AMMAN — His Majesty
King Abdullah on Wednesday met
with a group of start-up founders at Al Husseiniya Palace, according to a Royal
Court statement.
اضافة اعلان
King Abdullah expressed pride in young Jordanian
entrepreneurs for their contribution to bolstering Jordan’s position in
business and innovation, adding that they were able to transform the challenges
imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic into promising opportunities.
His Majesty noted efforts to enhance the business
environment for start-ups through suitable legislation, highlighting the role
of the
Innovative Startups and SMEs Fund (ISSF) in attracting investments to
Jordan to support entrepreneurship.
For their part, the start-up founders presented their
companies’ achievements, calling for simplifying procedures to encourage more
young Jordanians to launch entrepreneurial projects.
Several start-up founders said they anticipate employment
opportunities at their companies to double next year, stressing the need to
support and bolster the capacities of start-ups to enable them to provide
further jobs.
They noted ongoing efforts to establish regional branches
for their start-ups, stressing the valuable contributions from Jordanian
expatriates who return to Jordan to offer their expertise after studying and
working abroad.
According to
Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship Ahmad Hanandeh, Jordan’s efforts to build an entrepreneurship
ecosystem date back to 2000, with the first Arab business incubator, Oasis 500,
established in 2010.
Hanandeh underscored Jordan’s leading position in giving
rise to start-ups, with young Jordanian entrepreneurs also founding many
start-ups in the region as well.
The minister said 350 companies registered in this sector
employ 4,000 workers, 36 percent of whom are women, pointing out that there are
20 business incubators and 4 accelerators in Jordan, in addition to 11 regional
and global funds working with and investing in start-ups and promising projects
in the Kingdom.
For his part, ISSF CEO Laith Al Qasem said the fund was
established in late 2017 through the World Bank and the Central Bank of Jordan
with a capital of around $98 million, working to invest in and support the
entrepreneurship ecosystem.
He said the ISSF has attracted 11 investment funds to the
Kingdom, and has helped train over 400 entrepreneurs, stressing that more
international investment funds have taken note of the wealth of qualified
talents in Jordan.
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