- Pony
Chung Young Leader Award, the “2nd Pony Chung Innovation Award” which recognizes
and encourages young innovators under the age of 40
- First winner Kim Seul-A), Founder & CEO of Market Kurly, the next generation innovator leading a new distribution industry trend
The Pony Chung Foundation selected Kim Seul-A, the Founder and CEO of Market Kurly, as the winner of the 1st Pony Chung Young Leader Award, and held its award ceremony in the Pony Chung Hall at IPARK Tower in Samseong-dong, Seoul, at 5 PM on October 28th.
At this ceremony, Chairman Kim Chul-Su, the Founder of the Pony Chung Foundation, announced the reason behind the selection in his congratulatory remarks as he said, “The Pony Chung Young Leader Award is the second Pony Chung Innovation Award in that it encourages young leaders who will open up a new future for our generation. Its first awardee CEO Kim Seul-A was the forerunner in the domestic industry to adopt the “7-day next morning delivery” system, additionally to stress eco-friendly and win-win management, and is inspiring today’s youth by pioneering trends in the delivery distribution market.” Abiding by COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, the award ceremony was held with only a minimum number of attendees including the winner CEO Kim Seul-A, Pony Chung Foundation Chairman Kim Chul-Su, HDC Group Chairman Chung Mong-Gyu, and the foundation’s board directors.
Market Kurly, which was founded in 2015 by CEO Kim Seul-A at the age of 33 after she declined a multimillion-dollar salary at a global corporation, established the “Next-morning Delivery” concept guaranteeing fresh food distribution, contributing to the company’s tremendous and continuous growth. Encouraged by such success, its CEO Kim Seul-A, who caused a new wave through Korea’s domestic logistics market by recording KRW 428.9 billion in sales in 2019 alone, is contributing to fostering the next generation of leaders by serving as the chairperson of Korea Startup Forum from February of 2020.
Additionally, CEO Kim Seul-A is establishing a solid foothold for Market Kurly as a domestic distribution industry trend leader by highlighting its eco-friendly and win-win management. Last year, Market Kurly introduced the “All-paper Challenge,” in which all its next-morning delivery material including packing tape, plastic wrapping and styrofoam was replaced with recyclable paper. The “All-paper Challenge” is the result of the packing material development which started in 2016, with all of Market Kurly’s paper packing material certified by the international FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). Furthermore, it promotes coexistence with its supplying companies through its “100% direct buying, no-returns policy.” Through this innovative way of allowing its supplying companies to concentrate on their products’ quality and reducing scrapped goods to the rate of 1% by making prior estimations using big data, the annual average purchase price for the supplying companies rose up to 162% in 2020.
CEO Kim Seul-A presented an acceptance speech by stating, “I am delighted and also heavily motivated by how Market Kurly, a business I founded 5 years ago inspired by the thought that food accounted for the most happiness in life, is changing lifestyles and positively influencing the industry. I will personally work harder for young leaders of our era to be recognized in their efforts to create a better world,” and ended it by saying, “The 6 million customer members, executives and staff members of Market Kurly are to whom I attribute this honor.”
The Pony Chung Foundation has inherited the talent-valuing philosophy of the late Chung Se-Yung, Honorary Chairman of Hyundai Development Company, and is carrying out the Pony Chung Innovation Award ceremonies additionally to academic support and scholarship projects. The Pony Chung Young Leader Award is the 2nd Pony Chung Innovation Award which encourages young innovators, and while it does not limit its categories like that of the latter, it does hold an age limit to younger than 40 with the intent to discover younger talent, and presents a prize money of KRW 50 million along with a trophy. A gemstone motif and Pony vehicle design representing the infinite potential of innovators were used in a collaboration selected at the new Pony Chung Young Leader Award trophy design submission held back in June 2020.