AMMAN -- The government plans to draft new legislations before the end of the year to facilitate doing business and encourage entrepreneur projects, according to Industry and Trade Minister Amer Hadidi.
Noting that the government has reduced minimum capital required from entrepreneurs to set up a limited liability company from JD30,000 to JD1,000, Hadidi pointed out that the ministry plans to reduce it even further to only JD1 in addition to allowing entrepreneurs to work from homes.
The official made the remarks at a press conference to launch Jordan 25/11 initiative, which will rank the fastest growing 25 companies in Jordan.
The project, which was launched in other countries including Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and North Africa, seeks to publisize successful entrepreneurs in emerging countries.
According to AllWorld Network, which launched the programme, the challenge for emerging countries is that their growth companies stall at a small size because they are not known and as a result, they do not have access to the growth capital, talent and opportunities their counterparts in advanced economies have.
Companies from around the country are invited to apply to the Jordan 25 |100 competition, AllWorld Co-founder Anne Habiby said at the press conference, stating that a total of 30 companies have applied so far to compete to be among the list of the fastest growing 25 businesses in Jordan.
Winners will be credentialed as global growth entrepreneurs and become part of the AllWorld Network of winners from the US, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The Jordan 25|100 winners will be eligible for the MENA wide Arabia 500, which will be announced in the spring of next year in a ceremony that will be held in Jordan, she said.
"Our model is simple - find growth entrepreneurs, credential them, put them on the global radar screen and markets will come to them," Habiby indicated, noting that Boston-based AllWorld Network will announce the Jordan 25 next month and the Jordan 100 in late 2010 along with the release of the first Jordan Entrepreneurship Report.
Applying companies will be ranked based on their sales growth between 2006 and 2008 and younger growth companies could qualify as "Companies-to-Watch", she explained.
Companies will have to undergo a process including completing a detailed business survey and providing audited statements or an audit letter to confirm their revenue growth, according to selection criteria.
Hadidi said the government is committed to support small and medium enterprises, which represent around 95 per cent of the number of companies in the country, noting that several companies from various sectors penetrated international markets and some of these companies' shares are being traded on world stock markets.
AllWorld Network was established in 2007 by Deirdre M. Coyle, Anne Habiby and Michael E. Porter a professor at the Harvard Business School, after years of promoting entrepreneurship in the developed and developing worlds, according to the network.
By Omar Obeidat
© Jordan Times 2010
