Promoting entrepreneurship to boost development and employment (E4DE)

Project description

Title: Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Economic Development and Employment
Commissioned by: Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Jordan
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship
Overall term: 2022 to 2025

Context

Jordan's major challenge is to combat the increasing unemployment, particularly among young people. The current official unemployment rate has increased from 15.3 per cent (2016) to 23.3 per cent (2021).

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Report 2020, only 9.1 per cent of the adult population in Jordan is involved in an entrepreneurial activity – either in the founding stage or running a company. This puts Jordan in 34th place out of 50 of the economies surveyed. In addition, newly founded companies often remain micro-enterprises and show little potential for scaling.

There are several challenges facing the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Jordan. To name a few, framework conditions for entrepreneurs are not sufficiently conducive and administrative hurdles and bureaucratic procedures hinder entrepreneurs rather than enable them. Additionally, there is a lack of support structures for entrepreneurship and cooperation in the governorates. Regional markets and business potentials are not sufficiently used by entrepreneurs.

Two men selling fruit and vegetables at a market stand.

Objective

The growth and employment potential of entrepreneurship in selected regions in Jordan has improved.

Approach

The project pursues the following goals:

to improve human and planning capabilities of actors in the public and private ecosystem to develop support measures for entrepreneurs. Examine the framework conditions for entrepreneurship to design and implement appropriate measures in cooperation with local actors.
to consolidate regional ecosystems to promote start-ups and companies. Improve the entrepreneurial and technical conditions with new start-up networks and better regional start-up services.
to support new entrepreneurs and existing companies in making greater use of the regional markets and business potentials. This complements initiatives and creates a direct link to employment through founding and scaling up businesses.

Last update: September 2022