Let entrepreneurship prevail over crises

Ringing out the old and ringing in the new, I wish ordinary citizens, all executives and staff of FKI members the very best for the new year.

Last year, our economy achieved robust results while advanced countries never seemed to get themselves out of the financial quandary. The nation's trade volume surpassed $1 trillion for the ninth in the world and its economic growth rate doubled the average growth of the OECD countries. On top of this, winning the right to host the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics is giving renewed impetus to further enhancing the nation's stature in the global society.

However, the Korean economy is not entirely free of stumbling blocks this year. Our export is expected to experience a huge drop due to the global economic downturn affected by the protracted global fiscal crisis and financial unrest. At home, our economy is likely to be plagued by snowballing household debts which amount to some 900 trillion won, and uncertain employment prospects. What makes matters worse, we are also concerned about looming political conflicts and social unrest as the general elections and the presidential election are coming near this year. Last but not least, we are obviously alerted to mounting uncertainties in inter-Korean relations.

There has never been an easy time in our history of economic growth. Yet, in the meantime, we have managed to tide over difficulties with self-confidence and a "Can-do" spirit, and unity. To our dismay, however, the people even appear to lose confidence in themselves today which has served as a decisive driving power for surviving crises of the past.

To achieve our economic goal against all odds, all the people should join force and entrepreneurs need give the people hope. Enterprises should come up with a breakthrough by promoting exports. If they enhance competitive edge via design innovation and advanced technology, they will be able to attract more global consumers.

We need to double our efforts to create jobs. We also need to create more job opportunities by exploring new growth engines including the bio-industry, and making aggressive investment in services including the content industry. In addition, we should be in the forefront of making more youths including high school graduates successful in the job market.

Simultaneously, we should strive to make enterprises win love and respect from the people. Through joint technology development with SMEs, exploration of sales routes and shared growth, we should make a corporate ecosystem that the world would envy. We need to let enterprises become a most confidential group in our society by strengthening transparent and ethical management, while faithfully assuming the corporate social responsibility(CSR).

Moreover, entrepreneurs should take an initiative in helping our society regain self-confidence. Let us show our youths the hope and vision for the future, and demonstrate to the world that our entrepreneurship eventually prevails crises. To do so, we should reinvent ourselves with innovation and passion. Self-confidence makes it possible for Korea to survive the economic crisis and enter the ranks of top-tier advanced countries in the near future.

Earnestly hoping Korea will achieve another take-off by sharing this entrepreneurial message of hope with all the people, I wish you all good luck and prosperity for the new year!

Chang Soo Huh
FKI Chairman