Jordanian Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship partners with Zoho & VRS to support Kingdom’s digital transformation

(MENAFN- Asdaa BCW) Dead Sea, Jordan – The Jordanian Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship (MoDEE) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Zoho, a leading global technology company, enabled by VRS, a venture & ecosystem builder and Zoho strategic partner. The MoU aims to bolster Technology adoption in Jordan’s business sector and further cement the country’s position as a leader in the MENA region’s ICT sector.

The signing ceremony took place on the sidelines of the 20th MENA ICT Forum, held at the Dead Sea, Jordan, on November 16 and 17. The agreement was signed by His Excellency Ahmad Hanandeh, the Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, Hyther Nizam, President MEA at Zoho, and Abdullah Mando, the founder and CEO of VRS.

As part of this agreement, the ministry’s Jordan Source program will provide Jordan’s local business community with exclusive access to Zoho’s flagship suite, ‘Zoho One,’ an operating system that unifies more than 55 applications under a single, easy-to-use platform. Zoho is offering $1,000 of wallet credit and $5,000 of consultation credit to more than 50,000 businesses operating or setting up in Jordan, enabling them to avail enterprise technology in order to digitize their business and catapult their growth.

Jordan Source—a program operating under the ministry that aims to elevate the Kingdom’s international profile as an ICT investment destination, while putting a spotlight on the country’s local ICT talents—will also support Zoho and VRS as they establish their presence in Jordan in early 2023. In collaboration with Jordan Source, VRS will enable Zoho tap into the local talent pool providing hiring and business support services for the company and helping Zoho fulfill its ‘transnational localism’ strategy, which is rooted in developing offerings and experiences that align and engage with local cultures.

Commenting on the occasion, His Excellency Ahmad Hanandeh said, “As Jordan continues to rapidly elevate its profile as a major ICT hub, we remain actively committed to driving the Kingdom’s digital transformation on all levels. At the ministry, one of our strategic objectives is to support businesses across all sectors in their efforts to adopt digital tools, technologies, and processes, allowing them to enhance their operations in ways that enable them to better compete on an international scale. We are proud to partner with Zoho in support of this goal, and we look forward to supporting them as they set up their own operations in the Kingdom—a process that will be seamlessly facilitated through our Jordan Source program.”

On behalf of the partnership, Abdullah Mando, thanked His Majesty the King of Jordan, and all the stakeholders including Amjad Swais of Int@j, the MoDEE team, HE Mr. Hanandeh and both Hyther Nizam & Prem Anand, from the Zoho MEA leadership.

"We see great potential in Zoho's offering to the Arab economy, especially with the exponential growth and demand led by Saudi Arabia in the region. By taking advantage of Jordan's organic digital ecosystem, our partnership will position Jordan to take advantage of the regional growth and create thousands of jobs directly indirectly in the upcoming years," said Mando.

Businesses in Jordan benefiting from the partnership will be able to use their Zoho credit balance to purchase Zoho’s cloud-based solutions, which address a wide variety of business needs. Integrating this kind of advanced technology into the business sector is a key pillar to boosting the digital economy and driving resilience and long-term sustainability.

“We are pleased to collaborate with the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship to lead the way in advancing Jordan’s tech ecosystem and contributing to the acceleration of business’ digital transformation efforts, in line with the long-term National Digital Transformation agenda. The adoption of cloud solutions in Jordan demonstrates the strong government-led efforts toward digitalisation,” said Hyther Nizam.

“We have set a strategic roadmap for a long-term partnership with MoDEE that will continue to benefit SMEs and help drive economic sustainability for years to come. A t the core of this partnership is Zoho’s commitment to delivering local customer support, expanding partners’ channels, and creating bespoke offerings to better serve the rapidly growing customer base in Jordan,” Nizam added.

Zoho uniquely offers the most comprehensive, unified, and centralized platform for users to run their entire business on the cloud, eliminating the need for multiple, asynchronous business management applications that do not seamlessly integrate with one another. This eliminates the problem of data silos, multi-vendor contracts, and integration hassles. With a privacy-first approach, Zoho offers its users an unparalleled user experience, ensuring their information is securely stored and is not shared with any third-party software, as Zoho does not follow an ad-revenue model.

"We believe Jordan is central to the MENA digital economy, and with the introduction of the Jordan Source program, and the existing support ecosystem, compounded with Zoho's technology, Jordan will remain an ICT leader in MENA and can potentially become a global hub," Mando concluded.

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