CEO of social venture“Little Big Moms” talks about devotion and helping

Social prejudice and inexperience are just two of the many difficulties facing teen moms, but their biggest challenge is financial difficulty: Their youth and lack of schooling make it impossible for them to get well-paying jobs. Referred to as “little moms” in Korea, they differ from single moms in that the former includes teenagers who have given birth, are married to and live with the baby’s father.
According to the Statistics Korea, more than 300 teenagers were counted as little moms in the census announced in 2005 alone.
Recognizing the financial difficulties facing these young families, Shin Bo-hyun created the social venture “Little Big Moms.”
 “Little Big Moms is a social venture that hires little moms to give child care services for working moms who do not have time to look after their babies. The key concept of this business is to establish the symbiotic relation between working moms and the little moms,” Shin said. “Little moms are regarded as immature and a headache for society, but I think they have great responsibility and potential.”
 “That’s why I named the business Little Big Moms, meaning that little moms are valuable in the society,” Shin said.
A social venture is an organization established by an entrepreneur who seeks to provide systemic solutions to achieve the common good. Social ventures often apply creative business models to make a profit and contribute to the society at the same time.
 “When I first started to design my own social venture, people were concerned, saying that it would be a tough way to go. But I actually enjoy this work. I can do something valuable for the society and make some money at the same time,” Shin said.
Thanks to her work Little Big Moms, Shin was awarded the grand prize in the National Social Venture Contest in the idea section, which was held by the Social Enterprise Support Network (SESN) on Dec. 6 last year. As a reward, Shin moved into an office provided by the SESN. In addition to the new office, Shin is studying how to launch a business through the “Social venture incubating center” program. The official launch will take place within two years.
 “I hope my business can be something fun and pleasant, releasing cheerful energy. So I hope that when other people see my fun and creative business model, they realize that contributing to the society isn’t necessarily difficult,” Shin said.
Shin’s ideas to support little moms are not limited in launching a company. Shin plans to implement diverse programs, such as holding a humanities study course for little moms’ education.
“My life motto is to ‘feel empathy.’ I tend to be touched even by small things, and I try to be touched to encourage myself. Little Big Moms itself is touching for me. There have been a lot of hardships, but the whole process of designing this model was really moving for me. I think that’s what makes me devote myself to this business.”
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