Skip to main content

Strategy& Middle East and Endeavor Jordan came together on Sunday to organize a joint event dedicated to brainstorming and discussing the various challenges faced by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in MENA.

Held at the Sheraton Amman yesterday July 8, 2018, the event especially focused on Jordan, Bahrain, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. The primary agenda on the card was to discuss and exchange ideas that could help improve the region’s entrepreneurial and investment ecosystem.

“With this presentation and discussion we hope to kick-start a national dialogue on the importance of accelerating the growth of scale-ups, which create quality jobs and generate high wages, and thus contribute to sustainable economic growth,” said Walid Tahabsem, Endeavor Jordan’s chairman, during his welcome speech.

One of the key attractions at the event was the joint presentation by Melissa Rizk, a Fellow with the Ideation Center, and Alice Klat, Director at Ideation Center, on the current state of MENA’s entrepreneurial and investment environment. They also went at length highlighting the various challenges affecting the ongoing efforts to scale up the ecosystem.

There was also a panel discussion participated by a group of eminent entrepreneurs and scholars from across the region including H.E. Dr. Mohamed al-Jafari, Director General of the Jordan Loan Guarantee Corporation; Nadim Kayyali, Partner, Sanad Law Group in Association with Eversheds Sutherland; Endeavor entrepreneurs Yousef Shamoun, co-founder & CEO of ZenHR Solutions; and Nashat Masri, Founder and Partner of Foursan Group.

The panel touched upon a number of important factors determining the direction of Jordan’s entrepreneurial scene such as access to finance in the country, regulatory framework, relevant legislation, recruitment policies, human resources, and more.