[Our Local School Cohort 1 — New Business Startup Academy concludes: reshaping the paradigm of regional startup education] | Kolleges

Our Local School, which is bringing fresh air to the regional startup ecosystem, has graduated 55 students from its first cohort. We sat down with Lee Min-ju, CEO, and Choi Yu-ri, Manager, of Oursisun — the organizer behind Our Local School — to talk about the meaningful results they’ve delivered while pointing startup education in a new direction.

Interview with Lee Min-ju (CEO) and Choi Yu-ri (Manager), Oursisun

Q. What was the trigger for starting Our Local School?

Lee Min-ju (hereafter Lee): Looking at the startup ecosystem in Gyeongbuk, I felt a real sense of frustration. There are so many people with passion taking on the challenge of starting a business, but with no one to help them, many give up partway through. Gyeongbuk in particular has had a shortage of startup consulting and systematic business support compared to the Seoul metropolitan area. We also need a regional-specific guide to the startup tech tree for Gyeongbuk. So I thought we should approach it from the concept of a “pre-startup school.”

Q. The “pre-startup school” concept is unusual — what specifically does it mean?

Lee: What we had in mind was something like “startup vaccination.” We wanted to create a safe environment where people could try small experiments before officially starting a business. The reality is, when you actually launch, the risks are huge. So we wanted to help people experience the digital nomad lifestyle first, and prepare for starting a business in their own way.

Q. What direction did you take when designing the cohort 1 program?

Lee: At first we focused purely on cultivating digital nomads. Then our interests expanded into the crafts field, and the direction became more concrete when we were selected for the commercial district revitalization project. Within the larger picture of “regional industry revitalization,” we tried to weave in our initial vision of developing digital nomads.

Choi Yu-ri (hereafter Choi): Our goal was to nurture entrepreneurs who could leverage Sangju’s regional character while still operating anywhere in the country online. We wanted them to look beyond regional boundaries to a wider market.

Q. We’re curious about the cohort 1 participants.

Choi: A really diverse group came together. Of the 55 participants, a few stand out. One graduated from Seoul National University with a bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate, and even went on to City University of New York. She joined because she wanted to reinterpret her mother’s natural-dye Nubi craftsmanship through a modern lens. Watching her create pet burial shrouds by adding her own story to that tradition was genuinely moving. The newly designed Nubi silk padding would have been remarkable as a product on its own.

Q. Is there a moment from the program that stays with you?

Choi: Everyone was incredibly busy and pushed hard heading into the December product launch. Through it all, watching people refuse to give up and finish products carrying their own stories was inspiring. One participant made oranda using garlic and onion, local specialties, and the market response was explosive. As a designer by trade, she didn’t outsource anything — she did it all herself.

Lee: Everyone put in real effort to blend tradition with the modern in their own way. The process wasn’t easy, but the results were that much more special.

Q. You adopted Kolleges for certificate issuance and program management. Was there a specific reason?

Lee: As someone who wants to run education programs for the long term, we needed to clearly express our own education concept, and since we run more than ten programs simultaneously, a systematic management system was essential. Especially with early-stage entrepreneurs — anyone who’s been there knows — when you’re in an environment you’ve never experienced before, even a slightly loose process can cause people to drop out or give up.

Choi: That’s why we wanted to run participation-driven education daily. While looking for tools that could manage challenge-style learning outcomes, we found Kolleges. The fact that certificates could be customized and that issuance/reissuance management could be automated was great.

Q. Which Kolleges features were especially helpful?

Lee: Auto certificate issuance and bulk email features were incredibly convenient. Previously we were issuing and managing certificates by hand. Now it’s like having an entire admin staff member on board, fully covering the manager role.

Choi: The custom Our Local School certificate creation, issuance, and sharing automation became a really attractive way to make the brand go viral. The website setup and system integration were well-built too. It functions as a brand website while automatically archiving scattered educational outcome records. The features we needed were laid out intuitively, so it was easy to use.

Q. What was the biggest outcome from running cohort 1?

Lee: The biggest outcome is that participants actually went on to start their businesses. It didn’t stop at starting up — they’re also contributing to revitalizing the local commercial district. They’re playing a role in addressing the regional issue of population decline. Above all, the fact that people now say “I want to start a business in Sangju” — isn’t that the biggest outcome?

Q. What’s next?

Lee: I want to try education using the metaverse. We want to meet more prospective entrepreneurs beyond regional boundaries. With Kolleges as a solid partner, we feel new experiments are possible.

Choi: We also want to keep the network with our cohort 1 alive. We hope they’ll mentor the next cohort as senior entrepreneurs.

Just as Lee Min-ju said, Our Local School is creating meaningful change through people-centered startup education. Their challenge — to be a reliable companion to everyone who dreams of starting a business, beyond regional limits — has only just begun.