SK E&S

[SK E&S] SK E&S Gives a “Vaccine of Growing Together” with Local Communities for Coping during COVID-19
 
SK E&S gives a “vaccine of growing together” with local communities for coping uring COVID-19

- On September 23, SK E&S signed a business agreement with Korean Foundation for Cooperation of Large & Small Business, Rural Affairs for a “project to provide local communities with support for coping during COVID-19”
- The company will provide support for 165 businesses including not only its suppliers but social enterprises and local small businesses by using 4 billion won of win-win cooperation fund
- The project is the first nationwide support program for coping during the COVID-19 pandemic in Korea led by a private company
- SK E&S aims to build a virtuous circle of expansion of social values by providing support for good small businesses and social enterprises that has continuously shared values with their local communities

SK E&S (CEO and President Yu Jeong-Joon, www.skens.com), SK Group’s subsidiary for green energy business, plans to contribute to getting through the COVID-19 pandemic by “growing together” with local communities.
 
On September 23, SK E&S said it signed a business agreement with Korean Foundation for Cooperation of Large & Small Business, Rural Affairs (Foundation) in its headquarter for a “project to provide local communities with support for coping during COVID-19” by using the so-called win-win cooperation fund. The signing ceremony was attended by Director of SV Division of SK E&S Goo Hyun-Seo, Director of Planning and Coordination of the Foundation Kook Shin-Wook and other major officials. In the ceremony, SK E&S pledged about 4 billion won of win-win fund to local communities through the Foundation.

The source of the win-win cooperation fund is funds provided voluntarily from private companies and public institutions for win-win cooperation. These companies and institutions are entitled to tax benefits including corporate tax deductions for financing the fund.

The “project to provide local communities with support for coping during COVID-19” is the first nationwide project implemented between a private company and the Foundation. Under the project, SK E&S will choose companies eligible for the support while the Foundation will be in charge of reviewing and approving use of the fund application.

As small and medium-size companies and small businesses are confronted with an unprecedented crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic like no other, SK E&S plans to provide about 4 billion won of win-win fund for 165 businesses including not only its suppliers but social enterprises and small businesses in communities it engage in for business.
 
By September, the part of the fund under the project will be used to pay wages to employees of 62 suppliers of SK E&S and 22 local businesses in 10 locations that have been struggling finically as spread of COVID-19 continues. The fund is expected to be a needed lifeline for those businesses that felt like at a dead end due to their revenue plunge.  

Additionally, SK E&S chose 32 good small businesses and 49 social enterprises as beneficiaries of the project as they continued to contribute to their local communities by donating supplies and money, doing volunteering activities and hiring the vulnerable in the face of much more challenging situations compared to the previous year. As stronger social distancing methods have been adopted recently and small businesses suffer more, part of the fund was provided for them to help pay their rents on September 14. Those eligible social enterprises will receive a fund from the project to pay wages to their employees by the end of this month as well.
 
The reason SK E&S decided to support local small businesses and social enterprises it doesn’t do business directly with is because it believes it can truly grow together only when the businesses at the heart of the local economy remain competitive.

In the same vein, Chairman of SK Choy Tae-won stressed recently that the company should strengthen the safety net for its stakeholders more than ever in a crisis like COVID-19, asking subsidiaries of SK to come up with and implement plans to navigate and survive the crisis with local communities.

The company has also provided supplies necessary for prevention of the pandemic including masks for its suppliers in business that makes it difficult to let employees work from home such as door-to-door visits for city gas meter reading and call centers. Since last year, SK E&S has also been an active sponsor of the project called “Localize Gunsan” that supports young local start-ups in Gunsan working for urban regeneration.

Director of SV Division of SK E&S Goo Hyun-Seo said, “SK E&S has a corporate duty to create social values while growing together with its local communities as it does local energy business across the country.” He added, “Our support for such projects will not be a one-off event. We will build our own seamless safety net for co-existence that continues to contribute to local communities.”