jordan pulse -
Dr. Mohammed Abu Hammour
The pace of interest in entrepreneurship and startups has increased in various parts of the world and has witnessed a remarkable development to include various economic sectors, and many countries have supported initiatives and efforts in this field, considering that entrepreneurship contributes to meeting societal and individual needs and works effectively to promote economic and social development, generate new job opportunities, help transfer technology and promote innovation, as well as constitute an essential tributary to raise the competitiveness of the economy and contribute to improving the lives of citizens and raising their standard of living.
According to the Global Entrepreneurship Observatory, small and medium-sized companies constitute about 90% of the total global companies, and provide about 50% of the world’s jobs, and it is expected that the number of entrepreneurs in the world has reached 582 million by the end of last year, and some sources indicate that the total value of startups reaches approximately $ 3.8 trillion, and venture capital globally is about $ 300 billion, while in the Middle East, it ranges around one billion dollars.
Despite the opportunities offered by the entrepreneurship and startup sector, it also faces many challenges, most notably the speed of technological development, fierce competition, the level of development of digital infrastructure in particular, and the lack of an appropriate business environment, in addition to the financing aspect, which is the decisive element in the success and expansion of these companies.
The level of technical, administrative and technological capabilities of entrepreneurs plays a key role in the viability and expansion of such projects, and statistics that about 30% of startups close within two years and the percentage rises to 50% within five years.
Based on royal directives, Jordan has taken a number of measures aimed at developing the entrepreneurship sector and startups, including the adoption of the general policy for entrepreneurship and the national strategic plan for the years (2021-2025), which aims in its broad outlines to a friendly and stimulating environment for entrepreneurship in the Kingdom and remove obstacles to it in a way that ensures maximizing the economic potential of the Jordanian entrepreneurship system and its growth and pushes the wheel of the economy and sustainable development, which contributes to encouraging investment in Jordanian entrepreneurial companies and enables them to Finding funding to invest in entrepreneurial projects.
In addition to providing assistance to Jordanian entrepreneurial companies to access local, regional and international markets and open new markets for them, enabling entrepreneurs to innovate creative solutions and products, and enhancing the Kingdom’s ability to compete regionally and internationally in the field of entrepreneurship, the Telecommunications Law was also amended to include digital transformation and entrepreneurship in order to provide the appropriate legislative environment, as well as the establishment of the Jordanian Entrepreneurship Fund to provide innovative financing tools based on partnership with various parties of the private sector, especially Mutual funds, under specific conditions and criteria, in addition to other funding bodies such as Oasis500, which is the first startup accelerator in the Middle East and North Africa.
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship has also converted 40 knowledge stations into business incubators in all governorates of the Kingdom, where there are currently approximately 3-4 business incubators in each governorate, in order to provide an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to benefit from incubation services and develop their creative ideas.
Since the beginning of this century, Jordan has occupied a distinguished position in the field of entrepreneurship and startups, as it has embraced the most Important and successful projects that were able to expand and obtain funding in addition to distinguished acquisition deals, for example, the total funding obtained by the Tabibbi platform was about $ 94 million, the Abwab platform obtained funding of about $ 7.5 million, the tomato company was able to obtain about $ 17 million, and Jawaker reached an acquisition deal of $ 205 million, and in 200 million dollars. 2019 The World Economic Forum has listed 27 Jordanian startups among the top 100 startups in the region.
Perhaps this clearly indicates the ambition of Jordanian youth and their constant pursuit of renewal and innovation and their ability to face challenges and turn them into opportunities, which requires serious work to develop this sector and provide the requirements that ensure the expansion and growth of entrepreneurial startups and work to overcome the difficulties that may face entrepreneurs, and it is useful to work on evaluating the achievements and reviewing the efforts made in this field in order to develop and modernize procedures and keep pace with technological and economic development.
Al-Ra’I