Jordan Times
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Forum seeks funding, technology and management partners for SMEs
AMMAN — An international investment forum, to be held here in June, would focus on attracting foreign partners to local small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The Jordan Investment Board (JIB) is organising the “Growing Business in Jordan” forum in coordination with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Italian ministry of foreign affairs.
“We are not only after attracting capital injection into projects, but also seeking to attract management and technology,” JIB Director General Maan Nsour told The Jordan Times.
According to Monica Carco, head of UNIDO's Investment Promotion Unit (IPU), the forum targets key stakeholders in the form of donor agencies, NGOs, associations, banking institutions and business development organisations that are active in the area of SME development.
Being the first of its kind in the region, about 300 foreign and local companies are expected to take part in the event and, on the sidelines of the forum, exhibit their products at the King Hussein Ben Talal Convention Centre.
Carco described the forum as a “platform for foreign companies to use Jordan as a base for regional and international markets.”
“This forum is oriented towards the SMEs, which are often described as the backbone of entrepreneurship,” she said. “It provides the ideal environment for entrepreneurs to exercise their talents to the full and to attain the goals and objectives they have set for themselves.”
She indicated that in all successful economies, entrepreneurs are seen as essential for growth, job creation and social progress noting that the virtues of small business are by now almost universally accepted.
The head of UNIDO's investment unit stressed that SMEs play a very important role in all economies as they account for more than 90 per cent of businesses.
Underlining SMEs as the main source of employment, and the major contributors to exports and gross domestic product, Carco highlighted them as “well-known for their agility, vitality and acute business sense besides tending to be the leaders, when it comes to technical innovation and adaptation to swift changes in highly-competitive markets.”
The promotional campaign, the IPU director told The Jordan Times, places major focus on the Gulf countries, Europe, China, India and Japan.
The criteria for selecting these countries as the prime focus, she said, are based on the sectoral advantage of Jordan vis-à-vis these countries' trend of trade, investment flow pattern and the interest of private sector of such countries in the strategic location of the Kingdom.
The JIB was founded a decade ago to be the government's arm for promoting Jordan as a unique destination for foreign investments, working closely with the private sector to achieve its objective.
JIB provides investors with a full service assistance package that includes licensing and registration services, dissemination of information, reports and business opportunities as well as extending financial exemptions.
The IPU Jordan was set up in 2000 with the funding of the Italian government and has since been hosted by the JIB. The IPU supports the development of local industrial SMEs, facilitates their access to markets and financial services and contributes to enhancing the competitiveness and sustainability of industrial development in Jordan.