Jiwon Yang

- Helped startups scale their businesses through the 3 accelerating projects in collaboration with domestic and global partners.

- Reviewed potential portfolio startups to investment in.

1. IBK Chang-gong Program

Period: October 2021 - November 2023 (2 years)

Client: Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK)

Outline: This project aims to support the scale-up of innovative startups within seven years of establishment.

Key Responsibilities

• Researched and analyzed the industry/company-specific data on our portfolio startups to write and present company analysis reports for their Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in the beginning of their accelerating periods.
• Monitored and evaluated their progress based on the KPIs, and wrote and presented biweekly, monthly, and final reports to internal team and IBK stakeholders.
• Evaluated the project with the team to develop improvement plans on a half-yearly basis.
• Coordinated networking events such as exhibitions or Investor Relations (IR) for our startups by closing working with stakeholders in the ecosystem.
• Conducted analysis on companies’ financial & non-financial data and due diligence on potential investments, and presented findings to the key stakeholders including internal teams and our limited partners (LP).
• Presented regular updates on portfolio performance to senior management, highlighting key achievements and areas for improvement.

Key Achievements

• Developed 24 company analysis reports and customized their KPIs tailored to their needs.
• About USD 5 million were mobilized to the 24 startups through the program’s events such as Investor Relations and exhibitions.
• Invested USD 150K in a startup through an ESG fund.

2. Joint Korea-Africa Disruptive Agricultural Technologies Study

Period: May 2021 - December 2021 (7 months)

Client/Partner: World Bank/Intellecap(Indian consultancy firm)

Outline: This research project aims to identify areas of collaboration between Korea and Africa in agricultural technology by analyzing the Korean agricultural innovation ecosystem, as part of the World Bank's Disruptive Agricultural Technologies initiative.

Key Responsibilities

• Collected and analyzed data on the ecosystem of the Korean Disruptive Agricultural Technologies (DAT) industry through desk research and qualitative research - interviews with various key stakeholders (both public and private sectors).
• Reported to our partner on the study progress on a regular basis and ultimately developed a comprehensive report together to generate valuable insights for African DATs.

Key Achievements

• Successfully submitted the final report to our client in a timely manner.

3. Strengthening Support for Social Innovation Startups in Indonesia Project

Period: May 2021 - December 2021 (7 months)

Client: Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)

Outline: This project aims to enhance innovative entrepreneurship in Indonesia by strengthening online infrastructure for entrepreneurship education and improving the capabilities of social ventures to address social issues.

Key Responsibilities

• Worked closely with our Indonesian partners to monitor the project progress to make sure we are on the right track based on the Project Design Matrix.
• Developed and presented quarterly and semi-annually reports to our client.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams including the communication team to write reports that showcased our key achievements and lessons of the project.

Key Achievements

• 15,192 local people benefited from the online trainings on software and hardware entrepreneurship.
• One of the Indonesian startups participating in the trainings received seed capital to scale their business – one of the project target outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Conducted thorough market research and reported competitor analysis to internal teams to identify new business opportunities and develop business strategies.
• Assisted the team in writing the partnership proposals tailored to potential partners.
• Researched and reached out to potential partners ranging from governmental agencies to private companies to support the team in developing partnerships for project collaboration.

Key Achievements

Based on competitor/market analysis and partnership building work that I actively assisted, six projects were designed and successfully launched.

• (WASH) 5,475 families were provided with water purification packets and water kits through the Clean Water Project Phase 3 project.
• (Education) 36 out-of-school children/youth graduated with Level 4 national certification through the Auto Mechanic Training Center AMTraC project.
• (Education) Through the Back-to-School project, 15,231 children were able to take part in after-school literacy activities to further enhance their basic reading, writing, and numerical skills and complement their lessons in school.
• (Waste Management) 2,544 students trained on waste segregation and recycling through the School-based Solid Waste Management Project.
• (Youth Entrepreneurship) As part of the Local Value Chain Development project, 2,383 community members were provided with an opportunity for entrepreneurial trainings and 2,630 households were able to establish group and individual small businesses capacitated to access and operate in the marketplace.
• (Social Enterprise) Social Innovation Challenge - an open platform for people to share creative solutions for overlooked communities – was successfully launched and two local startups each received their projects’ seed funding (a cash prize of P100,000).