Experts share ideas for ‘better future’ at entrepreneurship forum

AMMAN — “Transformation relies heavily on innovation, and, even though Jordan excels in several areas, it is not enough, and we shall remain open-minded if we want to resolve our issues,” ICT Minister Majd Shweikeh said on Sunday, stressing that “we can not digitise what is already not working”.

The remarks came at the second edition of the Entrepreneur of the Year Forum organised by Ernst & Young (EY) Jordan, which aims to provide a platform for the Kingdom’s entrepreneurs, thinkers and business leaders to engage in a discussion on entrepreneurship. 

“Innovation realised” was the theme of this year’s edition, which saw the participation of local, regional and international speakers who offered their perspectives on the issues related to the cultivation of a pro-innovation environment in Jordan.

The minister thanked all partners for organising “a platform for the transformation of our future”, noting that “innovation should be understood as the mindset of the people willing to create new ideas, and as a way of survival that needs to be at the core of every entity both in the private and the public sectors.”

“Connectivity is power and digital justice is what we are trying to achieve,” Shweikeh continued, stressing that Jordan has a “powerful and resilient infrastructure with all institutions connected, and what we need to find out is how we are going to use that to change the future of our youth”.

When asked about the government’s ability to keep up with the pace of innovation, the minister said that “technology moves faster than the regulations, and it is because of this that the impact of the regulations should be assessed in order to understand its effects at all levels and prevent any constraints to innovation.”

For his part, partner at EY Jordan Waddah Barkawi said that “building on the resounding success of last year’s Entrepreneur of the Year forum, we are delighted to bring it back for a second consecutive year, thus playing a major part in the conversation about innovation, which has taken the region by storm,” noting that “today, the term ‘innovation’ reflects the region’s collective efforts to bring and sustain positive change in all areas and sectors.”

Guest speakers from the public and the private sectors exchanged thoughts through two panel discussions titled “The DNA of Innovation” and “Superfluid Industries”, where participants spoke about ways to thrive and contribute to the overall development of the region.

Partner at Wamda Capital Fares Ghandour was one of the guest speakers in the first panel, where he stressed that “the issue with Jordan is that 40 per cent of its workforce within the state, and that will not work in the long term.”

“What the Kingdom needs is a transformation from a state dependence to a private organisations dependence, and fintech [financial technology] is the tool that will enable the country to build a digital environment away from the state sponsorship,” the expert added. 

CEO of the Queen Rania Foundation Haifa Al Attia highlighted the need to pay attention to the youth, stressing that “around 35 per cent of the skills that we are looking for nowadays will not be relevant by 2020”.

“The first-graders of our time will be working at jobs that don’t even exist today, and that is why we should stop educating them to be factory labourers and start looking at the skills that they can bring to the table,” Attia continued.

Chairman of the Board of Jordan Ahli Bank Saad Mouasher also stressed the need to change the mindset, noting that “innovation is starting to happen in sectors such as agriculture and it is not about the product anymore, but about the business model and the customer engagement.”

The discussion took place one day before the announcement of this year’s Entrepreneur of the Year award winners. Created to recognise the accomplishments of the most successful entrepreneurs around the world, the global Entrepreneur of the Year programme celebrates its 31st edition this year, having grown to encompass more than 145 cities from 60 countries.