- Delivered a total of KRW 1 billion scholarship funds to 131 high school, college and graduate school students - Funds covering full tuition as well as living expenses for students to focus on their studies - Supported around 23,000 students and 800 professors with tuitions and research funds since 1939     ▲ On 18th, Samyang Group’s Yang Young Foundation and Sudang Foundation delivered a total of KRW 1 billion scholarship funds to 131 high school, college and graduate school students from around the country.     Yang Young Foundation and Sudang Foundation of Samyang Group announced that they delivered scholarship funds for 2022 to 131 high school, college and graduate school students amounting to approximately KRW 1 billion:   Yang Young Foundation to 56 college and graduate school students and Sudang Foundation to 15 college students and 60 high school students. The recipients included underprivileged yet exemplary students with exceptional grades who were recommended by their respective schools. Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, the two foundations held scholarship delivery ceremony at Samyang Group HQ and personally handed out the scholarship funds and certificates, but such event has been omitted since the pandemic.   The scholarships from the two foundations give high school students KRW 1 million a year and college students up to four semesters of full tuitions as well as living expenses to allow them to focus on their studies.   Based on its corporate philosophy for social contribution — “Provide an opportunity to make dreams come true” — Samyang Group is providing scholarship programs and academics support programs in basic sciences and humanities. Thus far, the two foundations have supported over 23,000 students and 800 professors and research groups with tuitions and research funds.   Samyang Group’s Yang Young Foundation was the first ever private scholarship foundation in Korea. It was founded by late Chairman Kim Yeon-su (pen name: Sudang) in 1939. Sudang Foundation was set up by Chairman Kim and his children in 1968 as a part of expansion of their scholarship programs. Along with scholarship programs, Sudang Foundation also runs Sudang Awards where they choose two accomplished professors in the fields of fundamental sciences, applied sciences and humanities with plaques and KRW 200 million prize money.  

- Online commemoration to take place until the 23rd through commemorative video - Devoted his life for the development of society while serving as a chairman of around 100 organizations - Fostered new talents and promoted learning while serving as a chairman of scholarship foundation   ▲ Online commemoration of the first-year anniversary of the deceased Kim Sang-ha, honorary chairman of Samyang Group, took place. The photo was captured from the video     An online commemoration of Kim Sang-ha, honorary chairman of Samyang Group who passed away on January 20, 2021 at the age of 95, will take place.   Samyang Group (Chairman: Kim Yoon) announced on January 20 that the online ceremony to commemorate the first-year anniversary of the deceased honorary chairman Kim will take place until the 23rd. 7-minute-long commemorative video of Kim and his quotations can be checked on the Samyang Group website.   Starting with Kim’s word, “I am greatly responsible for the matters of this company; and therefore, I examine myself three times a day,” the video portrayed Kim’s lifetime who devoted his life to the company, including his management philosophy as well as social contribution activities.   Putting a great emphasis on on-site management and R&D innovation, Kim led the company by taking charge of adopting new technology and equipment when the group entered into new markets. His management philosophy of industrial patriotic spirit can be seen from the video. The video shed a new light on his devotion to country and society through social contribution activities and fostering of new talents. Having been appointed as the chairman of Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry for 12 years, Kim served as a chairman of around 100 organizations, including Korea Japan Economic Association, Pan-national Promotion Commission for Second National Foundation, Korea Basketball Association, and Korea Environmental Preservation Association, thereby greatly contributing to the development of culture, physical training and society. He also served as the chairman of Haseo Foundation and sought ways to foster talents and promote learning and scientific and technological development. Kim who paid an on-site visit to business sites of Samyang and interacted with employees can be seen in the video as well.   Born in 1926 in Seoul as the fifth-born of 7 sons and 6 daughters of Kim Yeon-su (pen name: Sudang), Kim studied politics at the Seoul National University, graduated in 1949, and began his career in Samyang. After joining the company, he led the new industry of introducing technology and equipment regarding sugar refinery and polyester and supervised on-site plant business. While serving as the CEO and chairman of Samyang Group, Kim led the company to enter into terephthalic acid (TPA), a main raw material for polyester fiber, engineering plastic, starch and starch sugars markets and expanded the company’s portfolio into food and chemical industry. He also prepared for Samyang’s future growth engine by entering into packaging and biotechnology market around the time he became the group’s chairman in 1996.   An official from Samyang Group said, “Honorary Chairman Kim Sang-ha devoted his life to make the country strong while practicing the virtue of moderation and modesty. We will follow his footsteps and prepare the next century of Samyang Group.”  

- Posted a video of a New Year’s address on the company intranet and shared as a message from management and executives after the COVID-19 outbreak - Focusing on “specialty products, global market expansion, cash flow management, and workstyle transformation” - “Let’s open up a new century together by harmoniously implementing short-term goals and mid- to long-term challenges for growth”     ▲ Photo of 2022 Samyang Group’s New Year’s address     Chairman Yoon Kim of Samyang Holdings delivered a New Year’s address to the executives and employees of Samyang Group and said, “The crisis continues but the challenge for growth will not stop.”     Samyang Group announced on January 3 that they posted Chairman Yoon Kim’s New Year’s address on the company intranet instead of holding a New Year opening ceremony. Since the spread of COVID-19, Samyang Group has been circulating the management and executives’ messages as videos online.      In his New Year’s address video, Chairman Yoon Kim said, “We will prepare for the next century by accelerating the reorganization of our business portfolio focusing on the global market and specialty products,” and proposed ‘accelerating the expansion of specialty products and global market, strengthening of cash flow management, and changing the company’s workstyle’ as the three management policies for this year. It means spurring the mid- to long-term growth strategy “Vision 2025” established last year despite difficulties at home and abroad, such as rising raw material prices and sluggish economic recovery.     First, Chairman Kim said, “The core goal of ‘Vision 2025’ is profitable growth through securing specialty products and expanding the global market,” and emphasized the importance of expanding specialty products and global advancement saying, “We should improve the execution of localization strategies for each global base and continue to discover new business opportunities.” Chairman Kim added, “We must thoroughly manage both cash flow and profitability by optimizing working capital, managing selling prices, and maximizing investment efficiency,” and urged, “We should improve investment efficiency of projects that are in progress and carefully proceed with new investments by setting priority.” He also said, “In order to properly utilize the newly introduced digital infrastructure throughout the company, a major change is required in the way we work and our mindset. We will actively participate in digital transformation, innovate the way we work, and have an open mind to new technologies, such as the metaverse.”     Finally, Chairman Kim said, “The completion of change and innovation is achieved through all of our participation,” and urged all executives and employees to actively participate in change by saying, “Let’s open up a new century by fulfilling short-term goals and harmoniously implementing mid- to long-term challenges for growth.”     Meanwhile, this New Year’s address video ended with a clip of Samyang Group employees who were born in the year of the tiger and shared their regrets from last year and their new year’s resolutions. Samyang Group executives and employees pledged to communicate with an open mind, seek self-development, and make sincere efforts, citing “efforts for profitability enhancement, acquisition of semiconductor materials company NC Chem, and digital transformation” as major achievements of last year.

    Samyang Group (Samyang Holdings Chairman: Kim Yoon) revealed on December 29 that it donated KRW 300 million to the Community Chest of Korea (CCK) to help the underprivileged.   Each Samyang affiliate, namely Samyang Holdings, Samyang Packaging and Samyang Innochem, donated KRW 100 million for the donation, which is expected to support the basic cost of living, education expenses, improvement of living environment and necessary medical fees for the underprivileged. Samyang Group has been donating to the underprivileged through the CCK every year since 2001.   An official from Samyang Holdings said, “We hope that the donation that came from the sincere hearts of Samyang Group’s executives and employees can, in some way, help those who are suffering due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation.”   Meanwhile, Samyang Group is taking the lead in fulfilling its social responsibilities by donating both financial support and goods. Last year in March during the start of the pandemic, Samyang Group gave a considerable donation of financial support and goods worth KRW 150 million to the Korean Red Cross. This year in April, it donated KRW 900 million worth of makeup to the Beautiful Store. The makeup it donated were provided to vulnerable social groups like homeless people, low-income families, etc.   In addition, Samyang Group is also partaking in support projects for scholarships, fundamental science and humanities through two student aid foundations, Yangyoung Foundation and Sudang Foundation, reflecting its philosophy for social contribution: “Opportunities to Make Your Dreams Come True .” Sudang Foundation is currently managing the Sudang Prize and selected recipients who achieved great accomplishments in the field of fundamental science, applied science, as well as humanities and social science, and gave them each a plaque and prize money worth KRW 200 million. Until now, both foundations have been providing scholarships and research grants to about 23,000 students, 700 professors and research organizations.

- An annual event to exhibit research results to promote R&D motivation and share knowledge within the group - Exhibition and awarding of outstanding research results... Three awards, including one grand prize and two excellence awards - “The goal is to expand the global market and reorganize the business structure,” said Chairman Kim to improve the speed and success rate of commercialization   ▲ Reference Introduction of SIRF 2021 Award-Winning Projects   Samyang Group (Chairman: Kim Yoon) finds the keys to maximizing existing business performance and discovering new businesses in R&D.   Samyang Group announced that it held the Samyang Innovation R&D Fair (SIRF) 2021 at Samyang Discovery Center in Pangyo on November 10.   SIRF is an event that displays and shares the year’s research results at all research institutes under Samyang Group (i.e. Foodstuffs, Chemicals, Biopharmaceuticals, Convergence Materials Research Institute, Samyang Packaging Tech Center, and KCI Research Institute). Since 2012, Samyang Group has held annual events to increase R&D motivation and share knowledge.   This year’s SIRF minimized the number of on-site attendees and exhibitions to comply with COVID-19 protocols and streamed the event online following last year.   At this year’s SIRF, Samyang Group held an award ceremony for outstanding tasks and the project exhibition, encouraged research and development motivation, and shared research results by presenting projects.   For SIRF 2021’s Excellence Awards, Foodstuffs Research Institute’s “development of next-generation allulose sweetener” won the grand prize, while two tasks jointly won the excellence prize: Chemical Research Institute’s “development of PC/PBT materials for automotive interior components” and KCI’s “development of high-quality hypoallergenic emulsion-type thickener.”   At this awards ceremony, the grand prize winner was selected for the first time in 10 years, making it a more meaningful 10th anniversary of the SIRF. The SIRF Excellence R&D Awards are selected considering profits, contribution to company competitiveness, innovation, and creativity. The grand prize is given only to tasks with economic performance, innovation, and creativity.   On the same day, Chairman Kim Yoon asked the researchers via the in-house intranet, saying, “The core goal of the growth plan is to reorganize the business structure to expand specialty products (high value-added products) and global markets. We hope that the institute will work more closely with the business department and increase the speed of commercialization and success rate, which will be the driving force behind the achievement of the goal.”   ■ Reference Promoting specialty products and global market expansion based on R&D performance Samyang Group is promoting to expand its specialty products (high-value-added products) and global markets to maximize the performance of existing businesses and enter new businesses. The big direction of the new business is the material used in the health and wellness industry. Samyang Group entered the related market with alternative sweeteners such as allulose and prebiotics in the foodstuffs sector. Personal care materials are being fostered in the chemical business sector as a new growth engine to enter the health and wellness material industry. In addition, new materials such as highly functional compounds and biodegradable plastics are added to the business portfolio centered on polycarbonate and compound (a mixture of two or more materials such as resin, additive, and reinforcement) to maximize performance and specialization. Samyang Group’s growth strategies are also revealed in the 2021 SIRF award-winning projects.   Foodstuffs Research Institute’s (grand prize) rapid commercialization of new growth engines with next-generation allulose sweetener Samyang’s Foodstuffs Research Institute developed an alternative allulose sweetener, and won the grand prize for the first time in history at the SIRF. Until now, the excellence prize has been the highest award rating.   Allulose is a sweet ingredient contained in fruits such as figs and raisins, and is called the best next-generation sweetener because it has a sweet taste similar to sugar yet has zero calories. Allulose is used throughout various foods such as ice cream, fermented oil, syrup, and low-calorie jelly.   Allulose is a rare sugar that exists in minimal amounts in nature, but it can be mass-produced by reacting certain enzymes with fructose. The Foodstuffs Research Institute found enzymes that can produce allulose from microorganisms separated from food and succeeded in mass production in 2016. Since then, the institute has secured both cost and quality competitiveness by establishing its own enzyme technology with excellent allulose production capabilities and production process. The institute established products and production technologies and supported the application of allulose to actual products through joint research with client companies through collaboration with application technology development and marketing teams. Samyang’s allulose is being supplied to various customers, including major domestic beverage industries, low-sugar products of dairy industries, and health functional food companies. It is also actively targeting overseas markets by obtaining overseas sales permits, patent applications, and the United States FDA GRAS (“Generally Recognized As Safe”) registration as well as Kosher and Halal certification. The institute is also conducting joint research with global food companies to apply allulose to sauces, juice and beverages.   Samyang Corporation’s sales of allulose are expected to increase nearly ten times this year compared to 2018. Demand for allulose continues to increase thanks to interest in health and low-sugar trends. Samyang Corporation estimates that the global market size of Allulose was about KRW 20 billion last year and expects growth by 20 to 30 times by 2030. In line with this, Samyang Corporation has promoted overseas expansion and currently has sales permits in the United States, Latin America and Asia, and plans to continue to expand to major markets such as Europe. To cope with the growing overseas demand, establishing a local corporation is also being considered from a long-term perspective.   Chemical Research Institute reinforces competitiveness of existing businesses by developing specialty materials for automobiles Samyang’s Chemical Research Institute won the excellence award for improving physical properties so that “metal-textured plastic materials” (product name: Metalinus) can be used for automotive interiors. Automotive interior materials are continuously exposed to chemicals, such as air fresheners and cosmetics on human hands, and direct sunlight, requiring high chemical resistance, heat resistance, and light resistance.   Metalinus is an engineering plastic that can express various colors by inserting aluminum flakes (pieces) into polycarbonate (PC), a type of heat-resistant engineering plastic (EP), and implement a metal texture by applying Samyang’s coloring technology. Existing plastic products require a separate painting process to create a metal-like feeling, but Metalinus does not need an additional painting process because it can express metal texture and various colors only with plastic materials. Therefore, sophisticated components can be molded, and product production costs are reduced by omitting the painting process. In addition, since dyes containing substances harmful to the human body are not used, they are environmentally friendly. There is no color fading or peeling that may occur when the painted product is old. Since its launch in 2019, it has been applied to various premium household appliances such as air conditioners, vacuum cleaners, and washing machines as it can make products with sophisticated designs compared to metals cost-effectively, thus welcomed by client companies such as electronics companies.   Samyang’s Chemical Research Institute developed Metalinus for automotive interiors with improved chemical resistance, moldability, heat resistance, and light resistance by compounding (mixing) polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) on PC instead of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) to apply Metalinus to vehicle components. Developed by the Chemical Research Institute, the material is applied to nine models of domestic automakers by replacing existing PC and ABS compound materials on dashboards inside vehicles – which requires to endure heat over 100 degrees Celsius – and consoles, including center fascia, due to its excellent heat resistance and light resistance. Samyang’s Chemical Research Institute continues to conduct joint research with the automotive industry to apply the material to new models and is also preparing for overseas exports.   KCI targets global corporate monopoly markets by developing emulsion-type thickener KCI, a specialty material production company for personal care products, won the excellence award for its high-quality hypoallergenic emulsion-type thickener. As a result, KCI has become the second company in the world to produce emulsion-type thickener. Emulsion-type thickener is a multifunctional composite material with all three functions: a thickener that enhances the viscosity of cosmetics, a softener that makes skin smooth, and an emulsifier that mixes the water layer (water component) and the oil layer (oil component). Emulsion-type thickeners are easy to use and maintain viscosity in a broad acidity (pH) range. In addition, it can be applied to products made at low temperatures due to its excellent solubility, so it is used throughout cosmetics such as skincare, hair care, and personal care products. Thanks to its various advantages, demand from the personal care industry, including cosmetics, is high, but production is complex, so French companies have been exclusively supplying it.   KCI started developing Emulsion-type thickeners in 2015 and developed the first-generation product in a year, but it did not secure much market share due to its low-cost competitiveness and lack of product portfolio. Accordingly, KCI started developing second-generation products in 2017 to secure production stability and improve quality and completed the development of nine second-generation product portfolios last year. Second-generation products are characterized by a variety of differentiated product lineups along with high quality.   KCI’s emulsion-type thickener portfolio consists of products for high viscosity cosmetics such as elastic cream and moisture cream, products for manufacturing nutritional cream and essence, products specializing in sunscreen and mask packs, and products using natural ingredients to target the European market. Products using natural-derived raw materials are considered secret keys to target the European market. KCI’s emulsion-type thickener sales had more than tripled from 19.5 tons in 2017, at its early stages of commercialization, to 110 tons this year. KCI plans to target the Asian market first and secure a global market share of around 10% by 2025 by targeting Europe and the Americas, where competitors dominated.

- Posted celebratory message on the intranet in time for the company’s anniversary to replace celebratory event due to the COVID-19 pandemic - Leading the health and wellness, eco-friendly, and advanced materials businesses to achieve advancement based on specialty materials, global market expansion, and digital innovation - To promote shared growth with employees by overcoming difficulties and to promote ESG by succeeding and developing the value of ethical management   ▲ Chairman Kim Yoon of Samyang Holdings   Celebrating its 97th anniversary, Samyang Group (President: Chairman Kim Yoon of Samyang Holdings) is taking a leap toward the future by looking back on its past.   On September 30, a day before its foundation day, Samyang Group announced the posting of a celebratory message on the intranet. Before the outbreak of COVID-19, Samyang Group held a trekking event to celebrate its foundation and to promote communication with employees. Over the last two years, however, the event has been replaced with the posting of celebratory messages.   For this year's celebratory message, Chairman Kim Yoon urged employees to “advance into a global (high-value) specialty solution company that leads the health and wellness, eco-friendly, and advanced materials businesses in order to respond to the rapidly changing times.” Chairman Kim also proposed “specialty materials, global market expansion, and digital innovation” as the foundation for the company’s advancement.   Recently, Samyang Group has been strengthening the health and wellness-related businesses by securing leadership in the specialty food materials field, such as for allulose, a sugar substitute, and prebiotics, fostering the personal care materials business. The group is also accelerating the development of eco-friendly materials including highly functional compounds and biodegradable plastics.   “For isosorbide, a bioplastic, we are preparing for commercial production as well as market entry through the development of various eco-friendly materials using isosorbide. As for SENS, an independently developed bio drug delivery system, we are promoting an open innovation in Korea and abroad,” said Chairman Kim, emphasizing Samyang Group’s global management performances—including the development of specialty technologies in which the company had invested over a long period with a goal of securing global market leadership.   Lastly, Chairman Kim reiterated that the success of a business depends on people. “We will further strengthen talent development by promoting the digital transformation of human resources and improving the system.” Chairman Kim asked the employees to succeed and develop ethical management that had been continuously implemented since the company’s foundation in order to achieve shared growth between the company and employees and ensure response to the management environment that encourages environmental, social and governance (ESG) based on the employees’ voluntary capacity building. 

- Responding to uncertainty by reorganizing key businesses and improved execution with business directions for the second half - Highlighting the importance of executing Vision 2025 to “emerge as a global specialty solution company” - Calling for “focus on health and wellness, and accelerating eco-friendly efforts”   ▲ Chairman Kim of Samyang Group encouraged employees to overcome the pandemic and achieve Vision 2025 in a video message. "Commitment of all employees as a driving force to achieve goals"     Samyang Group (Chairman: Kim Yoon) has committed to overcoming the pandemic and achieving its Vision 2025 in a digital meeting.   Samyang Group announced on August 2 that it held the 2021 Group Meeting online on the same day. Chairman Kim routinely shares with employees the company’s key performance and business directions through new year’s kick-off and other meetings. Chairman Kim actively communicated with employees online since the advent of COVID-19 and social distancing.   In a video message, Chairman Kim said, “We should reorganize our key businesses and focus on improving execution to respond to the new normal where uncertainty is increasing.” He also presented three business directions to respond to the current pandemic and promote mid- and long-term growth by improving execution for Vision 2025, continuing with digital transformation, and stabilizing a new HR system.   Vision 2025 is the mid- and long-term growth strategy of Samyang Group. Its goals are to focus on promoting the health and wellness business, discovering new opportunities in the eco-friendly and advanced materials businesses, and emerging as a global specialty (highly functional) solution company. It mainly aims for qualitative growth by advancing the company’s business structure, such as operating more than 30% of its assets in the global market and creating more than 60% of its earnings from specialty products by 2025.   Chairman Kim said, “To improve execution for Vision 2025, we should strengthen our specialty business, accelerate our global efforts, utilize open innovation, and discover convergent businesses. To reinforce specialty, we will focus on health and wellness by expanding the business scale of nutrition, medical and personal care, while accelerating our eco-friendly efforts by successfully commercializing the biodegradable plastic material isosorbide and solidifying the recycling business.”   Chairman Kim also called for promoting digital transformation and stabilizing a new HR system. Since last year, Samyang Group pushed for ERP restructuring and robot process automation (RPA) to establish the digital system and change the way employees work. In addition, Samyang Group also overhauled its HR system to build capacity for employees and respond to an extremely elevated external uncertainty. With the introduction of the new HR system, Samyang Group is creating an environment where the company and its members grow together and voluntarily dedicate themselves to delivering outcomes.   Finally, Chairman Kim ended the meeting, saying “Vision 2025 can be achieved only when the company and our employees grow together. Let’s overcome the crisis and build the base for growth based on our consensus about goals.”  

- Professor Emeritus Kim Jang-joo at Seoul National University and Professor Sung Yung-eun at Seoul National University each awarded KRW 200 million and a plaque - Started from 1973 in honor of the founder’s commitment to nurturing future generations, and sponsored continuously by the Samyang Group   ▲  The Sudang Foundation held the 30th Sudang Awards on May 3 in Lotte Hotel, Seoul. From left to right: President Kim Yoon of the Sudang Foundation, Professor Emeritus Kim Jang-joo at Seoul National University Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and his wife, Professor Sung Yung-eun at Seoul National University School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and his wife, and Chair Jin Jeong-il of the Sudang Awards Steering Committee.     The Samyang Group Sudang Foundation (President: Chairman Kim Yoon of Samyang Holdings) announced on May 4 that it held the 30th Sudang Awards on May 3 in Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul.   This year’s Sudang Awards for Applied Sciences went to Professor Emeritus Kim Jang-joo (66) at Seoul National University Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Professor Sung Yung-eun (57) at Seoul National University School of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Each received KRW 200 million and a plaque in the ceremony.   Sudang Awards were created to continue the belief of the Samyang Group’s founder Sudang Kim Yeon-su in nurturing talented individuals. Researchers who contributed to academic progress in Korea are selected and awarded every year. The Awards started out as the Sudang Science Awards in 1973 and had been hosted by the Kyungbang HR Fostering Association up to the 14th event. It was discontinued temporarily but continued by the Sudang Foundation in 2006 by renaming it as the Sudang Awards and expanding categories in Natural Sciences and Humanities. From 2008, with the Applied Sciences added, awardees from three categories have been selected and each given KRW 100 million and a plaque. There has been a slight change in the selection process starting this year; recommendation letters were received from three categories and two researchers with great achievements were selected regardless of the category. Furthermore, the award money has been increased from KRW 100 million to KRW 200 million to facilitate and motivate research activities. Since the inception of the Sudang Awards, Samyang Group has sponsored the Awards so far.   The award ceremony started with greetings from President Kim Yoon of the Sudang Foundation. It was followed by a progress report by Chair Jin Jeong-il of the Sudang Awards Steering Committee, an introductory video, award acceptance speeches, and photo opportunities. To prevent the spread of COVID-19, only the minimum number of people attended the ceremony, including winners in award categories.   Based on its corporate philosophy for social contribution ‘Provide an opportunity to make dreams come true,’ Samyang Group is providing scholarship programs and academics support programs in basic sciences and humanities through the Yang Young Foundation and the Sudang Foundation. The two Foundations have funded scholarships and grants for over 20,000 students, 600 professors, and other research groups. In particular, the Yang Young Association, a predecessor to the Yang Young Foundation, is recognized for being Korea’s first corporate social contribution activity.

- Provided a total of KRW 833 million to 88 undergraduate and graduate students recommended by universities - Continued financial assistance and research grants to 23,000 students and 760 professors since 1939 ▲  The Yangyoung Foundation and Sudang Foundation in the Samyang Group provided KRW 833 million to 88 undergraduate and graduate students on Feb. 19.   Samyang Group’s Yangyoung Foundation and Sudang Foundation announced on Feb. 22 that they provided scholarships to 88 undergraduate and graduate students for 2021 on February 19.   This year, the Yangyoung Foundation provided scholarships to 77 undergraduate and graduate students and the Sudang Foundation to 11 undergraduate students. KRW 833 million was provided to 88 students in total. The students who received scholarships were recommended by their universities they showed great academic achievements and set an example for others despite their difficult situations. Due to COVID-19, Yangyoung and Sundang Foundation did not hold a scholarship ceremony at the headquarters of Samyang Group like they did in the past.   Undergraduate and graduate students can receive scholarships up to 4 semesters and starting this year, learning support grants are additionally provided on top of tuition fees to help students solely focus on their studies.    Based on its philosophy of corporate social responsibility “provide an opportunity to make a dream come true”, the Samyang Group is providing scholarship and support programs in basic sciences and humanities through the Yangyoung Foundation and the Sudang Foundation. The two Foundations have funded scholarships and grants for 23,000 students, 760 professors, and other research groups. In particular, the Yangyoung Association, a predecessor to the Yangyoung Foundation is recognized for Korea’s first corporate social responsibility activities.   The Samyang Group’s Yangyoung Foundation, the origin of a private scholarship foundation, was established in 1939 by the late Chairman Sudang Kim Yeon-su, the founder of the Samyang Corporation. The Sudang Foundation was established in 1968 by Chairman Kim and his children to expand scholarship programs, and it provides the Sudang Awards, which consists of KRW 200 million and a plaque to 2 selected professors in the areas of basic science, applied science, and humanities.

- Need to improve fundamentals in the first year where a new mid- and long-term strategy for 2025 begins - Present ‘Implement of Vision 2025, accelerate digital transformation, and stabilize the new HR system’ as a business guide for this year - “This year’s activities are the beginning of the next 100 years, and it is important to take on challenges by finding wisdom in our 97-year history to overcome a crisis”   ▲  An employee in the Samyang Group is watching a digital kick-off ceremony.   The Samyang Group (Chairman Kim Yoon of Samyang Holdings) reaffirmed its commitment to overcoming the crisis and moving toward new 100 years in a digital kick-off ceremony for the new year.   The Samyang Group announced on January 5 that it had Samyang Group Kick-off Ceremony on January 4. While the Samyang Group has had an offline kick-off ceremony until the last year, it had a digital one this year, where videos including new year’s messages were shared, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and promote digital transformation.   In a video message, Chairman Kim Yoon said, “This year marks the first year where a new mid- and long-term strategy for 2025 begins.” He presented ‘implement Vision 2025, accelerate digital transformation, and stabilize the new HR system’ as a business guide for this year to enhance business portfolio, enhance competencies, and improve fundamentals.   To begin with, Chairman Kim put forward a direction towards the mid- and long-term strategy, “The fundamental solution to overcome declining profitability in the existing business areas is to target the global market with specialty (highly functional) products. There is also a need to move our key business areas into health & wellness, digital, and eco-friendly areas.”   Chairman Kim emphasized the importance of digital transformation, “The paradigm has already shifted to digital and online, and digital transformation is a task directly related to the survival of a company. We need to successfully proceed with the ERP project, which we began last year, and introduce digital technology across the way we conduct business to accelerate digital transformation.”   In regards to the new HR system, he asked the employees to produce outcomes voluntarily and build their competencies through this system. “Employees must have a high level of competencies and expertise to detect and respond to any change on the frontline of business. We will introduce a new HR system to connect individuals’ growth with the company’s and change the way we work,” he said.   Finally, Chairman Kim wrapped up his message, “This year’s activities are the beginning of the next 100 years, and I hope all employees take on challenges by finding wisdom in our 97-year history to overcome a crisis.”