[Superrich] Daughters jumping into business

An increasing number of second- to fourth-generation daughters of the nation’s large conglomerates are seen joining the ranks of management in recent years.

These daughters, born in the 1980s and 1990s, tend to graduate from universities abroad and start their careers at consulting firms before joining their family businesses. They tend to enter their fathers’ companies in their mid-20s, with some of them starting off as rank-and-file employees and being promoted to executive levels within three to four years.

Standout examples are Chey Yun-jeong, 27, the eldest daughter of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, and Suh Min-jung, 26, the eldest daughter of Amorepacific Group Chairman Suh Kyung-bae.

Both started working as junior consultants at Bain & Company Korea in July 2015 and resigned on a similar time frame.

Industry sources say these heiresses prefer working at such global consulting firms as they have a large pool of similar overseas-educated workforce with a “horizontal” organization culture.

Suh Min-jung graduated from Cornell University and entered Bain & Company Korea in July 2015.

She resigned in December and started working as a rank-and-file employee at Amorepacific last month. She is in charge of the cosmetics production at the Osan factory.

Chairman Suh Kyung-bae had also started off at the company’s manufacturing factory in the 1980s, and the junior Suh appears to be taking on a similar route to emphasize the beauty giant’s “quality first” policy by learning the ropes from production.

Suh Min-jung spurred to her succession process last December by switching her entire possession of Amorepacific’s preferred stocks into common stocks.

On The Superrich Team’s “Korea’s Richest 100,” the youngest of the 100 was Suh Min-jung, born in 1991, as her listed and unlisted stock assets accounted for 390.3 billion won as of Jan. 20.

Among the listed firms, Suh Min-jung holds 2.93 percent of AmoreG and 0.01 percent of Amorepacific. She also holds shares of unlisted firms including Innisfree (18.18 percent), Etude House (19.52 percent) and Espoir (19.52 percent).

Meanwhile, Chey Yun-jeong attended an international school in Beijing and graduated from the University of Chicago before entering Bain & Company in July 2015. While working there, Chey reportedly delved into the information technology and petrochemical industries, both of which are key businesses for SK Group.

Chey reportedly left the consulting firm in early January. While her next step has not been officially announced. It is anticipated she will join one of SK Group’s major affiliates to start learning the ropes.

Chey Yun-jeong’s mother is Roh Soh-yeong, the daughter of former President Roh Tae-woo, and is currently the director of Art Center Nabi. Chey Yun-jeong had helped her mother launch the research group “Singularity99” in 2014.

There is also Park Ha-min, 27, the eldest daughter of Mirae Asset Financial Group Chairman Park Hyeon-joo. Park Ha-min graduated from Cornell, worked in McKinsey Consulting and American real estate consulting firm CBRE for a year each. She started working at Mirae Asset Global Investments in 2013.
Chairman Park’s younger daughter, Park Eun-min, 24, graduated from Duke University and has worked as a junior consultant at Boston Consulting Group Korea.

The daughters each own 8.19 percent of shares of the unlisted Mirae Asset Consulting. The appraised value of their shares standardized by total ownership interest was at least 53 billion won each. Mirae Asset Consulting owns 9.98 percent of shares of Mirae Asset Capital, Mirae Asset Financial Group’s holding company.

Part of the third generation of Hansol Group and fourth generation of the pan-Samsung Group, Cho Yeon-joo, 38, worked at Boston Consulting Group and as a brand manager of lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret. She started off as the head of the planning section of Hansol Capital Investment in 2014. She was promoted to vice president the following year.

Cho is the eldest daughter of honorary Hansol Chairman Cho Dong-hyuk. She is also the eldest granddaughter of Hansol Group’s adviser Lee In-hee, who is the eldest daughter of the late Lee Byung-chull, founder of Samsung Group. She graduated from Wellesley University and went through an MBA course at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

By The Superrich Team
Min Sang-seek
Lee Se-jin
Yim Ji-min (jiminy@heraldcorp.com)