Queen Rania Centre for Entrepreneurship (QRCE) announced the launch of the second phase of its strategic plan for the years 2010-2015, which will focus more on supporting various and the growing needs of Jordanian Technology Entrepreneurs.

Farhan Kalaldeh, QRCE Executive Director said: “QRCE will be moving to the second phase of its strategic plan. Our focus now is on launching a new initiative that includes four programs and over 12 fully integrated components that will help to create a technology ecosystem to support innovation in Jordan.”

Kalaldeh illustrated that the upcoming stage will focus on four key areas: Networking Program to help Jordanian Technology Entrepreneurs exchange experience and knowledge; a Program to create more awareness on potential opportunities in technology startups and recognize innovative and outstanding technology business ideas and startups; an Investment Program to help Jordanian Technology Entrepreneurs seeking funding for their startups at seed and early stages, in addition to a Capacity Building and Support Program to provide Jordanian Technology Entrepreneurs with specialized training, mentoring and support services to help them establish, fund and manage their companies.

“During the past few years, by organizing National Competitions, Workshops and Conferences and Events, QRCE managed to promote the entrepreneurial culture in Jordan through the support and partnerships with organizations such as KAFD, KADDB, NAFES, PSUT, Orange, Google, USAID/SABEQ, YEA, RJ, Endeavour and many others.” Kalaldeh noted.

He added: “The efforts started in 2005 by QRCE and other organizations are now paying off, we have more and more University students and faculty members participating in competitions and training programs, more startups are established every year, a new generation of entrepreneurs is emerging.”

It is worth mentioning that Farhan Kalaldeh was recently appointed as the Executive Director for QRCE. Prior to that, he was the Excellence Manager and Project Manager at Economic Zones World (EZW) and Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA) in UAE. Before that, Kalaldeh was the “Investing In Technology” Program Manager at the Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF) and was responsible for initiating and managing ASTF programs aimed at developing Technology Entrepreneurship in MENA region. Kalaldeh started his career by working with several Technology Startups in Jordan.

To think that a singular effort would create Jordan’s ecosystem for entrepreneurship makes for an unreliable model. Real change will only come from the seamless integration of all the stakeholders working for entrepreneurs. Bilal Hijjawi sheds light on the work of two of Jordan’s most effective entrepreneurship support bodies.

“The few existing efforts focused on building an ecosystem for entrepreneurship in Jordan are great, but each of them will create what I’ve started to call a ‘mini-ecosystem’,” said Farhan Kalaldeh, who took the reins as Executive Director of Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE) last month.

“Entrepreneurship starts with education; continues with reforming legislation and policies; then government support and R&D grants are needed; then it’s incubators, venture capital and angel investing and last it requires mature stock markets that appreciate technology,” added Kalaldeh; whose organization is part of a larger cluster engaging technology and entrepreneurship. The QRCE is keenly focused on technology commercialization and empowering entrepreneurship in Jordan and the region.

Established in 2004, QRCE operates under the El Hassan Business Park banner, which was launched by the El Hassan Science City. The Business Park also includes under its umbrella the business incubator iPARK, QRCE and Intellectual Property Commercialization Office (IPCO).

In 1991, Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT) was established as the academic arm of El Hassan Science City. Over the years the university grew into an academic powerhouse that many today dub the Stanford of Jordan in recognition of its no-nonsense approach to technology and entrepreneurship.

This impressive technology cluster includes as well the Higher Council for Science and Technology, and the Royal Scientific Society. El Hassan Science City (EHSC) has all these organizations on its board to set strategies and policies with the sole purpose of integrating services that support entrepreneurs, creating the closest thing to an ecosystem that Jordan has ever had.

Ironically, the two players within this cluster, namely the iPark incubator and the QRCE, which had the most proven impact on entrepreneurs, have produced the least media buzz. But the evidence of their hard work has been astonishing.

“Our resources had come from government so we needed no publicity to raise funds. Whatever publicity we did was to target our stakeholders to the deal-flow for our incubator,” said Omar Hamarneh, Former Director of the iPARK Business Incubator and current CEO of El Hassan Business Park.

Most of Jordan’s who’s who in tech ventures graduated from iPark. NetAdvantage (NetAd), one of the Middle East’s largest online media networks and Jeeran.com, the world’s largest host for Arabic blogs were incubated at the iPark. Even Catalyst Private Equity and Riyada Ventures, two regional companies managing venture funds in hundreds of millions today had their first offices at the iPark.

Quirkat, the first to develop an original Arabic language massive multiplayer strategy game (ArabianLords) was also incubated at the iPark. Mixed Dimensions is another success story that is set to graduate soon from iPark (read the full story in this month’s issue). International companies, including KindiSoft, were also incubated at iPark.

“We’ve produced more than 40 successful ventures that now operate across Jordan and the Arab region,” Hamarneh told Venture. “Collectively, these companies hire today over a thousand highly skilled Jordanians and Arabs in the region.” The success of iPark has brought Jordanian venture capital firms a healthy deal flow of early stage ventures and SMEs.

However, added Hamarneh, “Our efforts as a cluster are not only gauged by success stories. It’s about exposing thousands of university students and young people to the concept of entrepreneurship, which allows them to make choices, experience the market and learn from obstacles.”

Kalaldeh, himself a former student of PSUT and cofounder of a former iPark startup, says QRCE will now be moving to the 2nd phase of its strategic plan. “Our focus now is on launching a new initiative that includes four programs and a dozen fully integrated components that will help create a technology ecosystem to support innovation in Jordan. El Hassan Science City will be the centre of this empowered ecosystem.”

Amman – Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship will represent Jordan at the Global Entrepreneurship Week GEW in Dubai, joining leaders in entrepreneurship from 88 countries.

The Congress serves as the forum for sharing best practices from around the world and to develop new ideas, as the assembly presents a real opportunity to examine the futuristic horizons for the sector and provide support for the entrepreneurship spirit in different sectors in society.

“Our participation crowns the good results we saw from the Jordan Entrepreneurship Week, during which several regionally and internationally recognized individuals and organizations participated, notably Red Huffman founder and CEO of LinkedIn and Joichi Ito CEO of Creative Commons and Twitter consultant, and others from the Arab region.” said Al Nazer – Jordans representative in GEW congress.

The Congress operates as a sharing forum for new ideas and best practices from around the globe. It also aims assembling current and future leaders behind the GEW movement who can connect during the GEW.

It is worth mentioning that governmental organizations, academic establishments, and non-profit organizations participate in the GEW to engage students, educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and others to assist them in adopting a culture of entrepreneurship and employ it to serve society.

ArabNet 2010 is the first international conference for the Arab web industry, bringing together leaders from across the MENA, Europe and Silicon Valley to discuss cutting-edge trends and emerging opportunities.

Are you Jordanian? Do you have an idea for an internet venture but need help bringing it to life?

Apply now for the Ideathon at the ArabNet 2010 Conference. The Ideators of Ideation Labs will be there taking a look at your ideas guaranteeing at least one of them to come back to Jordan for implementation based on the Ideation Labs model.

DART, the Student Entrepreneurship Society, concluded in collaboration with Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship, the training program that was held at Princess Sumaya University for Technology. The training program titled “Unleash the Entrepreneur” aims at developing the entrepreneurial spirit among participating students, increasing their awareness on entrepreneurship and managerial work, locally and regionally. The intensive course was attended by over 50 students from the Jordanian University, the Hashemite University, Princess Sumaya University for Technology, and Jordan University for Science and Technology. During the 4-day long program, trainers shed the light on key topics and major issues chiefly on personal development and entrepreneurial skills growth. The training program comprised courses titled “External Relations Management”, “Event Management”, “Unleash the Entrepreneur in You”, “Social Media Training”, as well as a course on Soft Skills which outlined communication and presentation skills. Remarkably, DART Student Entrepreneurship Society is an initiative by Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship that aims at bridging the gap between academia and the business and industrial worlds by actively holding specialized sessions and workshops to reflect the needs of the labor market.

Social Entrepreneurship is about taking care of social environment and the development of the community, and social entrepreneurs are not like any other business entrepreneurs, their main concern is not the benefit but their main concern is the development of the society and how to make a good impact on the place where they live, and they are not like the other Non-for-Profit organizations as they don’t look for small scale development on specific programs and projects but they work on having a long term development plans on the society they live in.
So we can call the Social Entrepreneurship is the approach we take seeking for the development of the community and the society.
The concept of Social Entrepreneurship is new concept but the human history is filled with names and ideas that changed the world and developed the community and left everlasting impact in different fields, like Economic, Politics, Health and more.
In names we can read, Florence Nightingale (founder of the first nursing school and developer of modern nursing practices), also we can read Robert Owen (founder of the cooperative movement), and also Muhammad Yunus (Founder of the first Village Bank – Bangladesh).
Nowadays with the openness of the world and with the increasing number of populations in the communities, such kind of entrepreneurs started to think about structuring their work in more organized manner to be able to leave a better impact on the society, so that they started to think about making ventures and organizations to be responsible about delivering the messages that they are concerned about, and here the concept of social enterprise appeared to the surface.
The social enterprises are those social driven organizations that care most of all about accomplishing a social benefit through specific programs they run, and most of the times they don’t look for profit but the main thing they look for is the social and environmental development.

By Mohamad K. Obaidat

WORDS: Mohd M. Khawaja

As an addictive social media activist, I always face people questioning the ability to achieve a “real” social change using social media.

People –at the offline world- used to believe that video & photo sharing, tweeting and networking are designed only for fun and entertainment, while there is a lot we can do when we become part of any of this growing digital social networks.

Social media is the new media!

As social media is becoming the new way to communicate thoughts, news, believes and ideas, it can be the greatest source ever for influence and empowerment. Not only for it’s remarkable growth and outreach, but also because it is driven by the crowds rather than individuals (as in the case of traditional media).

Few examples …

Among with other participant of LeWeb this year, I was so inspired by H.M. Queen Rania’s Speech about how the real-time web can make real life change.

“The majority did not believe digital advocacy could translate into analogue action. They couldn’t see retweeting or joining Facebook groups as leading to volunteering or rallying.” H.M. Queen Rania describing the feedback of her Twitter followers about the impact of social media in real life.

As a solid example about the role of social media in creating change, H.M. talked about how Jordanians used watwet to aid victims of the war on Gaza and how that led to success campaigning to support innocent Palestinians there by donating food and clothes. I personally can’t imagine how that would work out without watwet, facebook, twitter and other social media platforms!

Right after that story from Jordan, H.M. Queen Rania moved to speak how social media can support the 1Goal campaign that aims to promote education as the primary way to change the world, and make it a better place for living, mentioning that there are more than 75 million children out of school.

Introducing 1Goal initiative, H.M. said:

“In partnership with FIFA… with world-class football stars like Michael Owen and Thierry Henry… with global leaders like Prime Minister Zapatero and Prime Minister Brown… we’re going to make the real time web bring real world change for 75 million children. From April 19^th 2010 until the final whistle of the World Cup on July 11^th, we want you to dedicate 1 DAY for 1 GOAL.”

Social web is not only for celebrities!

Even though I started by speaking about a Global figure like H.M. Queen Rania, I believe that social media is for everyone who can read and write! So, it is important to shed some light on few other Jordanian/regional initiatives that are effectively utilizing the social web to achieve social impact.

I start by Nakhweh.com, one of the creative projects launched by Ideation Box. It aims to empower volunteers and NGOs by providing matchmaking services to foster and develop the voluntary work in the community. We –at the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE) – have used it effectively to recruit volunteers for Global Entrepreneurship Week ’09 and we look forward to considering it as a primary platform to attract more volunteers in 2010. Nakhweh is currently adding value to other leading NGOs in Jordan and it is moving regional as well.

Speaking about Social Networking drives my memory back to the last Twestival event organized last September at our campus. During the discussion, few minutes were given to Hana Ramli to speak about how facebook has helped her to recruit over 3000 volunteers in her impressive initiative “Ketabak Ketabi” and it is now becoming a regional initiative for Palestinians in refugee camps in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Ketabak Ketabi aims to foster the establishment of new libraries for less privileges children utilizing donated books from the online and offline communities.

So… What is next?

In order to channel social media to promote good causes, we should make it accessible to everyone. As a starting point, I do invite organizations to develop social media policies for their employees -as we did for QRCE- to increase their involvement and support to national and global initiatives. Organizations should really dedicate some time of their team to engage in social networks and be effective part of it. I think this should be as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility of any company whatever its size or mandate.

I end up this post with great quote for H.M. Queen Rania from her speech at LeWeb:

“My challenge to you is to help deepen the links between the web and the world… to find new ways people can make their own leap from virtual activism to real action. You are the ones who can help link online activism to reality, to finally make life-streaming life-changing.”

Please, let us know what do you think? how social media can make the world a better place for living! examples are apprecaited.

Disclaimer: The new website of the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship is developed by Ideation Box.

Answering this big question has always been an issue for startups looking for investment.

Placing a valuation on young companies is a challenging tricky game, but it’s one small-business owners have to know how to play, especially when investment capital remains stubbornly scarce.

There has been several approaches to valuate your company:

1. Asset Valuation

It can be done by looking at the current assets of the company (should be shown in the balance sheet). You have to include physical assets: including machinery, office furniture, computers, inventory, prototypes (and the cost to develop them), and Intellectual Property including patents and trademarks.

Other valuable assets are employees and prncipals (usually called as management resources) in addition to customer relationships (represented by signed contracts and their value and I commonly name it as “networking resources).

2. Income approach

Looking at the asset value of a business can be complicated, as the numbers on the balance sheet may not accurately reflect the actual value of things like building and equipment after depreciation, or land value if the business is more than a few years old.

For this reason, some valuators prefer to use the company’s income before depreciation, interest and tax (IBDIT) are deducted to predict future earnings and the overall value of the company. IBDIT should reflect the true nature of the business, and as such should be based on the financial records averaged over the last 5 years, 3 years, or current year if that is more appropriate.

3. Market approach

Market approach is a vital method for valuation based on estimated earnings based on theoretical market demand. it is always preferred by young, asset-light startups looking to attract deep-pocketed investors. The bigger the market, and the higher the growth projections (ginned up by independent analysts), the more your start-up is potentially worth.

This method requires an assessment for competition and determining the barriers to entry. The stiffer the competition, the lower your valuation. On the flip side, the more fortified your company against new challengers (based on factors such as location, contracts with key customers, first-mover advantage, etc.), the more it’s worth. These intangibles translate into what’s known as goodwill–the amount a buyer might pay for your company above the value of the assets on your balance sheet. Goodwill can well bump up a valuation by a few million dollars.

It is also recommended to look at other similar companies that have managed to raise money–an exercise not unlike appraising the value of your house by comparing it to similar homes recently sold in your area.

More blog posts will be added about each approach with examples and fgures, stay tuned !

Global Entrepreneurship Week, an international initiative observed in over 80 countries annually, concluded Sunday, November 22. For the first time, the event was held in Jordan and featured a slate of panels, trainings, speakers and activities in which 400 local, Arab and international entrepreneurs and business leaders took part.

The goal of Global Entrepreneurship Week is to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity, and to encourage entrepreneurship around the globe. The organizers in Jordan focused especially on positioning the country as a regional hub of innovation and the leader in entrepreneurial activity.

The week, which began with a launch reception and speaker line-up on Sunday, November 15, was organized by Creative Commons, Endeavor Jordan, the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE), and the Young Entrepreneurs Association, and was coordinated globally by the Kauffman Foundation.

Key-note speakers at the launch included Silicon Valley stars Reid Hoffman, the founder and CEO of LinkedIn, Joi Ito, an activist, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, CEO of Creative Commons and an adviser to Twitter, and Mitchell Baker, the Chairwoman of the Mozilla Foundation, launcher of the Firefox web-browser. The entrepreneurs shared their perspectives with their audience, focusing on the importance of open-ness, collaboration, risk-taking and embracing failure as keys to successful entrepreneurship.

Also taking the podium were Sami Shalabi, founder of Zingku, which was later acquired by Google, and Habib Haddad, a co-founder of Yamli.com, an Arabic-language search engine. From Jordan, speakers included CEOs, business leaders, investors and innovators involved in entrepreneurship in the Kingdom and the region.

Organizers sought to spotlight Jordan’s nascent culture of entrepreneurship, highlight individual success stories and draw up an action plan to grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Jordan.

The week’s agenda was diverse, featuring learning opportunities like a training on November 17th led by Mary Elizabeth Diab, who coached 185 participants on the techniques of networking. On the 22nd, Dr Wissam Rabadi led “Entrepreneurship 101,” a curricula developed by Intel Education and the University of California at Berkeley.

Two days during the week were dedicated to “Afkar, yes we can!” a series of interactive creative thinking sessions conducted by DART, a student entrepreneurship community based at Princess Sumaya University for Technology. The DART team visited 10 schools in Amman, Ma’an and Zarqa with the aim of stimulating students to take on entrepreneurship in their future.

A panel discussion was held on Saturday focused on the achievements made by women entrepreneurs in Jordan. Success stories were shared with 50 attendees, which highlighted the role women business leaders play in socio-economic development.

At the conclusion of Global Entrepreneurship Week, Tijaritna, an entrepreneurs’ marketplace featuring handmade and home-baked products and treats, was held at City Mall on Sunday, November 22.

Organizers voiced appreciation for the sponsors of the week, including Aramex, Société Générale Bank and Friedrich Naumann Foundation, in addition to other supporters; USAID, King Abdullah Fund for Development, Zain, Orange, IV Holding, Royal Jordanian as the official carrier, Rotana Radio, Energy FM, OC and Venture magazines.

- ENDS -

About the Organizers:

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that works to increase the amount of creativity (cultural, educational, and scientific content) in “the commons” — the body of work that is available to the public for free and legal sharing, use, repurposing, and remixing. Creative Commons provides easy to use legal tools to give everyone from individual creators to large companies and institutions a simple, standardized way to grant copyright permissions to their creative work.

Endeavor is a global non-profit that breaks down barriers that prevent emerging-market entrepreneurs from reaching their high-impact potential. Endeavor screens hundreds of next-generation entrepreneurs, ultimately selecting those who demonstrate the leadership, creativity, and entrepreneurial qualities to build high-growth, successful companies. Once selected, Endeavor Entrepreneurs benefit from services tailored to help them develop their businesses, plan for growth, and attract financing. Endeavor Jordan launched in 2009 to support high-impact entrepreneurship in Jordan.

The Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE) is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization which works towards improving national development and aims to be the region’s cornerstone for technology commercialization and entrepreneurship advancement. The QRCE hosts the Google Award for the Best Online Business in Jordan, in addition to the Queen Rania Entrepreneurship Competition.

The Young Entrepreneurs’ Association was established in November 1998 as a non-governmental, non-profit organization. The membership-based YEA plays a leadership role in supporting young entrepreneurs in today’s increasingly competitive global market. YEA aims at supporting entrepreneurial opportunities through enhancing the entrepreneurial spirit, growing the number of entrepreneurs in Jordan, and improving the business environment.

Jordan will participate in Global Entrepreneurship Week taking place November 16-22, 2009 with a slate of activities focusing on entrepreneurs at all stages of growth and featuring leading entrepreneurs from around the world, the region and the Kingdom.

The Week, beginning with a launch reception in Amman on Sunday, November 15, is organized by Creative Commons, Endeavor Jordan, the Young Entrepreneurs Association, and the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE).

According to the organizers, the launch event is designed to spotlight Jordan’s nascent culture of entrepreneurship, celebrate success stories, and “develop an action plan on how to position Jordan as the entrepreneurial hub of the region through live voting on key questions developed by international experts”.

“This effort falls under the organizers’ contribution to translating into reality the vision of His Majesty King Abdullah for Jordan’s economic development,” said Mohamad Khawaja of the QRCE.

Speakers include inspiring world-class entrepreneurs such as Joi Ito, a Japanese activist, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist; Silicon Valley luminaries Reid Hoffman, the founder and CEO of LinkedIn, and Mitchell Baker, Chairwoman of Mozilla Foundation, launcher of the Firefox web-browser; and Arab business innovators such as Habib Haddad and Sami Shalabi, the tech gurus behind YallaStartUp.org.

From Jordan, Ghassan Nuqul from the Nuqul Group, Maher Kaddoura, from Huron Consulting Group and founder of Hikmat Road Safety, and Sabri Hakim from Talasim will be sharing their experiences with an audience that will include CEOs, high-impact entrepreneurs, business leaders, investors, entrepreneurs, innovators and team leaders.

The Global Entrepreneurship Week calendar, available to view at www.unleashingideas.org/jordan, features on November 16th a Global Entrepreneurs Forum, which brings together the business community to hear from and network with five outstanding international entrepreneurs. A Speed Networking Session on November 17 will be an educational event teaching 100-200 professionals to network effectively with each other. On the 21st, a panel discussion featuring successful Jordanian businesswomen will address the aspirations of women entrepreneurs and the particular challenges they encounter. Another educational opportunity, Entrepreneurship 101 will be offered by UC Berkeley trainer Dr Wissam Rabadi on November 22nd. All of these events will be held at Princess Sumaya University of Technology.

The 18th and 19th will be dedicated to “Afkar, yes we can!” a series of interactive creative thinking sessions at schools in Amman, Irbid, Ma’an and Zarqa for students to enhance their problem-solving techniques in order to break down the obstacles facing young leaders.

The week of activities concludes with Tijaritna, an entrepreneurs’ marketplace featuring handmade and home-baked products and treats, all day at City Mall on Sunday, November 22nd.

About the Organizers:

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that works to increase the amount of creativity (cultural, educational, and scientific content) in “the commons” — the body of work that is available to the public for free and legal sharing, use, repurposing, and remixing. Creative Commons provides easy to use legal tools to give everyone from individual creators to large companies and institutions a simple, standardized way to grant copyright permissions to their creative work.

Endeavor is a global non-profit that breaks down barriers that prevent emerging-market entrepreneurs from reaching their high-impact potential. Endeavor screens hundreds of next-generation entrepreneurs, ultimately selecting those who demonstrate the leadership, creativity, and entrepreneurial qualities to build high-growth, successful companies. Once selected, Endeavor Entrepreneurs benefit from services tailored to help them develop their businesses, plan for growth, and attract financing. Endeavor Jordan launched in 2009 to support high-impact entrepreneurship in Jordan.

The Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE) is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization which works towards improving national development and aims to be the region’s cornerstone for technology commercialization and entrepreneurship advancement. The QRCE hosts the Google Award for the Best Online Business in Jordan, in addition to the Queen Rania Entrepreneurship Competition.

The Young Entrepreneurs’ Association was established in November 1998 as a non-governmental, non-profit organization. The membership-based YEA plays a leadership role in supporting young entrepreneurs in today’s increasingly competitive global market. YEA aims at supporting entrepreneurial opportunities through enhancing the entrepreneurial spirit, growing the number of entrepreneurs in Jordan, and improving the business environment.