Sustainability > Sustainable Management > Sangsang Planet

SangSang Planet

A place where youth entrepreneurs learn, meet, and create impact together to change the world for the better

SangSang Planet is a youth startup support space that opened in July 2020. KT&G is promoting various youth startup support projects for the growth of the future generation. KT&G has been helping the youth, who imagine a better future, start their own businesses. Our efforts began with the sponsorship of the Asia University Student Start-up Exchange in 2004, which was followed by the launching of K&G SangSang Start-up Camp in 2017, a program designed to discover and foster social innovators who address societal issues through entrepreneurial endeavors.

SangSang Planet stands as an incubating platform conceived by KT&G, providing young entrepreneurs with a stepping stone to scale-up their business, on the back of KT&G’s extensive understanding and experience in fostering youth startup. Going forward, we will provide multifaceted support for youth startup, and SangSang Planet will serve as the base camp for our efforts to support their challenge.

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KT&G Youth Startup Support History

2004~2009

INCUBATION

In 2004, KT&G started to sponsor Asia University Student Start-up Exchange, which is the largest of its kind in Asia and the only one in Korea, with the goal to provide opportunities to young talents and encourage their dreams of opening a brighter future
2010~2015

GROWTH

In 2010, KT&G expanded the youth startup assistance based on social contribution platform. We provided opportunities for the underprivileged to dream their dream and aim high via SangSang Fund, raised by KT&G employees. We also launched various programs through SangSang Univ. to help employment for future generations and strengthen their skills and competency for starting up a business.
2016~2019

EXPANSION

From 2016, we started to give a deeper thought into the various sponsorships that we provided in relation to startups. In 2017, KT&G launched the KT&G SangSang Start-up Camp as part of the initiative to identify and cultivate social innovators who solve social issues through business. In 2019, we sponsored “Coffee Lab” to nurture experts in coffee industry, which is one of the main industries in Indonesia, thereby contribute to job creation.
2020~

MATURITY

In 2020, KT&G opened KT&G SangSang Planet, which is youth startup support center, for a higher leap forward. We look forward SangSang Planet taking entrepreneurs’ dreams and passion to the next level by promoting ecosystem around youth start-up and serving as the groundwork for the company’s youth start-up assistance programs.

Space of SangSang Planet

KT&G SangSang Planet serves as a collaborative workspace exclusively designed to nurture the development and interactions of social ventures at their early stage. Located in Seongdonggu, Seoul, a region often referred to as the Social Venture Valley, SangSang Planet provides a conducive environment for fostering innovative growth. The facility spans across 8 aboveground floors and 1 underground floor, with a total floor area of approximately 4,000 square meters. The office space accommodates a total of 256 seats, providing a conducive environment for entrepreneurs to work. There are also meeting rooms and lounges on each floor, and various common spaces such as sleeping rooms and shower rooms are also available for user convenience. In addition to these comfortable and convenient workspaces for youth entrepreneurs, KT&G helps them exchange, communicate, and grow their dreams by running competency support programs such as education and mentoring as well as communication support programs such as busking and small groups on a regular basis.

SangSang Planet Programs

KT&G provides various benefits for the growth of startups, such as capacity building programs and exchange opportunities, in addition to the office space. Moreover, we seek to discover and nurture social ventures and facilitate the social innovation ecosystem by operating youth startup programs such as KT&G SangSang Start-up Camp and Sangsang Summit, together with the programs that support the growth of tenants of SangSang Planet and promote exchanges among them, such as Planet Campus, Planet Talk, and Connect Planet.

SangSang Planet Main Programs

Growth Support (Scale-up) Program

Planet Campus

Planet Campus is a regular education/coaching program aimed at reinforcing working-level capabilities of Planet members. Rookie entrepreneurs are given a chance to learn finance/marketing/HR/labor/ legal and others that are needed for running a business. Monthly mentor-mentee matching and 1:1 coaching are also available for them.
Planet Day

Planet Day is held on Jul. 15th, which is the opening day of KT&G SangSang Planet. Tenants present their growth stories to VCs (Venture Capital) and get feedback as well as coaching. This comes in parallel with various other events including reception and photo zone, etc.
Planet Market

Planet Market is a place of sales of products and services for moved-in companies to open up new markets. Planet Market is opened for nearby residents and visitors to Seongsu-dong and supports activities necessary for the growth of the moved-in company, such as product sales and accumulation of customer experience by presenting their products to customers.
Planet Pop-up

Tenants of the Planet can take advantage of the Planet Pop-up zone on the first floor to promote their products and services. KT&G supports fixed budget to applying teams who can promote themselves to customers visiting SangSang Planet and turn it into an opportunity for growth.

Play & Network Program

Play Planet

Play Planet is a busking program to comfort the hearts and minds of exhausted Planet members and professionals in the neighborhood. Performances by artists of different genres on the first floor of SangSang Planet offer the local community a great opportunity to enjoy culture and art.
Planet Talk

Planet Talk is a talk concert program that enables participants to listen to the various experiences of senior entrepreneurs. Participants can share information necessary for growth based on the topics of areas needed for newly established social ventures, such as ESG, brand, HR, corporate culture, and marketing.
Connect Planet

Connect Planet is a networking program that enables Planet moved in companies to communicate and share information. Connect Planet gives an opportunity for individuals with common interests to form a community.
Wellness Planet

Wellness Planet is a program aimed at keeping physical and mental health of Planet members. Body stretching, meditation and yoga are some of the programs available for members to stay in good health.

Youth Start-up Program

Korea’s first-ever fulltime social innovation startup launching program aimed at supporting youth exploring to solve social issues through business.
SangSang Summit is a forum for social innovation entrepreneurship held every year. Using this conference program, experts and those who are interested in innovation gather and talk about the future by discovering key elements that can achieve innovation.

KT&G SangSang Start-up Camp

Launched in 2017, KT&G SangSang Start-up Camp is an accelerating program aimed at helping social innovation startups grow or re-start. Each year, we chose participating companies among startups at their inception or re-start stage to seed stage to support their ongoing development by offering tailored and hands-on initiatives, including business establishment coaching, expert mentoring, and pitching sessions. As of 2022, the 6th class of SangSang Start-up Camp has been successfully completed, and we are operating the 7th class. In particular, from the 7th class in particular, we have increased the type of startups to support by subdividing the course to the start track (inception stage), reboot track (re-startup), seed track (growth stage).

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SangSang Summit

KT&G hosts SangSang Summit, an expert forum on social innovation, every year with the goal of drawing public attention and engagement to social venture ecosystem. In 2022, the 5th SangSang Summit was held offline at the Connect Hall on the 1st floor of SangSang Planet thanks to the easing of distancing regulations. Under the theme of “Connecting Various Social Innovations”, experts from such various fields as academia, institutions, global IT enterprises, and startups participated in discussions that illuminated the trajectory of social innovation. Their talks spanned an array of subjects, ranging from themes centered on social impact and growth, such as collective impact, social value measurement, and interlinking of social missions. In addition, the theme of “change and connection” was explored to share insights on such subjects as climate change, impact investment, metaverse, and game-changing growth formula.

Achievements of SangSang Start-up Camp

Number of team

144 teams
Number of participants

415 persons
Cumulative
sales revenue

KRW 40.3 billion

* Based on cumulative performance from the 1st to 7th classes

Achievements of SangSang Summit Operation in 2022

Number of offline participants

About 150 persons
Cumulative number of participants

About 1,900 persons