Screenshot of the HISBEANS café official website introduction page (Source: HISBEANS / Hyanggi Naeneun Saramdeul official homepage)   If you walk through the streets of South Korea in December, you are more likely to encounter people carrying cakes than the scent of roasted turkey or gingerbread cookies. In Korea, Christmas is often described as a “cake war,” a season when the consumption of cakes and bakery products peaks dramatically.   While sparkling lights, warm carols, and flashy bakery advertisements fill the streets, there are also bakeries quietly working behind the scenes — places where bread and cookies are made far from the spotlight.   Some of these bakeries are social economy enterprises. They do more than bake and sell warm, fragrant bread. Through the act of baking, they sustain communities of employment. Like any other bakery, they pour care and craftsmanship into their products, but they also bake values into every loaf and cookie, creating a qui...

  South Korea is often described as a “rapidly developed country.” Compressed economic growth, digital transformation, a highly educated population, and strong state capacity are frequently used to characterize Korean society.   However, alongside this rapid development, South Korea now faces a range of complex social challenges: population aging, gaps in care services, regional decline, excessive concentration in the capital region, and the climate crisis. These issues have reached a point where they can no longer be effectively addressed by the market or the government alone. It is precisely at this moment that cooperatives and the social economy in South Korea are gaining renewed attention as important alternatives.   Drawing on the previously published interviews with Korean cooperative expert Lee Gi-dae, this article explores the context in which cooperatives have developed in South Korea and why they are being discussed today as a meaningful response to stru...

  Cooperatives bring together diverse stakeholders — such as local residents, workers, and consumers — to collectively address shared needs and challenges. In South Korea, cooperatives have offered practical alternatives in areas where public interest and sustainability are essential, including job creation, local economic revitalization, care services, housing, and energy transition. Through principles of democratic governance and collective ownership, cooperatives connect economic activity with social value.   This article is the second installment of an interview with Lee Gi-dae, one of the most prominent cooperative experts in South Korea and Deputy Director of the Research Institute affiliated with CoopBiz Cooperative. In this part, we explore the role of cooperatives in addressing social challenges and the directions needed for their sustainable development. 😎 Read Part 1😊 The Rise of K-Cooperatives: An Interview with Expert Ki-dae Lee (Part 1) A photo of Lee Gi-...

 South Korea’s social economy has grown rapidly over the past decade, largely through government-led support systems. A key turning point came in 2012, when the United Nations designated the year as the International Year of Cooperatives. In the same year, South Korea enacted the Framework Act on Cooperatives, laying the legal foundation for cooperative development. Since then, cooperatives in Korea have continued to grow steadily.   This article features an interview with Lee Gi-dae, a leading expert in the Korean cooperative sector. Lee currently serves as Deputy Director of the Research Institute affiliated with CoopBiz Cooperative, Chairperson of Dream Sharing Social Cooperative, and General Committee Member of the Policy and Institutional Committee of the Korea Social and Solidarity Economy Association. He is also actively involved in SE-ACT (Solidarity Economy in Action), which has been introduced previously on this blog. For clarity and consistency, he will be refer...

  When people talk about social economy organizations or social innovation enterprises in South Korea, attention is usually focused on founders, CEOs, or frontline practitioners. Far less visible, however, are those who quietly make these organizations function on a daily basis: middle managers.   In Korea’s social and solidarity economy (SSE) and social innovation sector, middle managers play a critical role in sustaining organizations. This article explores what middle managers actually do in the Korean context — and why their role matters more than we often acknowledge.   In South Korea, middle managers typically hold titles such as team leader, section chief, or department head. I worked in the role of a team leader.(Photo by Milly)   Structural Characteristics of Korea’s SSE and Social Innovation Organizations   I previously worked at a media organization that held preliminary social enterprise certification. In that organization, I served ...