The Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO) on Thursday celebrated the closure of "Supporting industrial SMEs to promote and sell online through virtual markets" Project, which is managed by the "Trade for Employment (T4E)" Project implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, and commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, to support 27 industrial SMEs with a fund up to (200.000) Euros.
Abd Al-Fattah Al-Kayed, JEDCO's CEO, said that "the difficult challenges facing the Kingdom especially in these global economic developments highlight the urgent need to enhance the competitive capabilities of the local private sector. The Government of Jordan is fully aware of the most important issues facing the industrial sector and we are looking for solutions, to mitigate the financial and economic effects of COVID-19 Pandemic and the decline in export activity. The Government of Jordan has been keen to provide a quick and flexible response according to the SMEs needs that have appeared during the current time”.
Al-Kayed expressed his appreciation for the GIZ's support in the development of the industrial sector in Jordan, enabling JEDCO to implement and offer its technical support services through "Supporting industrial SMEs to promote and sell online through virtual markets" Project.
He also added that we in JEDCO provide non-traditional solutions to support the export capabilities of industrial SMEs to enable them to overcome the urgent challenges in addition to facilitating the registration of local SMEs' products in the virtual markets and thus expanding the customer base and implementing the electronic selling process locally and internationally to enhance the Jordanian products.
The project aimed at raising the marketing capabilities of 30 industrial SMEs to export through virtual markets through financial and technical support. It supported institutional reforms to reduce the obstacles faced by SMEs which want to work in this field, and to create. Furthermore, it created an enabling environment that supports e-commerce and alleviates its obstacles, in addition to financing SMEs’ participation and registration fees in some global virtual market sites. At the end, 27 SMEs benefited from the project.
Ms. Kordula Mehlhart, Head of Development Cooperation of the German Embassy in the Kingdom, expressed her appreciation for the cooperation between the two governments, especially the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply in Jordan, the project's political partner, and congratulated HE Minister Yousuf Al Shamali on his new position. She added that the support provided through the Trade for Employment (T4E) project to implement this initiative comes within the framework of the multiple efforts of the German government to provide technical and financial support to counter the negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic in Jordan.
Mr. Stefan Erber, GIZ Employment Cluster Coordinator added; Through this cooperation, support was provided to 27 industrial companies to register through electronic platforms, to enable them to sell and export through these platforms. Experts in exports and electronic commerce were also hired to provide training and guidance to companies on issues related to sale and marketing through virtual markets and their requirements, which goes in line with the vision and objectives of the project”.
The closing ceremony included a presentation of the project's achievements and success stories, as some of the beneficiaries presented their stories highlighting the most important activities that contributed to building their capabilities in the field of e-commerce and digital marketing through the grant.