2nd KBIZ Awards for SME Heroes
The KBIZ and the KBIZ Love Sharing Foundation co-held the 2nd KBIZ Awards for SME Heroes at Lotte Hotel Jeju on June 21. Commax CEO Byeon Song-duk in job creation, Glotech CEO Choi Su in global, Hanyang University Business Administration professor Han Jung-hwa in academic research, Moonju Hardware CEO Kim Jae-hong in technology and the IBK Happy Sharing Foundation in special category won the awards this year. The awards is introduced in order to find and reward contributors to the development of small and medium businesses and business environments. The KBIZ was established in 1962 and has grown to be a representative small and medium business organization that protects and promotes the rights and interests of 3.5 million small and medium businesses in Korea. It launched the Yellow Umbrella Deduction to help micro business owners in 2007 and the home shopping channel Home & Shopping to sell the goods of SMEs in 2012 and an office in Vietnam in 2016 for standard certification services. 

Accelerating overseas expansion of Korean SMEs 
The KBIZ organized the 2018 Korea Halal Export Fair last month in cooperation with five SME organizations including the Korea Textile Trade Association. The booths for certified buyers, matching services and showcases were pitched up during the fairand the sub event Halal Business SME Forum delivered helpful advice and information to Korean SMEs to make presence in overseas markets. The KIBZ also dispatched a team of export consortium consisted of 13 SMEs to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and Jakarta in Indonesia last month and drew export contracts worth USD$850,000 with local buyers on the spot; USD$2.83 million worth contracts are also expected to be made soon. <Power Korea>expects a continuous effort of the KBIZ in accelerating the capabilities of Korean SMEs in the global stage.