CEO hopes to make company a dream workplace for employees’ children


isMedia, a Korean venture firm that produces test equipment for compact cameras, is basking in a smartphone boom as both a contributor and a beneficiary.

The company’s products test the cameras in mobile devices. They look for electronic and image defects, such as dead pixels.

As smartphone cameras begin to substitute digital cameras, they have become one of the decisive factors for clients in choosing a mobile device.

The trend led related industries to receive more requests for electronic parts and sub-devices that check overall operation before finished products are unveiled.

isMedia was able to satisfy the rising demand through constant investment in research and development, company officials said.

Supplementary technologies were also developed to increase the speed and accuracy of their main product, the officials said.

The venture firm already occupies around 40 percent of the Korean market and deals with well-known global customers.

The major client companies include market-leading Apple and Samsung.

isMedia’s efforts resulted in exports making up to 90 percent of its revenue, which saw a record 20 billion won ($17 million) in 2010.

This is an eye-catching result of a medium-sized company that was started just eight years ago.

Hong Seong-cheol, the chief executive officer of isMedia, said running a venture firm has not been easy despite such a positive outcome.

“In Korea, conglomerates are dominant in nearly every market. This makes it harder for venture firms or small and medium-sized companies to survive,” he was quoted as saying.

Adding up to the harsh local conditions, isMedia was confronted with companies that illegally copied their products, followed by a fall in sales after losing price competitiveness.

But the CEO gradually coped with a worsening situation after receiving 500 million won ($426,000) in aid from Korea Technology Credit Guarantee Fund in 2007.

“The aid provided us a cornerstone for a restart. But most of all, it was the employees who made everything possible,” Hong said. His employees stayed with the company without pay during the six months of losses.

He says his belief in his employees has helped build a mutual trust, which is quite difficult to see happening in big corporations.

The interior of the building, the curvy structure of a meeting room and company logos on the ceiling, fully reflected the employees’ opinion, the officials said.

According to Hong, the memory of sharing the most difficult period with the workers made him realize that “people” should be valued over commercial interest.

“I don’t dream, nor have I ever dreamed of, making this firm into a large conglomerate like Samsung or LG. Small, but a strong company is what I had in mind since the establishment,” Hong added.

Big or small, the CEO’s ultimate goal is to make the place a dream job for the current employees’ children.

Being nominated as an “A+ Member Company” by KIBO in February, 2011, isMedia was also authorized as a venture company by prime minister this October.

The venture company expects to see 25 billion won in revenue this year. It currently employs 48 workers, with 18 of them core researchers.

By Monica Suk (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)