(MENAFN- Jordan Times) AMMAN — It is not entirely about making money. It is about jobs, access to opportunities, self-realisation, and above all; taking matters into their own hands.
This is how business specialist George Ammari described what he noted as the entrepreneurial phenomenon in Jordan.
'It works; the entire world, at least in the West, is moving towards SMEs, micro-businesses and entrepreneurialism. Unfortunately, it does not find the support it needs to flourish here.'
In the most recent Art in the Park event, Jordanians of all ages and backgrounds, mostly youth, took to the park to share their products and dreams with the world.
The booths featured a wide variety of items, from food to art, pet-accessories, books, bracelets, to scented candles and more, sharing their stories and visions with the visitors.
'I have been working for years to establish my own bookshop in Madaba, debt-free; no loans or micro-financing, along with my former associate Zeina Sukhtian, who is now out of the country. I started selling books on the side of the road to finance my project, using my dear old car as a stand,' said Ghaith Jean, founder of Kawn Bookshop (which translates to Universe from Arabic).
On the other end of the marketplace, two women set up a booth for their own homemade pasta, prepared entirely from Jordan-grown ingredients.
Maysa and Wafa Labadi supply shops, and soon restaurants, with 'high-quality' pasta out of their own basement, so to speak.
"Maysa's Fresh Pasta Sells for competitive prices, more or less, and in the near future, we are looking to make them in quantities to drive the prices down and expand our share in the market. The eggs and the wheat we use are locally produced from Fuheis," she underlined.
On the path to self-realisation too, there were other young women who want more in life than mere employment.
Raya Khatib, a young Jordanian who makes candles and jewellery out of her own basement, said "Employment was simply not what I wanted. But until I worked at a restaurant owned by a young female, I did not know what really I wanted to do with my life. She inspired me to follow my heart. My childhood passions were curbed for so long, that I had forgotten about them. Thankfully, my love for making candles was rekindled by a long journey of self-exploration that took years of travelling and trials."
But not all Jordanians can travel the world, let alone afford to make mistakes and learn from them, said psychologist Afifa Shafei, a psychometric specialist for 12 years and MENA regional managing director of business management consultancy company Taqyim.
'Reality curbs our youth's enthusiasm; society too, be it home or challenges of the business environment in Jordan,' she underlined.
Aside from the social and cultural challenges, businesses struggle with sourcing locally, argued Hala Jafaar, founder of UniArt, an artefacts and accessories shop.
'Be it food or artefacts; most do not find it easy to secure Jordanian sources and suppliers. In fact, there is a plethora of complications,' Jafaar insisted.
'The economies of scale overseas make it far more attractive to source internationally. There are skills and materials you don't find here," she said about her supply chain.
"Let alone the registration process and bureaucracy. It is a nightmare. The costs are excruciating for start-ups and the procedures are too complicated."
Contrarily, the sales person at the Zadbar booth said: "Sure there are problems, mostly logistical, with sourcing domestically, but we find a way."
Zadbar is a Jordanian brand that makes nutritious snack bars off entirely organic ingredients with nuts and fruits.
Young makers of Jordanian cosmetic brand, Peppermint agreed with Jafaar.
Tamara Ayoub said their skincare products were "competing locally, but on a small scale, marketing mostly via social media'.
'We source a lot of the material overseas, but the struggle is sourcing domestically. Hopefully we'll find a solution."
For other entrepreneurs, there are more pressing matters than sourcing or bureaucracy. The environment for one.
One booth sells notebooks made entirely out of recycled material, in an attempt to carve a market out of the recycling operation, the people in charge of the booth said.
Alongside all the aspiring entrepreneurs, there were also artists in the park, leaving quite an impression.
A graffiti artist launched a comic magazine called Fanzeen, bringing together artists from Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt and America, and repackaged spray cans, turning them into artefacts instead disposing of them.
"You can bring together artists for a common work of art, while helping protect the environment," said Mike Derderian.
The spirit of entrepreneurialism seems to ignite more in people than just business, Ammari reaffirmed.
A testimony to that, are the young women and men who pursue paths that do not necessarily lead to accumulating wealth, said Shafei.
'It is definitely a trend, and yes; it is about more than just making money. It is about realising one's own aspirations and self-satisfaction.'
A good example would be Sadeel Abu Hakmeh; an aspiring 19-year-old firecracker of an artist, who sold most of her works at the booth right then and there.
She said she is going to launch her own art gallery soon.
'I combine art schools to help me communicate on a more fundamental basis with more people.'
Shafei argued there was a mentality that builds with exposure to new ideas and 'equally to the many hurdles that would otherwise squash a youth's dream'.
But this was not the case for the young girl who was covering for her aunt at the homemade chilli booth, Felfel.
Chrityl Marji, 13, spoke to The Jordan Times with the confidence of an aspiring CEO, and wisdom up her sleeve.
'My grandmother prepares all this at home. She has a secret Gazan recipe for making killer chili,' she said with a sparkling smile on her face.
Most of the vendors at the Art in the Park fair had one thing in common; they were building their businesses and dreams from scratch, relying only on themselves.
Access to capital is an issue in Jordan, according to Shafei, as well as access to support and investment.
'There are all these events that bring businesses together with potential investors, but no one knows what to do next. So many innovative ideas die out, just like that.'
Economist Mufleh Akel supported Shafei's argument.
He also added that these businesses require time to mature and develop fully, 'but it is a promising sector of the economy,' he said.
'They need smaller investments, smaller workforce and less time to mobilise. Put together, they amount to industries, supplying much of the major corporate market demand.'
Nuqul started as a small business and has now grown into a major venture today, Akel stated.
'SMEs —entrepreneurs included— are a real phenomenon. It is not a bubble. The World Bank has been focusing on such ventures for a reason. These businesses form an intricate web of supply and value chains, especially when sourcing operations domestically, that eventually accumulate added value to the Jordanian market and even exports, when possible.'
More so, there is an issue of distrust in conventional business models, such as public shareholding companies.
Thanks to the economic situation, the mismanagement and greed of many premium shareholders who make fortunes at the expense of the common shareholder, people are discouraged, Akel highlighted.
'The market is stagnant. And one way to revitalise it is to pump new funds into new establishments to reanimate the cycle. China's great accomplishments were driven by entrepreneurial businesses for the most part,' he argued.
'International financing and funding can help make capital accessible to entrepreneurs where local platforms fail to do so, regardless of the foreign agendas.'
However, there are some who actually find support but abandon it, for some reason, like Talar Takajian, another artist determined to leave a mark on the world.
"I started out with Dazain, but I didn't apply for funding and decided to follow my own project."
Shafei, described it as a failure to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit in Jordan.
Incubators and investors are not ecstatic about the risks of venture capitalism, Ammari explained.
There is a shortcoming in the financial and business support sectors, he said.
'Accelerators too, do not get how this particular aspect of the business cycle works. Investment in ventures such as SMEs and entrepreneurial projects is not just about pumping money. It is about guiding these businesses to maturity through a complex strategic business development process. Something most accelerators, incubators and investors know very little about.'
'Whatever mentoring that exists is merely superficial guidance,' he stressed.
There are countless business planning courses and workshops that are provided for entrepreneurs in Jordan, but very little mentoring, Ammari noted.
Nonetheless, youth take to the market and parks with their hopes high, and their heads in the game, but experts warn they lack both coaching and knowledge of how to play it.
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