John Park, Managing Director of Sparklabs Korea speaks with Alex Jensen from KBLA about Korea’s growing startup scene and in particular what differentiates those teams that really kick on from those that don’t.   John describes the intense nature of the Sparklabs accelerator experience. The three-month program bootstraps a company’s growth and provides mentoring, support and skill development. For many startup founders running an office efficiently, paying people and handling government certification and regulation are skills they never thought they would need. Sparklabs helps them develop those skills.   However, the core focus is setting demanding weekly KPIs and working hand-in-hand with the teams. As John says, “Working with a startup team is both a science and an art. We deep dive into their data at a granular level and keep them on track with weekly KPIs. But we also look at the team chemistry. Are they resilient and hungry enough to push beyond what' they did yesterday? You need a team that will push past the hurdles, the challenges and deliver for you consistently.”   With an increasingly large section of Korea’s young talent seriously considering the startup scene as a career alternative, Sparklabs provides the structured opportunity to test themselves and find out what they are really capable of.   Today’s episode is sponsored by Innovation Center Denmark. Creating innovation and business opportunities by building relationships between Korean and Danish R&D intensive companies, research institutes and universities

Even before COVID changed the world, workplace flow and workplace communications were seen as being important. Still major firms relied upon on tools such as Kakao, Line and WhatsApp to organize teams and meet deadlines. This was possible because people were meeting face-to-face every day. When COVID sent us all home, companies had to either develop their own tools or find a robust solution that was easy to use, secure and could cope with all their demands. Headquartered in Seoul, Toss Labs In. Developed Jandi a workplace tool suited to the COVID and post-COVID eras. Alex Jensen talks Jandi with Yang Jinho Head of Business at Toss Labs about the 8-year story of the startup and their flagship solution, Jandi. Like his solution, Jinho was born in Korea, but grew up across Asia and the Pacific. In 2021, Jandi has more than two million users across 300k teams across APAC. As Jinho says, “pre-COVID, people never imagined having to manage workflow away from the office. But now, it's vital that communications are omnipresent and instant.” Although the pandemic pushed Jandi’s growth into overdrive, the post-pandemic world has not slackened the demand. Many firms are not asking their employees to return full-time to the workplace. Many others are using this time as a reset. To evolve their workplaces to become more efficient and more attractive to younger talent. Companies also know that the MZ generation will not stay at workplaces that are not agile or smart. MZers think every day about employer branding. They demand a reputable corporate culture, simplified work process, with accessibility to information and to decision makers. As the pace of digitalization continues to increase, companies like Toss Labs and their solutions will continue to be vital. Today’s episode is brought to you by Eastpoint Partners. Offering an unparalleled Asia-wide network connecting you with corporates, investors and governments.

Alex Jensen from KBLA speaks to Eric Thorpe and Jeffrey Bohn, Managing Partners and Co-founders of Edge Communications, a Seoul-based Public Relations firm that has just celebrated its fourteenth anniversary. The firm differentiates itself from other PR firms through building a culture of work-life balance in its team. This builds consistency and quality in their client services as well as allowing relationships to deepen. As Jeff puts it, he was asked by a client one day to, “Give us a reason to hire you.” His answer was that “It really comes down to the individual at the time in the room. You're sitting there and you're looking across at the people who are going to be working with you, can they establish and maintain those relationships that are really going to make the difference to your business.” In Jeff’s view, PR companies are all cut the same way. They propose similar things, in a similar fashion so it’s the people on your team, and their ability to build better relationships. From Eric’s perspective, Edge’s other point of differentiation is blending their strong business acumen with content and writing skills. As Eric says, “There is a misconception that public relations firms need to be run by journalists, because it's about content, and writing. While content and writing is obviously important, you also need to be able to communicate, share your expertise and advise strategically by utilizing business acumen across industry sectors. I think that's what really cuts through and makes the difference in terms of relationships.” A great company culture, commitment to long-term relationships, excellent communications content and strategic advice. These are the skills that Edge Communications has built since 2004. Today’s episode is brought to you by The Four Seasons Hotel Seoul. Stylish Elegance in the very heart of the city.

Alex Jensen and Choi Kyungmi KBLA’s special issue reporter discuss the recent #bts successes in the United States and the potential importance of BTS, Kpop Bands and other cultural products in spurring Korea’s economic recovery. Not only was BTS stunningly successful in their recent Las Vegas concerts selling out over 200,000 tickets over four nights, the entire city was transformed into a mecca for their loyal fans. Coming back home, the impact of the BTS and other cultural content exports is hard to overestimate. It has been estimated that its estimated that each BTS concert generates between KRW 620B and KRW1.2T worth of economic activity. But perhaps more significantly, The Korea ExIm Bank reports that a rise in music exports correlates to an amazing 17X rise in other Korean consumer goods. This economic discussion happens as the issue of the BTS members’ national service reemerges. The economic benefit and the super-group is seen as being more than enough by many to have them excluded in the same way as Korean champion athletes are. Others argue that it is a better policy that the members complete their national duty in some way.

Alex Jensen talks with Thomas Sommer, CFO of SG Entertainment about investing in NFTs. As many know, HYBE the management company behind BTS invested in Dunamu the operator of Upbit with the goal to releasing BTS-branded NFTS. This move was condemned by many in the Army (BTS fan organization) due to the high carbon footprint, which was seen as contradictory to the band’s pro-environment stance. Since then, however, other Kpop management companies such as YG Entertainment, SM Entertainment. Fantagio, Abyss and now JYP Entertainment have all announced interest in releasing artist-themed or branded NFTs. Thomas and Alex describe the why and the how of this trend. As well as looking into what exactly you are buying when you invest in an NFT. They also discuss the various ways in which you can protect yourself when investing. Today’s episode is brought to you by the Innovation Center Denmark, Seoul Office. Creating innovation and business opportunities and build up relations between Korean and Danish R&D intensive companies, research institutes and universities.

Alex Jensen talks with Suvi Sundquis, Commercial Counsellor at Business Finland here in Korea. They discuss the role Business Finland as an ecosystem builder to foster and fund innovation with startups, SMEs, large companies, and research organizations. Business Finland is a Finnish Government agency that collaborates with chambers of commerce and other partners to encourage business exchanges. With an unmatched network in Finland and access to unpublished research, Business Finland is at the forefront of innovation. Suvi’s specific role is to encourage the Finnish companies to go further, faster. As she says. “If you start with a company's growth strategy, for example, they always have some kind of plan, then we step in and we ask, well, what's the part that you left out? What was the part that intrigued you? But you thought that that had too much risk? And they always have that kind of topics, then under the table? And then we say, well, what if we paid part of it, we take some of the risk on the government, would you try it out. And this is the way we encourage the companies to go a little bit further.” In Korea Business Finland is to match Finnish companies with the best South Korea partners. They look for synergies. By talking with the Korean companies about what they're working on and discovering their needs. In a typically Finnish style, they focus on deep 1:1 relationship that generate long term mutual benefits as well as shorter term synergies. Away from her role as Commercial Counsellor, Suvi also discusses her enjoyment of Korea, the cultural differences that have intrigued her, and she shares her opinions on why Finland is the happiest place on earth, and some ideas on how Korea might improve their score on the happiness index.

Christoph Heider is the President of the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea. Yesterday he talked with Alex Jensen from KBLA about his time in Korea, and the role that the ECCK has in enabling varying kinds and sizes of European businesses to access Korean markets. They also discuss Korea’s increasing profile and importance to Europe. Christoph began visiting Korea back in 1997, and the trips became more frequent until he was appointed CFO of Bayer in Korea. A role he held until becoming President of the ECCK. Christoph is well known in Korea, and his #LinkedIn tagline of I love my job, I love Europe and I love Korea is also becomingly increasingly well known. Christoph and his team work tirelessly to build the relationships between European and Korean businesses which are vital for business. This however is not what he sees as being the core of his role, and the role of the ECCK. Christoph dispels the notion that ECCK is an umbrella chamber for the other chambers representing European countries. Although called a chamber, the ECCK performs a differentiated role from that of the single-country chambers. As Christoph explains, “The ECCK is called a chamber, but we don’t really do chamber work. We do pure advocacy. We run 25 industry platforms where company representatives and experts participate. We talk about problems such as market access and then we address this towards the Korean Government via letters, visits, or our Annual White Paper. This is the unique work we do.” Alex and Christoph also discuss one of the newer European business ventures in Korea, Legoland. Legoland is the first overseas theme park in Korea. Located just outside of Chuncheon City in Gangwon Province, it is scheduled for opening in just a couple of weeks, on Children’s Day May 5. Away from work, Christoph is a musician and recently performed in a Blues Concert at the Studio to raise funds for  Ddingdong, a LGBTQ Youth Crisis Support Center.   This episode is sponsored by the Four Seasons Seoul Hotel. Stylish elegance in the very heart of the city.

The Korean government has announced that almost all social distancing restrictions and operating hours. The government also hinted that in two weeks the mask mandate may be revised, at least when people are outside. Choi Kyung Mi and Alex Jensen from KBLA review the past two years of restrictions and support the Korean government has provided in light of the announcement made last week. As well as the support given to small businesses government benefits are also intended to encourage families to go back to watching sports live in stadiums as well as travel domestically. They will distribute 400,000 sports coupons for football, baseball, basketball and volleyball as well as also providing more than a million discount coupons for lodging. They also discuss the high hopes many parts of the country have for economic relief from the incoming Yoon Seok Yeol administration. As well as direct cash payments, businesses are looking for support such as a freeze on wage increases.

A very special episode of #koreabizcast today, looking at the Ukrainian crisis through the eyes of two international lawyers. Firstly Ron Parks, Senior Foreign Counsel from Lee & Ko discusses with Alex Jensen from KBLA the crisis from a geopolitical perspective. Last week, Ron connected KBLA with Timur Bondaryev, Founder and Managing Partner of Arzinger Law Office. Through this connection we are able to hear Timur talk us through, the build up to the invasion, the first few days as well as what the situation is like today. Timur also talks about the impacts of the invasion upon Korea. As he says, “The Ukraine is strongly connected to Korea through both technology firms such as Samsung with large R&D facilities, but also as breadbasket so many major Korean companies source their food and ingredients. So much so that POSCO has invested in a sea terminal in the south of Ukraine.”   The discussion wraps up with Timur letting us all know how we can help, whether by donating directly or making sure that the politicians representing us know how we feel and continue to put whatever pressure that can to help Ukraine regain its independence.   Today’s episode is brought to you by the Innovation Center Denmark, Seoul Office. Creating innovation and business opportunities and build up relations between Korean and Danish R&D intensive companies, research institutes and universities.

Judy Kwon, from Human Rights Watch talks with Alex Jensen about her personal journey from international student to journalism to Media Consultant with HRW. It is a fascinating journey. For businesses everywhere in such turbulent times it is important to be aware of the social progression happening around us and their changing responsibilities. Judy began her professional career working for CNN in Beijing as an intern, due to her talent, work ethic and skills at languages, this turned into a full-time position. After twelve-years earning her stripes in global journalism, Judy moved to Human Rights Watch, first as Director of the Seoul Office, but then into a regional role as Media and Communications Consultant. She explains the move thus, “I have a lot of respect for all the journalists out there, but our major difference is that Human Rights Watch looks to change government policy on children’s rights, marriage equality, war crimes etc. Journalism can’t do that because they have to move on to the next topic. Public policy takes more than a few days, or months, to push the boundaries, one step forward, one step back. Judy discusses her progress working with global companies to help them understand the impact of their actions on human rights. Recently she was able to highlight to Kirin, the Japanese brewer, how their actions and support in Myanmar was in fact not helping the general population but was actually supporting the military government. Kirin decided to cancel their contract.   Judy’s work and the work of HRW is commendable in helping governments and corporates understand their human rights responsibilities. Today’s episode is brought to you by Eastpoint Partners, bringing you an unparalleled Asia-wide network that connects you with corporates, governments and investors.

Mark Patton, President of the Korean Bourbon Club talks whiskey with Alex Jensen as a preview to KBLA’s Private Evening Michter’s Event at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul. At the event, Mark will be providing a brief education session on how to enjoy your whiskey. Mark is a Level Three Whiskey Sommelier. His whiskey his philosophy to keep it as egalitarian as possible. As he says, “The best whiskey is the whiskey like to drink and the right way to drink whiskey is the way you like to drink it. We’re not here to be snobs. But we can help you describe your experience. How does it make you feel? What memories does it bring back? How does it affect your enjoyment of your meal, your evening? That's what we're trying to do with evening.” Mark also retraces his own journey with Bourbon, growing up in and around the industry living in Kentucky and how a visit back home with his wife Oh Sook Hyun inspired them to create a community of bourbon lovers back here in Korea. “Going back to Kentucky and touring distilleries and drinking we realized, this is sweet, it's nice, it's fresh. Why is this not more popular in Korea? So, we started the Korea bourbon whiskey club and started promoting it. And in the space of just, you know, seven years, the bourbon of mania has taken over Korea, people are just searching for all kinds of brands and high-end bottles. I think we’ve contributed to the interest to get it moving as much as it is. Last year, Mark’s wife took the next step opening the Whiskey Bible, a whiskey retail shop in Yongsan. Mark and Sook Hyun are building a community, and KBLA is very proud to become part of this effort, and everyone here. We look forward to Friday night with Mark and Michter’s and look forward to more fine dining events throughout the year.

Choi Kyung Mi and Alex Jensen discuss the recent changes happening at Korea’s 11th largest company Kakao. The company recently announced that it will invest 300 billion won to assist small businesses, digital content creators, startups, and mobility platform workers. These actions are seen in response to criticism both from congress and the general public of the company misusing its market power in its domestic operations. Recently, the company also announced a slimming down of its business portfolio, cutting back on many of its business areas which were seen to be adversely affecting smaller businesses. The company also unveiled its global expansion plans. Based on the idea of Beyond Mobile and Beyond Korea. Broadly speaking the company aims to generate 30% of its income from abroad by 2025. The most significant overseas presence currently is in Japan with a healthy webtoon business as well as other cultural content products. The company announced plans to invest in NFT-gaming and metaverse on top of its existing cryptocurrency business. The company also plans to expand into Europe via France, the United States and Southeast Asia via its online cartoons/webtoons business. The company hopes that these actions will lesson the public scrutiny of its domestic businesses as well as lessen its reliance upon domestic growth for market capital growth.

For our 100th Episode, Alex Jensen is joined by Peter Underwood and Penelope Richey Kim from IRC Consulting. The conversation begins with Peter and Penelope introducing their connection with Korea. Despite both growing up in Korea, Peter is a confirmed Yeonhui-dong Seoul Saram while Penelope grew up in Gongju, Chungcheongnam-do. Both have left Korea without expectation of developing careers on the peninsula but returned to find their callings and themselves. Both now work at IRC Consulting, Peter as Founder and Managing Partner and Penelope as Executive Consultant. IRC Consulting’s mission is founded on the truism that Korea is unique, and to succeed in business here, international businesspeople need to fully appreciate those differences.   As Peter says, “I’ve lived in Korea for more than 50-years, and I'm still learning new things. I’m learning how to work with Koreans, how to meld their ambitions with the desires of international organizations and the objectives and hopes of Korean organizations. I am still learning how to bring all of these people together so that they can create value. I have seen talented people and powerful organizations crash and burn here because they were unable to reconcile their needs with the desires and capabilities of their Korean stakeholders.”   Korea’s rising global profile brings new opportunities for foreign businesses that are built upon the fundamental strengths of the Korean economy. As Penelope says, “Korea has a great location, as a peninsula, it has tremendous potential as a hub to reach so much of Asia. World-class infrastructure, not just logistics and transportation, but digitally, it's got such a highly educated workforce. And the work culture here is such a culture of diligence and efficiency. Deeper than that though, Korea has this unique characteristic of momentum, once Korea is committed to something, the speed of movement, the rapidity with which it can develop in a direction is unbeatable. It really has so many characteristics that an international organization would look for as a base of operations.”   Given all of the changes mentioned above, it is surprising that many of the challenges that overseas organizations face coming into Korea have not really changed over the years. All market entrants have assumptions on how a business should operate, how deals should be done, stakeholders managed, and results reviewed. In most instances new market entrants have to relearn these when entering the Korean market. The way that Korean companies and governments budget, plan and manage is unique. On an individual level, meeting with a Korean partner involves a different skill sets and assumptions. Does my plan help my Korean partner’s individual career goal? What will his peers think of him working with me? These questions are often as important as whether the deal makes objective sense as will be mutually profitable.   Peter and Penelope have spent a lifetime learning how to create mutual value in Korea. Even as Korea moves faster and faster along the path to a fully-digitalized economy, the basic human connection skills they offer will continue to underpin all business encounters. This episode is our 100th. We would like to thank all of our sponsors, The Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, The Innovation Center Denmark Seoul Office and Eastpoint Partners . We would also like to thank those companies that have been with KBLA since the beginning and are key to our survival and growth: Lee & Ko, Edge Communications, Insight Communications Consultants, Shin & Kim, InterCultural Communications, and Orang&Orang

Peter Underwood, Managing Partner of IRC Consulting has a wide-ranging conversation with Alex Jensen about his multi-generation connection with Korea, his own younger days in Korea, and finding his calling as a consultant after returning from his MBA. As Peter says, “I saw that I had a unique position of understanding Korea while having a Western-based education. I could be a bridge between two very divergent cultures. I kind of fell into this profession, and I've loved it ever since.” Peter and Alex also discuss the changing face of Korea and the changing aspirations of young Koreans. Unlike their elder brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, this generation of Koreans less likely to settle and more inclined to forge their own career path, whether that be a K-pop singer or game designer or even violin maker. In a link to Monday’s episode, Peter and Alex discuss the background to the current Korean zeitgeist. Peter and Alex agree that no one has ever won much money betting against Korea or Koreans ability to adapt to changing circumstances and push on ahead. This episode is brought to you by The Innovation Center Denmark Seoul Office.

Jooch Nam is the Director of Sales and Partnerships at Dongnae, a real estate firm that is innovating the way in which the industry operates. He and Alex Jensen discuss the industry and the innovations that Dongnae is bringing.   With regards to helping expats new to Korea Jooch says, “We offer a full service from moving in to moving out. We kind of hold your hand, especially if you’re from overseas. It’s concierge system rather than a brokerage because really not to be don't take any brokerage fee. Instead, we offer the support that you need with a very low deposit.”   But for Koreans as well looking to escape the wolsae trap, Dongnae provides its FLEX solution. As Jooch says, “What we do is we rent out a premium apartment, turn it around and we sublease it to tenants. We drop the key money required to something affordable for people in your 20s and 30s, we try to keep the monthly rent reasonable as well, somewhere between two and four million won, depending on the location. In this way people can start to save a deposit for their own place while living in a nice apartment. This solution and others have been recently covered in the media including a recent article in techcrunch. The Dongnae strategy is resonating not only with tenants, but with all stakeholders. This is evidenced in the support from a wide range of investors the firm attracted in its recent Series A fund raising. Dongnae raised 20 billion won in equity and loans from a group of investors including: NFX, Daol Investment, Hana-Magna, Hana Financial, MetaProp, Fursys, Han River Partners, Flybridge and Maple as well as WeWork co-founder Miguel McKelvey. This episode is brought to you by Eastpoint Partners. Offering you and unparalleled Asia-wide network connecting you with corporates, governments and investors.

Dain Leathem is President of ANZA, he talks with Alex Jensen about the services provided by ANZA and how this Australia and New Zealand-based group is preparing its 2022 calendar. As Dain says, “The Anza Community is unique way to give service. Although we all have diverse backgrounds, the people in ANZA share similar goals and a commitment to give service here in Korea. For quite a long time now, people have come together, given service in any way they can. ANZA Korea came together in 2001 as a group of Australian and New Zealand expats, mainly trailing spouses who wish to give service to charities and service organizations in Korea. ANZA is able to work because of the dedication of its committee members and the with the generous support of long-term sponsors.

Choi Kyung Mi and Alex Jensen discuss economic pressure the Korean government is facing due to the external pressures associated with the Ukrainian invasion and its global repercussions. The Korean government and the Bank of Korea are now facing sustained economic pressure associated with rising fuels prices and associated other inflationary pressures. Recent price rises although having been led by fuel prices are not restricted to the energy sector. Prices in Korea are moving to retail prices, with meat, fish and other daily necessities also rising above background rates. People in Korea are awaiting not only the present government’s response, but also the incoming government, to be headed by Yoon Seok Yeol’s action plan for when he becomes president in May.

Michael Breen CEO and Insight Communications Consultants and Alex Jensen discuss communications and media strategy. Former oil rig worker and journalist, now author and communications consultant, Michael Breen and his diverse team provide communications strategy advice and execution to both Korean and multinational companies. This interview looks at PR & Communications from a strategic view, on how companies need to change their messaging style as the world changes. Gone are the days where PR firms were employed mainly to maintain relationships with media outlets and journalists. The constant rotation if journalist beats and the impact of social media now means that the inherent quality of the piece needs to be a major draw. As Michael says, “An overworked reporter isn't going to visit your website’s PR page. Instead, you need to pull them in with excellent features and interviews with your C-suite people and experts which journalists run as they are or get ideas for stories. This is new, however it will become the norm very soon. “ For more details, check out Michael’s idea in his LinkedIn article Five Ways to Improve Your Media Exposure in Korea

Kie Brooks and his business partner Amir Kamandi come from very different backgrounds, culturally and professionally. Their synergy has produced FastPong a digital Table Tennis training tool. With its instant visual feedback and detailed metrics, FastPong is set to revolutionize Table Tennis for everyone. Kie, the CTO of FastPong has a strong pedigree in AI with multiple degrees. Amir, CEO has a sports science and Table Tennis champion history. They have produced a product that combines AI, instant feedback, gamification and in-depth metrics. Kie talks with Alex Jensen about the uniqueness of FastPong. He says, “The power of FastPong is the visual dynamic target. It enables everyone to practice different strategies and get real time feedback, and then later see their metrics. Whether you are a beginner, a club player or a pro, its going to help with your accuracy and your decision making.  This also greatly enhances your enjoyment of the game as can see improvement almost instantly.” The training benefits could well be superseded however by the entertainment potential. With digitalized sports already well established across Asia, FastPong could well be the next big thing in affordable fun.    Today’s episode was sponsored by The Innovation Center Denmark Seoul Office. Creating innovative business opportunities and relationships between Korean and Danish R&D intensive companies, research institutes and universities.

Dr. Roland B Wilson is the Program Coordinator, Professor and faculty advisor for the School for Analysis of Conflict and Resolution at George Mason University’s campus in South Korea. He is also the Peace and Conflict Studies Center Asia (PACSC Asia) Co-director. Last week he was a panelist at KBLA’s Breakfast Forum on Dispute Resolution. Since first in arriving in Korea in 1984 his career has taken him through the military, government, and now in academia. He consults regularly with both Korean and global organizations on the topic of conflict resolution. In his discussion with Alex Jensen, Dr. Wilson discusses various aspects of conflict resolution: The impact of power and position, the importance of knowing yourself, the commonalities of all disputes, the role of psychology and sociology in conflicts as well as the importance of culture.    As he says, “Our lack of cultural wisdom can cause many conflicts in business. First of all, how well do you know their culture, not only that country's culture, but that business’ culture? We have to know the cultural identity of our counterpart in order to build successful business relationships at the individual and at the corporate level as well. Today’s episode was sponsored by Eastpoint Partners. Offering an unparalleled Asia-wide network connecting you with corporates, governments and investors.