Recently, due to a variety of environmental factors, the number of people who are suffering is increasing. Because of this phenomenon, cosmetics that are made from natural ingredients are becoming popular. Thus, there is an eye-catching cosmetic company, which makes their company's cosmetics with the same T.L.C. that parents give their kids. Now let's meet the C.E.O. of ‘Papa Recipe’, also known as Han-byul's dad, Kim Han-kyun.  -Ed.

Cosmetics that make skin beautiful
  The C.E.O. of the cosmetic company “Costory” is trying to make cosmetics with good ingredients and is trying not to use harmful components for skin. He is trying to use a variety of cosmetics, study about them, and make cosmetics not only beautiful for eyes but also good for skin.
  “When I make a cosmetic, I think the most important part is the components of the cosmetics. No matter how good the products are, if the components are bad, then I don’t make the products. For example, these days some cosmetic companies make ‘instant whitening cream’. We can also make those products, but we do not make them just because they can make a lot of money. We want to make cosmetics which are more reliable and secure rather than directly effective when used. There are lots of people who repurchase our products, such as our recently released pore soap. We have never advertised it before, but pre-made products were all sold out, so we had to order the product again. Since our product’s prices are cheap, if the product is good, then customers will buy it without any consumer’s reviews. 60% of our sales have been made by repurchasing customers.” He said the strong point of his company is their reliable products.
 

Growing
  He started from being a beauty power blogger, and now he is managing his own company. Replying to a reporter’s question about how he started his own business, the 30-year-old young businessman, Kim Han-kyun, told us about his own business story. “From the age of 20, I have been doing cosmetic-related work. At first, I started in men’s brands. When I had my little girl, Han-byul, I also started to make baby cosmetics. At that time, I was already making cosmetics. Simply said, just as a carpenter father makes a desk for his own child, as a cosmetician, I also make good cosmetics for my own daughter. In fact, selling was not the purpose for these baby products. I just made the cosmetics for my little girl, and then they gained popularity. Thus, we started selling them. That’s how our company got into baby products. After I made baby cosmetics, I thought my little daughter will grow up anyway, so how about we make other cosmetics for women, not just for babies, and that’s how we got into women’s cosmetics.”
  At first, to start a business, you need money. At that time, he took years off from college, went abroad for studying, and  he didn’t have money. However, luckily at the time, he returned to Korea and was employed by a Filipino company in Korea. However, that company was not the one that he wanted to work with. After leaving the company, everything was the same as the old company. Therefore, he quit his job and went around the country with cosmetic proposals. While he was doing it, he used almost all of his money on transportation expenses.
  “I visited almost 80~90 cosmetic institutions, and I finally got 100 million won in investment from some institution to make my own cosmetics. However, in the big company that I made contracts with, the tyranny was getting worse and worse. Thus, that's why I launched my own brand ‘Papa Recipe’. After launching this brand, I bought all of my product's right from that institute.”
  He was answering a reporter’s questions with a little hesitation about if there was any problem while he was trying to find some institution that could help him make his own cosmetics when all he had was just a proposal.
  “At the time, I was so desperate. I gave up everything I had, and the only thing I had was just a proposal for my cosmetics. Consequently, I had to take a part-time job to pay my employees. In fact, it has been only 3 months for me to have my own office like this. In the meantime, I’ve been through a really hard time.”
 

Still growing up
  The original name of ‘Papa Recipe’, which is one of the major brands in Costory, was ‘Cosmetics Made by Papa’ in Korean. According to his words, Papa Recipe had a Korean brand name for two years, and it changed its name to the English name ‘Papa Recipe’ in January. It is because he wanted to see a bigger world.
  “The pure Korean name is good for Korean people, but it isn’t good for foreigners. I explained it every time at first. However, I changed it to an English name after worrying for 7 months.”
  Papa Recipe is entering ‘NU:select shop’ in Lotte Department Store which is hard to enter.
  “To enter Lotte Department Store, companies have to submit much data, such as an analysis table of ingredients. It is very difficult. Our company has luckily entered there, but our cosmetics haven’t sold well. However, our brand’s image became good, and much data or prizes that we received have proved our brand. Therefore, I want to increase our brand’s products so that I can make retail shops for the future. Costory has three brands now. I’m running shopping malls, and what I want to do is to make 10 brands and operate them. In July, Costory took part in Cosmobeaute Asia 2014 in Malaysia, and all products were sold out in just 3 days.”
  “All products of Costory were sold at 6,000~7,000 won. Even though every product was sold, we couldn’t make much money. It was just about 2,500,000 won. However, I had had two goals before I went there. One was selling all of the products, and the other was keeping in touch with many buyers. Our products sold out, and we are able to make a contract with many buyers. Very famous companies around the world, similar to ‘Olive Young’ in Korea, had interest in our products. Actually, I think it is a great achievement because we opened the door in that direction. I was very happy!”
 

The best goal that he wants to achieve
  A CBT reporter asked him what is the best goal that he wants to achieve. He said that his big goal is to live happily. He values happiness in his life.
  “In a business area, my goal is to make 10 brands in Costory and to run 10 shopping malls whose sizes are the same as present day shopping malls. The best goal for our company is to start an off-line shop independently. The ultimate goal of Costory is to start franchise businesses with it. I ultimately want to do that even if it takes much time.”
  “My personal goal is to become a professor. I want to stand on the platform. However, I don’t want to be a full-time professor. I want to be an adjunct professor with my company. I don’t care how much money I’ll get. I just want to meet young people. I can share my experiences and communicate with them. After my mid-thirties, a place where I can communicate with young people is a rostrum.”
  He is trying to adjust his three goals. One is happiness, an overall goal in his life, and another is a goal for his business. The other is his personal goal.

By Kim Ji-won | jw34@cbnu.ac.kr
By Sun Jung-eun | jes35@cbnu.ac.kr

To university students

  “I want to tell present university students that deciding whether they got jobs in companies or whether they start their own enterprises is an individual freedom. However, it is not exactly correct to enter companies with the same specification for getting a job. Also, it is not exactly wrong. However, I think people mustn’t go all-in. For instance, there is a person who wants to enter Samsung Electronics. I hope that his dream is not just entering Samsung Electronics. If my dream was to run an enterprise and make cosmetics, then my dream is over. In this way, I become a person who has no dream because my goal has been achieved. Therefore, I think it is important that people should not decide their goal just for achieving something, and people should establish a concrete goal. It is very important.”