GWANGJU, South Jeolla Province -- Naver, South Korea’s dominant internet portal, has opened its third Naver Partner Square venue for small businesses and creators in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, with the aim of making it the center of the region’s lifestyle and food businesses, the company said Thursday.

Naver Partner Square was first established in southern Seoul in May 2013 as a place for entrepreneurs operating on Naver to receive education on online commerce in such areas as search advertisements, marketing, customer management and taxes.

“Naver’s commerce platform is a convenient shopping platform for users and the core foundation of small business and creators’ growth. We will help businesses grow by offering all of Naver’s technology and data,” said Naver CEO Han Seong-sook in a press conference at the newly opened Naver Partner Square. 

Han added Gwangju was selected based on data that showed 35 percent of Naver Food Window sales are made up by businesses in the southwestern region, famous for serving top-notch authentic Korean dishes.

The seven-story Naver Partner Square Gwangju spans 5,200 square meters of land, larger than the two other venues in Seoul and Busan. It serves as a business and cultural space for entrepreneurs, creators and users, the company said.

The second venue located in Busan opened in May last year, equipped with more space for creators.

On the first floor of Naver Partner Square Gwangju is the Naver Library -- also located at Naver Green factory in Bundang -- along with Window Market, where customers can experience food and products made and sold online by businesses in the region.

On the fourth floor are workrooms for eight creative teams provided free of charge for six months, in a first for the three venues, the company said.

Naver plans to build the fourth Partner Square in Daejeon next year to support young entrepreneurs. 

By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)