South Korea immigrant women in Gwangju turn child care into jobs

May 27 (Asia Today) -- A group of marriage migrant women in Gwangju who once struggled to work because they had no one to care for their children has grown into a village enterprise that creates jobs and supports new businesses.

Hannuri Kkotdam, based in Geumho-dong in Gwangju's Seo District, began in 2014 as a gathering of seven Chinese-born marriage migrant mothers. They faced language and cultural barriers, child care burdens and difficulty finding stable jobs.

The women began visiting one another's homes, sharing meals and caring for their children together. Once the child care gap was filled, they divided responsibilities, with two women watching the children while the others went to work.

After taking restaurant part-time jobs and teaching Chinese, the group turned to making funeral and congratulatory flower wreaths. The work was physically demanding and often avoided because of the heavy materials and humid working conditions, but it could be done in advance and fit around child care schedules.

Within a month or two, each woman was earning about 500,000 won, or about $330. The effort eventually led to the creation of a village enterprise.

Hannuri Kkotdam opened as a village enterprise in 2016. Before its launch, four migrant women received six months of training at a floral academy. The company was established as a corporation, but seven migrant women and five local supporters, including the head of a multicultural center and the leader of a Saemaul women's association, invested equal amounts and operated it like a cooperative.

"We originally planned to create a cooperative, but the process took too long to meet the village enterprise application deadline," said Jang Chun-hwa, head of Hannuri Kkotdam. "So we established it as a corporation, while having 12 people invest the same amount and operate it like a cooperative."

"At first, the main idea was to care for our children together and create jobs for ourselves," Jang said. "As we continued, we saw that we could build a structure where other migrant women could also work."

With its first village enterprise subsidy of 50 million won, or about $33,000, Hannuri Kkotdam bought a large refrigerator and set up a workspace. It built a wholesale system that allows the company to make flower wreaths in advance, refrigerate them and deliver them to flower shops as orders come in.

The company now supplies many flower shops in the Gwangju area, and wholesale flower wreaths account for about half of its sales.

When demand for wreaths plunged during the coronavirus pandemic, the company expanded into multicultural food services by drawing on the women's backgrounds and skills.

After the flower business recovered, the company settled into two main areas: flowers and food services. Hannuri Kkotdam now supports about 10 jobs, including positions for migrant women and international students.

The company was designated as a village enterprise by the Interior Ministry in 2016. It later received second-stage support in 2018, advanced-stage support in 2020 and was named an outstanding village enterprise in 2022. In 2025, it was selected as a Moduae village enterprise, a government-backed designation for high-performing community businesses.

Hannuri Kkotdam also operates a separate community space near an elementary school, offering flower arrangement classes, music programs for multicultural children and child care activities. The space serves as a neighborhood cultural center for migrant women, parents and local residents.

Over the past 10 years, the enterprise has returned about 20 million won, or about $13,000, to the community through donations to the Community Chest of Korea and direct support for migrant families in need.

Jang said the company's greatest social contribution is not the money it has donated but the people who have moved into broader society after working there.

Four migrant women have started businesses after passing through Hannuri Kkotdam. One woman who struggled with depression and financial hardship after divorce later used her monthly salary of about 2.4 million won, or about $1,600, along with social insurance coverage and proof of employment, to receive her first home loan. She bought an apartment worth 120 million won, or about $80,000, and later joined the Korea Environment Corp.

"I wanted to show that migrant women are not simply vulnerable people," Jang said. "Our goal is to show that they are healthy neighbors who can create jobs for others and also give back."

"I hope Hannuri Kkotdam can help more migrant women's communities take on the challenge of becoming village enterprises," she said.

-- Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260527010007797

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This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 7:15 PM.