1% of Salaries Donated to Social Causes

Under the "1 Percent to Share Campaign," officials of POSCO and affiliates to donate 1% of salaries to society

All officers of POSCO and its affiliates department manager level and higher, led by Chairman Chung Joon-yang, will donate 1 percent of their salaries to social causes beginning with their October wages under their "1 Percent to Share Campaign," the steelmaker said on Nov. 6.
They said the 830 officials agreed to the donation, which would total around 870 million won annually, and the steelmaker and its affiliated firms will also match the donation from their coffers, which will boost total donation annually to over 1.1 billion won.
The 1 Percent to Share Campaign was first kicked off by Chairman Chung himself and spread to directors and managers of the affiliated firms later.
Officials of POSCO said Chairman Chung always talked about the need to share with those who earn less as he stressed the "noblesse oblige" ideal to make society more affluent and happy.

IDEA MARKETPLACE AND SHARED GROWTH FUND INAUGURATED
POSCO held the first Idea Marketplace and the signing ceremony for the Agreement for Shared Growth Fund at the POSCO Center in Daechi-dong, Seoul, on Oct. 27. Approximately 500 people participated in the event, including Vice Minister Yoon Sang-jik of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Commissioner Yun Jong-yong of the Presidential Committee on Intellectual Property, Chairman Chung Joon-yang, and other dignitaries and ordinary people with interest in venture companies.
In the beginning of his speech, Chairman Chung Joon-yang explained, "At the center of POSCO's success story lies entrepreneurship based on passion and the spirit of challenge," in introducing POSCO's basic philosophy for fostering newcomers through venture support. He added, "We will nurture a balanced investment culture where many people can join together in creating various venture success stories, and provide more growth opportunities to ambitious young entrepreneurs."
POSCO's Idea Marketplace is where people, including those with ideas, investors who intend to commercialize their ideas, and experts from various fields come together to share proposed ideas and even trade them.
POSCO received 277 ideas in total for about a month and a half, starting on Aug. 26. Among the people who submitted ideas, POSCO selected 70 fledgling venture businesses and those with excellent ideas deemed to have business viability and invited them to the event.
Along with the event, POSCO also awarded those who won the new business idea contest in which ordinary people such as university students, young entrepreneurs and SMBs as well as POSCO executives and employees participated for about two months starting last June. The excellent ideas selected from the contest will receive support from POSCO for their commercialization in the form of equity participation.
POSCO also held a signing ceremony the same day for the Agreement for Shared Growth Fund, which will raise 260 billion won in total for the next three years in an effort to more efficiently promote shared growth. The raised funds will be used to strengthen shared growth between large enterprises and SMBs, and activate the support for the establishment of venture companies.
Of the 260 billion won, 160 billion won will be used for the implementation of profit sharing and rewards, 50 billion won will be operated by the Large and Small Business Cooperation Foundation for the shared technology investment fund between the public and private sectors, 30 billion won will be utilized to support the establishment of venture firms through "angel investing," and 20 billion won will be used to help POSCO vendors grow into global companies. nw

Chairman Chung Joon-yang of POSCO, 1st left in front row, displays the certificate for the steel group's "the Agreement for Shared Growth Fund" on Oct. 27, along with officers and staff of POSCO at POSCO Center in Seoul.
Photo on courtesy of POSCO