Chairman Young-chan Kim Honored with an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration!

• Highly recognized for his contribution to the development of Korea’s golf industry by founding GOLFZON and pioneering an unprecedented golf culture
• Diversified its business areas, starting from GOLFZON, a screen golf venture company, to field golf and golf equipment distribution
• Continues to carry out giving activities under GOLFZON Newdin Group’s social contribution brand ‘Swing your dream’

GOLFZON Newdin Group announced on the 18th that Chairman Young-chan Kim received an honorary doctorate in business administration at Sejong University’s 81st degree conferral ceremony on August 18.

The degree conferral ceremony, held at Sejong University’s Daeyang Hall, was attended by distinguished guests including President Deok-hyo Bae of Sejong University and Chairman Young-chan Kim of GOLFZON Newdin Group. Chairman Young-chan Kim of GOLFZON Newdin Group received the honorary doctorate in business administration from Sejong University in recognition of his contributions to the popularization of golf, having founded GOLFZON in 2000 and led the development and dissemination of golf simulators.

In May 2000, Chairman Young-chan Kim founded the screen golf venture company ‘GOLFZON’ with five employees. Through the convergence of golf with information and communications technology (ICT), virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR), he pioneered a new market—simulation golf—and diversified the company’s business areas to include field golf and golf equipment distribution. Today, GOLFZON has expanded into overseas markets such as Japan, the United States, China, and Vietnam, successfully leading its leap forward as a global golf platform company.

GOLFZON, founded by Chairman Young-chan Kim, is credited with completely transforming the paradigm of Korea’s golf industry. Beginning with becoming the first venture company in the Daedeok Research Complex to achieve 100 billion won in sales in 2008, it went on to receive the Presidential Citation at the Sports Industry Awards in 2009, the Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning Award at the Korea IT Awards in 2013, and the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award at the Korea New Growth Management Awards in 2016. In 2023, Chairman Young-chan Kim was named the No. 1 ‘Most Influential Figure in the Asian Golf Industry in 2022’ by ‘Golf Inc,’ and on May 3 he received an honorary doctorate in management of technology from the Department of Technology Commercialization Convergence at Chungnam National University.

In his acceptance remarks, Chairman Young-chan Kim of GOLFZON Newdin Group said, “I am honored to receive an honorary doctorate in business administration from Sejong University,” and added, “I founded GOLFZON while reflecting on what I truly wanted to do and could do well. It is deeply rewarding to see that what began as a ‘thing I loved’ has come to be recognized as a contribution to the development of the sports industry, and I will continue to do my utmost to contribute to the national economy and to fulfill corporate social responsibility.”

Meanwhile, GOLFZON Newdin Group has recorded steep growth in both sales and profits over the past three years. Sales grew from 782.5 billion won in 2020 to surpass 1 trillion won in 2021, reaching 1.3601 trillion won in 2022, while profits (on a pre-tax basis) grew nearly threefold, from 102.4 billion won in 2020 to 289.6 billion won in 2022.

In addition, under its social contribution brand ‘Swing your dream,’ GOLFZON Newdin Group is carrying out ongoing giving activities across all areas—IT, golf, culture, and sharing. In particular, since 2020 it has donated 500 million won in neighborly love funds to the Daejeon Community Chest of Korea, and in 2021 it became the first company based in Daejeon to join the Gold membership of the ‘Honor Society’ of major donors.