‘Oppa‘ and ‘Saranghaeyo‘. Hands up if you recognise these Korean words.

Love it or hate, it, K-pop is everywhere and its influence has definitely left its mark. Arguably one of the most successful representations of cultural hegemony in modern history, K-pop fans spread across the globe, breaking down national, cultural, language and age barriers.

Recognising the business opportunity that such a global fanbase presented, three young K-pop fans in SMU, whose love for K-pop is rivalled only by their business acumen, decided to turn their passion into a venture.

SMU Accountancy student Janessa Sim and her partners started an online marketplace selling fan-made K-pop merchandise called 

Three young enterprising K-pop fans—Vera Sun, Janessa Sim and Moh Moh San!


Q. We understand that you and your business partners have come up with an innovative way to turn your passion and love into an enterprising venture! Can you share with us what this business is about?

Janessa: KpopKart is the first ever K-pop marketplace for fans all around the world to buy and sell K-pop merchandise. We offer fans the security of buying merchandise online through 

Displaying samples of their available merchandise


Q: With such a niche target market, did you have difficulties attracting funding/investors and how did you overcome that?

Janessa: Targeting the niche market of K-pop was not a popular move to make. In fact, we received numerous sceptical comments about the scalability of the idea. However, with growing statistics of the K-pop market as well as increasing consumer demand for niche/personalized products, we believed in the huge potential of growth for KpopKart.

Being part of the 

Impressing judges at NUS Unicon 2019


Q: How do you think your background in SMU and the School of Accountancy has helped you in this business venture so far?

Janessa: I believe that without being in SMU, I would have never gotten this opportunity to start KpopKart.

The idea of KpopKart started in January 2018 when I joined 

With the right attitude and approach, the girls managed to push their business idea to investors

This article was originally published on The SMU Blog.