Entrepreneurship award celebrates successful projects around Jordan

AMMAN — Failing to find a kindergarten that would integrate her three children with disabilities into regular classrooms with "normal" children, Iman Majali decided to establish her own.

"It is very important for children with disabilities to learn in an encouraging environment that hones their skills without making them feel inferior," she told The Jordan Times on Thursday at the King Abdullah II Award for Free Works and Entrepreneurship ceremony.

Majali came up with her idea 13 years ago and used a JD7,500 loan to set up a "humble" kindergarten in the Sports City neighbourhood in Amman, with four staff members and around 12 children.

"For three years I accepted children for free and I had to convince parents of regular students that having children with disabilities in the same classroom would not hinder the educational process," said Majali, who worked as a teacher before starting the kindergarten.

"I expanded my project to include a school until seventh grade… now I have a total of 170 students, a third of whom are with disabilities, and I don't have to convince parents anymore," she told The Jordan Times at the award ceremony, attended by Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour.

Today Majali's project, which provides jobs for 30 staff members and six part-time workers, is worth over JD200,000, and she wants to develop a specialised institute that equips graduates with disabilities from her school with skills to excel in suitable jobs that provide them with an income.  

Majali shared the entrepreneurship award's JD10,000 first prize with Mohammad Biqaai, who opened a physiotherapy and rehabilitation centre in Irbid.

Meanwhile Ali Olaimat and Ayman Kasasbeh shared the JD6,000 second prize, and the third place award went to Sahl Ammarin and Khalida Khreisat, who JD2,000 each. 

Olaimat's project is a dental clinic in Mafraq. Kasasbeh was honoured for a project to sell construction material and health items in Karak.

Ammarin's winning project is an optician's store in Karak, while Khreisat sells pottery products in Balqa.

In his speech at the event, Ensour highlighted the role of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in creating jobs, especially in remote areas, since the government cannot provide jobs for all Jordanians. 

"The public sector hires 43 per cent of Jordan's workforce, while governments worldwide hire only up to 15 per cent.”

Labour Minister Nidal Katamine told The Jordan Times that the ministry seeks to encourage people with disabilities, orphans and those with unknown identities living in peripheral areas to develop their own SMEs. 

The Development and Employment Fund (DEF), which organises the award, helped in creating around 15,300 job opportunities in several sectors across the Kingdom, Katamine noted in his address at the ceremony.

"The fund has provided loans worth a total of JD200 million to 68,000 projects since it started in 1991," he said, adding that 96 per cent of the projects were "successful".

"Around 47 of the fund's loans went to projects in villages and the badia, and 49 of the beneficiaries of the DEF's loans were females," added the minister, who is chairman of DEF.

He said DEF has prepared a funding plan worth JD31 million for this year that is expected to provide around 10,000 jobs.

The award, which aims to promote a culture of self-employment and entrepreneurship, received 526 applications for its ninth session, according to DEF Director General Abdullah Freij. 

The applications were studied and sorted according to the number of jobs the project creates, the growth of assets, innovation, contribution to the local community and sustainability, Freij said.

"In addition to the top three places, 12 prizes were given to projects that received the highest grades in the 12 governorates, in addition to five for projects funded by institutions that work in cooperation with DEF.”

Freij added that 58 prizes were awarded to projects that passed the minimum requirements.

The King Abdullah II Award for Free Works and Entrepreneurship, which started in 2004 based on a Royal Decree, is an annual award granted to micro-entrepreneurs in Jordan.