Global Entrepreneurship Week Highlights Jordan's Emerging

UNCLAS AMMAN 002801

SIPDIS

FOR EEB/CBA (KOLTAI) AND NEA/ELA (GREGONIS AND ALLEN)
STATE PASS USAID

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EINT EINV TINT JO
SUBJECT: Global Entrepreneurship Week Highlights Jordan's Emerging
Entrepreneurial Culture

REFS: A) STATE 112998
B) Amman 2487
C) AMMAN 2306
D) STATE 112468


1. (U) Summary: Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) in Jordan was
marked by a series of events that raised excitement and awareness
about the emerging entrepreneurial culture in Jordan. With support
from USAID, the week featured a range of events from a gala opening
ceremony to low-key networking and educational events. The common
themes of the week were the importance of developing a culture of
entrepreneurship in Jordan and a desire to build on the momentum
generated by the recent success of Jordanian startups like Arabic
internet portal Maktoob (ref C). Though it received very limited
coverage in the mainstream Jordanian press, GEW events were covered
extensively and positively on a number of Jordanian blogs. End
Summary.

From Galas to Groundwork
--------------


2. (U) Global Entrepreneurship (GEW) kicked off on November 15 with
a gala opening featuring 13 speakers from Jordan and the U.S. The
speakers included high profile American entrepreneurs such as Reid
Hoffman, founder and CEO of LinkedIn, and Mitchell Baker, Chairwoman
of the Mozilla Foundation. The event also featured successful Arab
entrepreneurs Sami Shalabi whose company Zingku was acquired by
Google in 2006 and Habib Hadad the founder of Yamli, an Arabic
search engine. The speakers delivered speeches that were fast paced
and high energy, and the atmosphere was more concert-like than a
typical business dinner. The colorful stage, live band, and a
dynamic emcee added to the animated environment.


3. (U) GEW events continued on November 16 with an open session at
Princess Sumaya University for Technology featuring five of the
highest profile speakers from the night before. Joi Ito, Mitchell
Baker, Sami Shalabi, Reid Hoffman, and Habib Hadad spoke for 10-15
minutes each to an auditorium full of students and entrepreneurs
about a range of topics including financing, finding collaborators
and co-founders, and the challenges of starting a business in
Jordan, far from the support networks that exist in places such as
Silicon Valley. The rest of GEW featured sessions and workshops in
Amman; Irbid, Jordan's third largest city near the Syrian border;
and Zarqa, an industrial city that has struggled with high
unemployment. The sessions focused on developing an entrepreneurial
culture in Jordan's secondary schools and universities.


4. (SBU) Several GEW sessions referred to the obstacles that face
entrepreneurs in Jordan. From infrastructure issues like slow
internet connections and a lack of 3G mobile phone service, to a
cultural bias against entrepreneurship, to the almost total absence
of angel investors or other sources for startup capital, it is clear
that entrepreneurship in Jordan is fraught with challenges. In fact,
Habib Hadad explained that even though most of his target market is
in the Middle East, he started Yamli, his Arabic search engine and
translation tool, in Boston because the infrastructure and support
for entrepreneurs is so much better in the U.S. Additionally,
Jordanian entrepreneurs have scant R&D resources which have yielded
few significant commercial successes, in part because of the many
structural and resource impediments inherent in Jordan's science and
technology sector (REF B).


5. (SBU) GEW did not have royal patronage and received almost no
coverage in traditional Jordanian media, making the high turnout for
the opening and the panel discussion even more impressive. There
was, however, extensive coverage on local blogs, which described
various events as "high energy" and "a great networking opportunity"
while emphasizing that the organizers were able to put together "an
amazing lineup of speakers with zero boring government officials."
One conference attendee contrasted the high-energy and dynamic
atmosphere of GEW with the sedate feel of the International
Investment Conference organized by the Jordan Investment Board and
held the previous week on November 11 and 12. The businessman, who
attended both events, told Econoff that "if Jordan really wants
investors they should show them this (referring to the room full of
entrepreneurs) not another pitch for a date farm."

USAID Support Crucial to GEW's Success
--------------



6. (U) A number of events during GEW were supported by grants from
USAID. USAID provided $11,280 for the opening ceremony and USAID
was listed as a sponsor of other events during the week. In
addition, during GEW, a USAID-funded project celebrated the return
of 19 Jordanian businesswomen and entrepreneurs from the Thunderbird
School of Global Management where they completed the SEEDs program,
an intensive program on entrepreneurial skills. There are also
several USAID funded projects in Jordan that directly or indirectly
support entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship.

Keeping up Momentum and Building on Success
--------------

7. (SBU) There is general agreement among the organizers of GEW that
the week was a major success. Mohammed Khawaja, the executive
director of the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE),told
Econoff on December 20 that the success of GEW was not just the
prestige of the speakers or the number of attendees at the events
(though he was proud of both),but the spirit of cooperation that
was forged between different groups in Jordan working on
entrepreneurship. As a result of their cooperation on GEW, the
QRCE, the Young Entrepreneur Association (YEA),and the USAID-funded
Business Development Center (BDC) have agreed to form the Start
Alliance to promote entrepreneurship in Jordan.


8. (SBU) In addition to its participation in the new Start Alliance,
QRCE has other projects underway to promote entrepreneurship. To
complement their ongoing annual business plan competition, QRCE is
starting the program Micro to Small to help new "micro" startups
(usually with just one employee) grow to become "small" businesses
with three to eight employees. They are also working to establish a
national network of angel investors and have developed a new
program, Global Business Opportunities, to bring together
entrepreneurs from different countries to share ideas, contacts, and
best practices.


9. (U) In addition to the groups mentioned above there are several
other organizations focusing on entrepreneurship in Jordan.
Endeavor and Empertec are both international organizations with a
presence in Jordan. Jordan is also home to iPARK, one of the
region's first incubators for startups, which is currently
incubating 10 businesses, mostly in the high-tech sector.


10. (U) Comment: GEW in Jordan was successful in encouraging
existing entrepreneurs and building enthusiasm and support for
entrepreneurship in those who attended events. However, the lack of
press coverage and the relatively small scale of the GEW events
limited the impact on the broader population. There is no shortage
of entrepreneurship support organizations in Jordan but there is a
limit to what such organizations can accomplish without more readily
available start-up funding and broader cultural support and
encouragement for entrepreneurship. The organizers of GEW
understand these challenges and are taking concrete steps to address
them, including reaching out to elementary and middle school
students, and working with private investors and the GOJ to
establish angel funding networks. Despite these positive
developments, there are still significant cultural and institutional
challenges to be addressed before an "entrepreneurial culture" is a
reality. End comment.

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