King urges entrepreneurs to help develop local communities outside Amman

His Majesty King Abdullah on Thursday urged entrepreneurs to support new projects and enterprises to assist in overcoming the problems of poverty and unemployment.

During a meeting with business entrepreneurs, the King encouraged them to support the governorates development fund through offering ideas and highlighting their experiences. This way, they can assist the fund to achieve the goals it has been set up for, a Royal Court statement said.

The King commended the entrepreneurs’ efforts to improve the country’s economic situation and contribute to its development.

King Abdullah said political reform, which is proceeding steadily, must go hand-in-hand with economic reform to face challenges, noting that this requires a real partnership between the public and the private sectors.

Their Majesties the King and Queen Rania earlier on Thursday received five of the businesswomen who were present at the meeting.

They briefed the King and the Queen on their projects, their contributions to their community and their innovative ideas.

The entrepreneurs His Majesty met are known for their success stories, starting from ideas into full-fledged enterprises, some of which have penetrated regional and international markets, as they stated in recent interviews with Al Rai and The Jordan Times.

One of these is Ahmad Issa Khatib who returned from the US in 2010 and used his experience in the field of e-business to establish an online shopping company.

At first, his idea did not interest Jordanian investors, which led Khatib and six other young Jordanians to rent a store in Wadi Seer with a capital of JD7,000. At their first month of work they gained JD60,000.

Afterwards, they obtained the support of a Belgian investor worth JD500,000.

The company, MarkaVIP, which offers around a million members in the Middle East access to exclusive international brands, is now worth JD22 million.

Meanwhile, Hassib Sahyoun and four of his colleagues have a series of medical laboratories across the Kingdom and eleven Arab countries.

MedLabs, which employs 250 people, has obtained US and European accreditation, in addition to winning the King Abdullah II Award for Excellence in the Private Sector.

In 2006, Ramez Kalis and three of his friends introduced Jordan’s first free-standing, independent call centre.

CrysTelCall is a leading contact centre providing a full range of inbound and outbound contact centre and outsourcing services. The company started with a capital of JD650,000 and currently has 250 employees.

Rabie Zreiqat launched the “tourism exchange” project, which seeks to enhance communication between various communities in the Kingdom and bridge social gaps between people in rural areas and cities.

Samar Habayeb, has developed a project, launched by her mother and aunt, to produce ceramic products.

The products have reached markets in several Arab countries and were displayed at the British Museum and will be soon on display at the Louvre Museum.

Al Rai’s Hatem Abbadi contributed to this report