Information and Technology in Jordan

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post a news anything related about IT in jordan

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AMMAN (JT) - His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday met with Yahoo co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang and several top executives from the US-based Internet giant, which recently acquired the Amman-based web portal Maktoob.com.

At the meeting, attended by HRH Prince Feisal, the King stressed Jordan’s keenness to boost cooperation with the Internet giant to develop the IT sector in the Kingdom, whose revenues rose from $300 million in 1999 to $2.4 billion in 2008.

There are about 350 Jordanian companies working in the sector that have created 18,000 direct jobs, in addition to 60,000 indirect jobs, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

King Abdullah highlighted the achievements made in the local IT sector, pointing out to success stories, including the Maktoob.com achievement, which he said reflects the development of the sector, which contributes about 12 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product.

Late August, Yahoo! acquired the Amman-based Arabic web portal in late August, giving the company access to Maktoob’s approximately 16.5-million-strong audience across the Arabic-speaking world.

Through the deal, Yahoo! will offer Arabic-language content for the first time and versions of its products and services, including instant messaging and e-mail, in Arabic.

19 November 2009

http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=21723

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By Mohammad Ghazal

AMMAN - A navigation system scheduled to be available in Jordan in its initial version by the end of the month is expected to provide motorists and pedestrians with detailed traffic information by early 2010.

The first version of the system, introduced in the local market by Nokia, will provide motorists and pedestrians with directions and weather forecasts, according to a Nokia executive.

"In early 2010, the service will be used to provide traffic data for motorists and when the service is activated later in November it will provide weather forecasts," Kristian Zimka, portfolio and insights manager of Nokia's Levant marketing department, told The Jordan Times.

"There are plans in the future for the system to notify motorists of speed limits on roads and to provide traffic instructions and other related information," he added.

The Drive and Walk navigation service requires a subscription costing $100 annually and a device created for this purpose, according to the manager, who said subscribers can download free navigation maps for Jordan and several other countries in the Middle East.

Users can search in both English and Arabic for locations across the Kingdom and over 13,500 points of interests including hotels, restaurants, places of worship, shopping malls, petrol stations and others, while the service can speak about 48 languages when giving directions, according to a statement from the company.

The "Walk" service provides navigation for pedestrians, with routing optimised for those on foot, while the "Drive" service takes motorists from one location to another with visual turn-by-turn guidance.

The service helps users locate themselves by giving information about surrounding buildings, roundabouts and streets and "in newer handsets, points the direction in which they are walking using the handset’s built-in compass for orientation", Zimka said.

The map data of Jordan will include detailed road coverage of 28,621 kilometres covering 100 municipalities, including street names and street directions, according to the statement.

Nokia claimed in the statement to have 100 per cent of the total road network of Jordan covered, including all major highways connecting the Kingdom's major cities.

Later this year, Nokia will make its "Get to good things" website (http://maps.ovi.com/good-things) available to Jordanian consumers, so that they can share their personal points of interest from Jordan, according to Zimka.

“By taking the navigation experience out of the car and into the pockets of the consumers, Nokia is enabling Jordanian consumers to explore and discover,” said Bruce Howe, head of marketing at Nokia Levant.

“Having Ovi Maps on their device gives our consumers a new sense of their surroundings, with the possibility of discovering new places and sharing them with their friends using SMS, MMS or Bluetooth," Howe added in a statement received by The Jordan Times.

19 November 2009

http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=21740

[yazm1991]

Good to see.

[yazm1991]

Jordanians perceive IT, tourism sectors as men-only - study

Jordanians have a negative view of women working in the tourism and IT sectors, according to a study released on Monday.

Parents interviewed in a study prepared by the Jordan Centre for Social Research (JCSR) said they considered the work environment in the hospitality and IT sectors "inappropriate" for women.

The study, which was discussed yesterday in a seminar organised by the Labour Ministry's Directorate of Working Women, was compiled through interviews with parents, working women, unemployed women and female university students, according to JCSR Director Mousa Shteiwi.

"IT and tourism are highly promising sectors in the Kingdom and are growing at a very rapid pace,” Shteiwi told The Jordan Times yesterday.

“Over 60 per cent of IT companies were established within the last decade, which saw an increased demand for skilled workers of both genders," he said, highlighting that 27 per cent of the study’s random sample were employed by the IT sector and 23 per cent in the tourism industry.

The study, which was conducted between June 1 and October 31, indicated that parents disapproved of their daughters working in the sectors, preferring them to follow more “socially acceptable” careers such as teaching.

The study also revealed a discriminatory recruitment process within the IT and hospitality sectors, Shteiwi said, noting that employers expressed their desire to employ men over women.

Employers listed the need for workers to travel in between cities, long working hours and an inability to provide extended maternity leave as their main reasons for preferring male employees.

Education also presents an obstacle to women's participation in the IT and tourism sectors, the study showed.

Many female university students enrolled in IT and hospitality programmes who participated in the discussion groups said they felt unprepared for the work world, according to the report.

"Universities that provide IT and tourism education do not give students the opportunity to apply what they learn. This makes them unaware of the actual work environment after they graduate," Shteiwi said.

The study recommended relevant authorities to introduce women's empowerment programmes in cooperation with the private sector to boost their skills in various fields.

The report also suggested programmes offering practical experience for women university students in order to prepare them for careers in the sectors.

The report was compiled through 11 focus groups with women from Amman, Irbid and Petra regions in addition to interviews with representatives from 213 tourism companies and 100 IT industries from across the Kingdom, according to the JCSR.

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08 December 2009
December, Finally and after long waiting from the Jordanians, GPS Navigation is now available commercially for the first time in Jordan from The Arab Regional Company for Technology and Telecommunications (ARCO-TT). The navigation solution holding the trade name iNAV was launched in the Jordanian market with the purpose of revolutionizing the ordinary driving experience into a fulfilling one that enhances the Jordanian lifestyle.


iNAV GPS Car Navigation release is one of its kind due to its multi-faced features. Facilitating turn by turn directions supported by voice guidance, iNAV will help you find your way, shortest path and will guide you to thousands of Point of Interest (POI) when traveling in Jordan. Also, iNAV features route management, intelligent routing modes, over speed, alerts and much more.


"Launching iNAV for the first time in Jordan is aligned with ARCO-TT's ideology to foster innovation, expand the technology market in Jordan and develop its manpower. Navigation has worldwide appeal due to the value it adds to peoples' everyday lives and this is what we are about", stated Mr. Laith Hammo Vice President Business Development of ARCO-TT.


ARCO-TT's commitment to provide the latest navigation technologies is supported by its strategic collaboration with NAVTEQ, the leading global provider of digital map, traffic, and location data. "As Jordan continues to grow rapidly as both a commercial centre and tourist destination, NAVTEQ completed full navigable coverage of Jordan in its database earlier this year. With this and NAVTEQ's strong relationship with ARCO-TT, we are focused on enabling the successful adoption of mobile navigation in the Jordanian market" added Mr. Ghassan Freij, director, Sales & General Manager, Middle East & North Africa, NAVTEQ"


The digital map, a first of it's kind in Jordan, offers full coverage stretching from the elegance of Amman in the north to magnificent landscape of Wadi Rum and the coastal city of Aqaba in the South, the new map includes over 28,000 Km of Jordan's expanding road network and, very importantly, over 13,000 of the Points of Interest (POIs) which are so key to navigation in this country. Moreover, additional regional maps can be purchased to facilitate navigation as drivers travel to neighboring countries.


As part of ARCO-TT's strategy to ensure proper penetration in the local market place, a distribution agreement was signed with Telelink, a pioneering telecom device distributor and service provider in Jordan. "Telelink is pleased to have joined hands with ARCO-TT to bring forth first time ever products in Jordan like iNAV. We will be building on this relationship further to expand to new solutions offerings soon" as stated by Mr. Mohammed Khalili, GM of Telelink.

-End-


© Press Release 2009

That is however, one of the greatest news I have ever heared in jordan.

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By Mohammad Ghazal

AMMAN - Consumers in Jordan may have to wait longer for Third Generation (3G) service, after the implementing telecommunications company claimed it has yet to receive the frequencies needed to start the service.

Orange, a subsidiary of Jordan Telecom Group (JTG), last week requested an extension from the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) to implement 3G service, originally expected to launch in February 2010.

Chief Financial Officer Raslan Diranieh said he does not expect the service to be launched by the first quarter of 2010 as the group had not received the required frequencies, criticising the alleged delay.

“We paid the money for the licence a long time ago. So what did we pay for?" Diranieh asked in remarks to The Jordan Times in a phone interview on Sunday.

Orange paid JD50 million for the licence to launch the service and serve as the exclusive commercial provider for one year.

The country's telecom regulatory body rejected Orange's claims as baseless, stressing that frequencies have been extended to the company process.

“The 3G frequencies in the location where Orange has decided to launch the service in initial stages were extended to Orange,” TRC Chief Commissioner Ahmad Hiyasat told The Jordan Times yesterday.

“There is no reason for extending the deadline or delaying the launch of the service," he added, claiming that the frequencies needed to extend 3G service to the rest of the country are “ready to be provided”.

Orange was granted a licence to introduce the service in August and was given a six-month deadline.

The group announced in October that 3G service would be operational in the first quarter of 2010 in Amman and nearby governorates.

Under the licence, other mobile operators in the Kingdom will be allowed to introduce the 3G service one year after JTG’s commercial launch of the service.



14 December 2009

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'3G services to be available within 3 months'

Third Generation (3G) services will be operational within three months, Nayla Khawam, the chief executive officer of Jordan Telecom Group (Orange), announced Sunday.

"The service will be available in Amman and other areas across the country," Khawam said at a meeting with media representatives Sunday.

She added that every two months the company will expand coverage to include new areas in the country. In its annual report issued recently, the country's Telecommunications Regulatory Commission said the service is expected to be in the Jordanian market in February of this year.

According to Khawam, the group will start offering three types of 3G services at first, including video calls, TV on mobile and 3G high-speed mobile Internet.

She added that 20-25 per cent of the handsets in the country support 3G services.

The JTG chief added that the group is conducting studies to determine the prices of the 3G services, adding that they will be "reasonable" compared to the rest of the region.

In August, the TRC granted the group a JD50 million licence to introduce 3G services.

The group will enjoy a year of exclusivity from the date when the service becomes commercially operational, after which other mobile operators will be allowed to introduce 3G services should they meet the same conditions met by JTG.

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By Mohammad Ghazal

AMMAN - Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced on Sunday the launch of a regional competency centre in Jordan that will service the wider Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa (MEMA) region.

The centre, expected to be located at the King Hussein Park in Amman, is scheduled to be operational in mid-2010, according to HP executives, who said the centre provides technology services to Jordan, the Middle East and the surrounding countries as a first step.

“The centre might eventually evolve into one of HP’s global services delivery centres among others in the world and provide an opportunity for University of Jordan graduates to join a world’s leading technology company,” a statement by HP indicated.

Information and Communications Technology Minister Marwan Juma said the centre will help transfer HP’s technologies and know-how to the Kingdom and will help improve skills of the country’s graduates in the sector, a matter that will foster their capabilities to compete globally.

At a press conference yesterday, the minister highlighted that the Kingdom possesses highly qualified human resources, a matter that qualifies it to function as a regional hub for companies working in the sector, stressing that the Kingdom’s stability and security play a major factor in this regard.

Prior to the press conference, HP announced the opening of a fully owned subsidiary in Jordan under a memorandum of understanding it signed yesterday with the ministry for future job creation. Hewlett-Packard Jordan will offer sales, services and support capabilities to better serve the local market under the memo.

“HP’s investment in Jordan is part of our long- term strategy to identify and invest in the best growth opportunities across the world, and to deliver balanced and sustainable growth for HP worldwide,” said Francesco Serafini, the managing director of HP Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“We are excited with the ICT initiatives the government of Jordan is driving, such as the establishment of the King Hussein Ben Talal Business Park, that provide market-leading services to businesses,” he added.

John Hoonhout, managing director of HP Middle East, stressed the importance of the centre and the permanent offices for HP, saying: “Working with our partners, HP has enjoyed good business in Jordan over the years. With a permanent presence in Jordan, we will be able to get even closer to our customers and partners to drive further business success.”

Under the memo, HP will be cooperating with Jordanian universities in the IT sector.

“We are pleased to be collaborating with major Jordanian universities such as the Jordan University of Science and Technology to address innovations in education to prepare students to succeed in a global marketplace. As one of the world’s leading IT companies, we have a responsibility to equip young people with the skills they need to be competitive,” said Santiago Cortes, the vice president and managing director of HP MEMA.

His Majesty King Abdullah met with Serafini yesterday. During the meeting, attended by Juma, the King highlighted the Kingdom’s efforts to develop the IT sector, expressing satisfaction with the present level of cooperation with HP.

Citing opportunities available to expand present cooperation, the Monarch also expressed appreciation of the company’s contribution to the development of local human resources as part of its support for Jordan Education Initiative.

Also yesterday, Prime Minister Samir Rifai met with Serafini and stressed the government’s readiness to extend all facilities and support for HP to increase its investments in Jordan, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.


18 January 2010

http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=23259

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By Mohammad Ghazal

AMMAN - Orange Jordan on Wednesday launched its 3G+ Network in the Kingdom, expecting that some two million Jordanians will be covered by the service by the summer of this year.

The Third Generation (3G) services will be offered in the market in three phases, Orange Jordan's CEO Nayla Khawam said during a press conference Wednesday to launch the 3G services, which will be available to Orange users as of today.

Under the first phase launched Wednesday, the services will initially cover west Amman, Irbid and Zarqa, while in April the network coverage will expand to cover the entire capital, Khawam said.

Orange also plans to cover Aqaba with 3G services by late April.

During the summer of 2010, network coverage will have reached most urban locations in Jordan, delivering services to approximately 70 per cent of populated areas, which translates to around two million people, she said.

In August last year, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission granted the group a JD50 million licence to introduce 3G services.

The group will enjoy a year of exclusivity from the date when the service becomes commercially operational, after which other mobile operators will be allowed to introduce 3G services should they meet the same conditions met by the group.

In yesterday's press conference, Khawam said basic requirements for accessing Orange’s 3G+ services include 3G+ capable SIM cards (called USIM cards), 3G+ capable handsets and location within 3G+ coverage areas.

Khawam explained that the new network will deliver a host of new services, such as video calling, mobile broadband, access to exclusive personalised and Live TV - all of which will be reasonably priced in accordance with regional standards.

At the press conference, Minister of Information and Communications Technology Marwan Juma emphasised that the launch of this network is an important milestone in Jordan’s telecom sector.

"Introducing the 3G services makes Jordan restore its status in the market," said the minister, stressing the need for mobile operators to focus on providing value-added services.

In a speech during the conference, Chairman of Jordan Telecom Group's Board Shabib Ammari explained that the launch of these services is a realisation of the vision set by His Majesty King Abdullah, which aims to make Jordan an active regional hub for advanced telecommunications technologies.

Meanwhile, Khawam said the services that will be delivered by Orange's 3G+ network will greatly bolster Internet penetration in the Kingdom, in line with the national strategy that seeks to increase Internet penetration by 50 per cent in the Kingdom by 2011.

She noted that the company has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Arab television network MBC, whereby several of the network’s popular programmes and series will be streamed exclusively through Orange’s 3G+ network directly to subscribers’ handsets.

CEO of Orange mobile Majd Shweikeh delivered a presentation outlining the various offers through which subscribers will be able to use Orange's 3G+ Network.

"We have created four offers, two for mobile and two for Internet. The mobile offers, grouped under the heading 'Your World Moves with You', consist of one postpaid and one prepaid offer. The Internet offers also offer postpaid and prepaid options and are part of Orange's 'Internet Everywhere' package. Each offer comprises several bundles tailored to meet varying consumer needs and incomes."
4 March 2010

http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=24534

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ICT sector becoming major contributor to Jordan’s GDP

By Rob Tashima

AMMAN - Jordan may have little in the way of oil or gas, but the Kingdom is overcoming nature’s shortfalls by building resources of its own, creating an information and communications technology (ICT) sector that is fast becoming a mainstay of the economy.

The importance of the ICT industry, and the progress made by the sector over the past decade, were underscored in a report commissioned by the government at the end of last year.

Prepared by Y-Consult and Dajani Consulting for the Ministry of ICT, the study showed the sector represented 14.3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008, making it one of the largest single contributors to the economy.

Just as significantly for an economy that has to provide enough jobs to meet the demands of a growing labour force, the expansion of the ICT industry had resulted in some 80,000 new positions being created between 1999 and 2008. Of these, the report indicated, 16,650 were direct jobs within the industry, a further 49,852 were indirect jobs and the remaining 15,365 were listed as induced positions.

While highlighting the successes of the industry, the report also stressed the need for additional measures to ensure the advantages created by Jordan’s ICT sector flowed on to other segments of the economy. These measures included steps to further integrate the ICT sector with other fields, increasing the awareness on how ICT can play a greater role in boosting revenues, and encouraged e-content creation and e-commerce practices.

Although the government is firmly committed to promoting the use of IT, a recent report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) suggests that the country’s business community is lagging somewhat in adopting and adapting these new solutions to its existing problems.

In its “Global Information Technology Report 2009-10”, released in late March, the WEF ranked Jordan 44th out of 133 countries on its networked readiness index for ICT development, the same as in the previous year.

However, while the government’s prioritisation of ICT was rated 21st globally, and the importance of IT to the government’s vision of the future ranked Jordan 23rd in the world, the private business community fared less well. The WEF rated Jordan’s overall business readiness at 73rd, with staff training coming in at 67th and company spending on research and development at 108th.

The need to increase the take up of ICT across the economy is one of the challenges facing Jordan’s new minister of ICT, Marwan Juma. Appointed in mid-December, Juma held a series of senior positions in the private sector, serving as chief executive officer of mobile phone company Xpress Telecommunications, chairman of industry lobby int@j and founder and chairman web development firm Dot.Jo.

In mid-January, Hewlett-Packard signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government setting out the terms under which the company would establish a regional competency centre in Jordan to serve the Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa regions. The centre will initially provide technology services, but could potential develop into one of the company’s international service delivery centres, Hewlett-Packard officials said.

Hewlett-Packard may not be the only ICT major to set up shop in Jordan. At a recent IT conference in Dubai, Juma made a concerted pitch to Google, the world’s leading Internet search engine. Responding to comments by Vint Cerf, a vice-president of Google and widely seen as one of the pioneers of the Internet, that the Arab world needed to embrace technological innovation for future growth, Juma said the only way Google could help Arabs “transform our part of the world is by being in our part of the world”.

Last year saw Intel invest in two Jordanian firms - Jeeran, an online community with over one million users, and ShooFeeTV, a content aggregator - through its Intel Capital Middle East and Turkey fund, while Yahoo swooped in to acquire Maktoob.com, one of the biggest and oldest Arabic content providers based in Amman.

It is clear that Jordan is already punching above its weight in the fight to attract serious ICT investment, aiming to move up a division or two in the coming years as it seeks to further increase the sector’s share of the GDP and bolster the country’s regional and global rankings.

Oxford Business Group (OBG) is a highly acclaimed global publishing, research and consultancy firm, which published economic and political intelligence on the markets of Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North and South Africa.

21 April 2010

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZA...dan%27s%20GDP/

http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=25874

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Its amazing that most of the best IT company in the Middle East are all Jordanian or based in jordan. We should really be proud of it especially the recent news about the Yahoo acquisition of Maktoob. Cheers for that

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Yahoo! Middle East launches new offices in Amman and Dubai
Wednesday May 5 , 2010

- New footholds to strengthen the Yahoo! brand in the region

Yahoo! Middle East has today announced the official opening of its new offices in Dubai, UAE and Amman, Jordan. Rich Riley, the Senior Vice President & Managing Director, Yahoo! in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) has travelled to the region in order to host the official inauguration of both sites.

These two bases will further strengthen the position of Yahoo! and its growth and development across the Middle East, as it strives towards its vision of being the centre of peoples online lives. The offices both offer a spacious and fun environment providing staff with many additional amenities including table tennis, foosball, Wii, a caf with TV and Sat connection, as well as refreshment machines and kitchen facilities.

Yahoo! Middle East acquired Maktoob.com, the leading online community in the Arab world, with more than 19 million unique users, in August 2009. This acquisition was part of Yahoo!s larger strategy to grow its business throughout the worlds emerging markets by connecting consumers with the content and services that matter most to them in their local language. Over the next few months plans are being finalized for the official brand launch Yahoo! Maktoob.


Rich Riley commented: I am very proud to be apart of the Yahoo! organization and delighted to be able to open these two offices in this strategically important region, following our acquisition of Maktoob.com. Im looking forward to watching the growth of our customer base and the Yahoo! brand as a leader in the region.

These are really exciting times for Yahoo! Middle East, particularly as we have many important developments coming up this year, and now we have a strong team on the ground we will really be able to immerse the brand into the region as we announce the new brand identity and website.

Ahmed Nassef, Vice President of Yahoo! Middle East commented: We are extremely thrilled to have Rich visit the region as Yahoo! Middle East gets ready to embark on an exciting phase of its development in the region.

These two offices reflect our commitment to the region and will offer vital support for our activity and growth over the coming year. The fun office environment provides a great working zone to stimulate our staff and will help us to ensure we provide the best possible products for our customers.

Joining Yahoo! in January 1999 when Yahoo! acquired the start up company he co-founded, Rich Riley now overseas all activity and operations for consumers, advertisers and partners in the EMEA region.

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Yahoo! Arabic services ‘on the way’

By Mohammad Ghazal

AMMAN - Yahoo! is making “great progress” in introducing Arabic versions of its services this year, according to a company official.

The Internet giant, which acquired Amman-based web portal Maktoob last year, said it is on pace to offer an array of services in Arabic in 2010, including Yahoo! messenger, search engine, front page and Yahoo! mail.

“We are committed to introducing our services in Arabic as we have great interest in this region. We are making progress in this regard and we will make our services available this year,” Rich Riley, senior vice president and managing director of Yahoo! in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, said in an interview with The Jordan Times last week.

Yahoo! Middle East, which inaugurated its Amman office last week, is also making great progress merging its services with Maktoob, according to Riley.

“We are making progress combining the best of Yahoo and the best of Maktoob,” he said, adding that the overall number of Yahoo and Maktoob users in the Middle East stands at around 30 million.

In the interview, Riley stressed that opening a Yahoo branch in Amman will enhance the Internet giant’s presence in the Middle East, noting that the office will be in charge of creating regional content, product localisation and developing new products and services.

“Some of our products are completely designed and created through the Amman branch, which is the largest Yahoo office in the region by far,” Riley said, adding that the branch employs around 150 employees, mainly Jordanians.

Yahoo services currently most used by web surfers in the Middle East, are Yahoo mail, messenger, front page, finance, women, games and business, he added.

9 May 2010

http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=26377

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Oasis 500 fund to promote local IT innovations

By Mohammad Ghazal

AMMAN - IT companies are teaming up to provide local entrepreneurs in the sector with funds and logistics to support their innovations, a senior government official said on Monday.

Major companies in the Kingdom’s IT sector have launched a fund, dubbed “Oasis 500”, to help young entrepreneurs finance and market their projects, Minister of Information and Communications Technology Marwan Juma told reporters yesterday.

“The fund will not only provide financing to help nascent entrepreneurs in the sector complete their projects, but it will also help encourage new innovations from IT graduates and entrepreneurs,” the minister said.

The fund, which has an initial capital of JD100,000, was established due to the lack of systematic support for small entrepreneurs and the obstacles they face in securing financing to complete their projects, according to Juma.

Aiming to support 500 entrepreneurs over the next five years, the fund will be headquartered in Al Hussein Business Park in facilities provided by the government, he added.

“When a major company in the IT sector in Jordan embraces a project or a creative idea, it will become an invested partner and will make sure that this project or idea grows and succeeds,” the minister said, adding that the fund will seek finances from major international IT firms present in Jordan.

Also during yesterday’s press conference, Juma said the ministry will launch an academy in September to offer specialised training for IT graduates on skills required by the sector.

“The academy will operate in cooperation with the private sector and seeks to enhance the skills of IT graduates and provide them with training based on IT companies’ needs,” said the minister, adding that training courses will be free of charge.

Courses will be taught at centres affiliated with various universities and private companies, the minister said, noting that about 6,000 students graduate with IT majors each year.

Meanwhile, Juma said the ministry will come up with a strategy by the end of the first half of this year to complete the “National Broadband Network” project. The strategy calls for finding a private partner for the initiative, which was launched in 2003 and entails linking the country’s public schools through a fibre optic network to provide Internet services in the targeted areas at “low and competitive” prices.

Approximately 850 schools will be connected to the network by June, according to the ministry.

Juma added that the ministry will float a tender in June for an international consultant to update the country’s Telecommunications Law.

Next week, the ministry will present the draft law on information system crimes to the Cabinet, he said, adding that the draft e-transaction law will be completed in late July.

18 May 2010

http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=26647

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On The Road To The Arabia 500: Jordan - Ministry Of Trade And Economy And Allworld Network Launch The Jordan 25|100 And Arabia 500


The Jordan 25 | 100 is a cutting edge effort to find and advance all of Jordan's fast-growth entrepreneurs.

Jordan could become the "Singapore of Entrepreneurship.

Amman, Jordan, 28 June 2010, Grand Hyatt hotel...Today, the Minister of Industry and Trade His Excellency Eng. Amer Hadidi and AllWorld Co-founder Anne Habiby launched the Jordan 25|100, a ranking of the fastest-growing companies. Companies from around the country are invited to apply to the Jordan 25 |100, and already over 30 companies have applied. The Jordan 25 |100 winners will be credentialed as global growth entrepreneurs and become part of the AllWorld Network of winners from the US, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The Jordan 25|100 winners will be eligible for the MENA wide Arabia 500, which will be announced in the Spring of 2011 in Jordan. Joining Hadidi and Habiby at the event were many of the Jordan 25 finalists.

H.E. Amer Hadidi highlighted, that Jordan 100 will be announced November 2010. Her added that "The Jordan 25|100 will bring attention to the entrepreneurs creating the next economy of jobs and ideas right here in Jordan," said Hadidi. "In addition, the Jordan 25|100 will create an entrepreneurship path for others to follow and will send a message around the world that Jordan is open for business."

AllWorld has launched the Egypt 25, Jordan 25, Lebanon 25, North Africa 25 and the UAE 25 as part of the Arabia Fast Growth 500 - a massive effort across the Middle East and North Africa to find and analyze the fastest growing emerging companies of the region. These companies have the potential to create the next economy of jobs and represent the leading edge of a new wave of growth and competitiveness. AllWorld expects to announce the Jordan 25 in July and the Jordan 100 in late 2010 along with the release of the first Jordan Entrepreneurship Report.

"The challenge for these companies is that they are currently not on the global economic radar screen, and that is where AllWorld comes in," said Habiby. "Recognizing that entrepreneurship drives economic growth and innovation, AllWorld's mission is to find and advance all the growth entrepreneurs of the emerging world by 2015. Our model is simple - find growth entrepreneurs, credential them, put them on the global radar screen, and markets will come to them. We call this "Visibility EconomicsTM" and we believe it is the 21st century way to move the world for job growth and progress."

H.E. Eng Added Hadidi, "The Jordan 25|100 will be the start of igniting Visibility EconomicsTM for Jordan, , we feel we can accelerate this program in Jordan. The research will also help guide the business and policy community in actions to speed the process of entrepreneurial growth. From the initial research AllWorld has done on the Jordan 25 applicants, they believe that Jordan could become the 'Singapore of Entrepreneurship.'"

In addition, Jordan will play host to the inaugural Arabia 500 Awards Event for the 500 fastest growing private companies across the MENA region. We plan of having this event in Jordan in the Spring of 2011. This would be the "World Economic Forum of Entrepreneurship" and would send a signal to the rest of the world that Jordan is a serious player in driving innovation and entrepreneurship.

In addition to the Ministry and the Jordanian government, the Boston-based AllWorld Network is joined by an unprecedented array of local and international organizations in creating the Jordan 25|100: the Business Development Corporation (BDC), Endeavor Jordan and Lawrence & Husseini Consult, as well as the international consulting firm the Monitor Group, private equity firm Siraj Capital, and health care real estate developer Sukoon International. Partners also include US-based Business Council for International Understanding and the National US-Arab Chamber of Commerce.

Companies that applied were ranked based on their sales growth between 2006 and 2008 and younger growth companies could qualify as "Companies-to-Watch." To be eligible, companies had to undergo a strenuous process including completing a detailed business survey and providing audited statements or an audit letter to confirm their revenue growth. The company with the fastest growing sales between 2006 and 2008 earned the number one spot. Eighteen qualified as ranked companies and seven as Companies-to-Watch.

This press conference was attended by some of the finalist ..

AllWorld was co-founded by Deirdre Coyle, Jr., Anne Habiby and Board chairman Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter. Professor Porter was described by the Times of London as the world's "most influential management guru" and is widely regarded at the foremost authority on company and country competitiveness. "The Jordan 25|100 companies, led by dynamic men and women, represent the leading edge of a new approach to Lebanon's competitiveness" says Harvard Professor Michael Porter.

Along with the Arabia 500, AllWorld is creating the Africa 500, Asia 500, Eurasia 500, and Latin America 500. For more information about the winning companies or to apply for the Arabia 500 visit www.AllWorldLive.com.

"The Lebanon 25 gives us an invaluable opportunity to identify compelling stories of innovation and success from emerging entrepreneurs," Antoine Abou Samra, Managing Director of Bader remarked,. "Bader has nominated 40 companies to the Lebanon 25 and we look forward to supporting and encouraging these young business leaders because they contribute to the future of Lebanon's economy."

- Ends -

ARABIA 500 QUALIFYING CRITERIA

· Be an independent, private, for-profit, corporation or partnership, or proprietorship.

· Must NOT be a non-profit, holding company, franchise, bank or utility company. Private companies established by government or where government is a majority stakeholder are also NOT eligible.

· Have 6 or more full-time employees in 2009.

· Have a minimum 3-year operating history, and revenue (USD) of at least $100,000 in 2007 and $500,000 in 2009. Younger companies can compete to be a "Company to Watch."

· Provide audited statements or an audit letter to confirm your company's revenues.

· To apply to the Arabia 500, visit AllWorldLive.com or contact Arabia 500 Director Desiree El-Chebeir
at delchebeir@allworldlive.com

www.allworldlive.com

[lealfonse]

ICT sector benefits from new exemptions


By Mohammad Ghazal and Petra

AMMAN - The Cabinet on Tuesday endorsed a number of exemptions for the information and communications technology sector (ICT).

Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications and Government Spokesperson Nabil Sharif said the exemptions came in implementation of the national programme for financial, economic and social reforms to stimulate the economy and to enhance the living standards of Jordanians.

Under the new incentives, exported ICT services will be exempt from income tax including computer services, economic feasibility studies and the services related to legal, engineering and audit consultation.

Companies providing broadband telecommunication services will be exempt from annual fees provided that these exemptions reflect on the services provided to people either in terms of prices or expansion outside the capital, Sharif explained.

During Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Samir Rifai, the government also decided to reduce and unify sales tax on Internet services at 8 per cent regardless of the technology used or the beneficiary, which will be effective as of the beginning of next month.

According to previous regulations, sales tax on Internet connections for households was 8 per cent, while it was 16 per cent when the beneficiary was a commercial or business outlet, and the same tax was imposed on wireless Internet. Under the new incentives, the tax levied will be 8 per cent for the three types of services.

Earlier in the day, Rifai announced that the government will take a series of measures to support the IT sector, including expanding tax exemptions.

Addressing a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of Information Technology Association-Jordan (int@j), the premier said that despite the difficult global economic climate, the government will work to bolster the sector, such as extending the tax exemption on revenues generated by IT exports.

Jordan’s IT exports stood at around $209 million in 2009, compared with $226 million in 2008 and $196 million in 2007, according to int@j.

The premier highlighted that the government considers the IT sector a success story, and will not hinder its growth in its attempts to address the budget deficit.

The IT sector contributes around 14 per cent to the gross domestic product and employs about 14,928 employees, 24 per cent of whom are female, according to a recent survey by int@j.

He also commended int@j’s achievements over the last decade, adding that the association is a model of partnership between the public and private sectors.

At the ceremony, Minister of Information and Communications Technology Marwan Juma said officials will work to ensure that the sector continues to be competitive at the international level.

Also during the event, int@j Chairman Ayman Mazahreh said the IT sector generated $2.2 billion in revenues in 2009.

21 July 2010

http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=28514

[SUUSBNAA]

http://secretrich.tk/ SECRET RICH

[lealfonse]

Jordan: Back on the Silicon trail



Marwan Juma, Jordan's Information and Technology Minister, tells the story of how the country's ICT got its big start 10 years ago in very pragmatic and simple terms. When King Abdullah II asked for business plans on how to develop the country, it was technology companies that stepped forward first.

For nearly six years, starting in 2000, the country made huge strides, liberalising its telecommunications sector, allowing competitors to enter the market, and paving the way for companies to delve into web development. That led to the launch of Maktoob.com, one of the first online portals in the Arab world. By 2006, however, construction fever gripped the Middle East, including Jordan, and the country's march into the digital age slowed to a walk.

Now Juma, who took office in December, is leading a renewed effort to move the sector forward again. To do this he is addressing taxes, education, the lack of venture capital and the industry's seeming inability to promote itself. It an effort to talk about both what the country has accomplished and what it needs to do going forward, Jordan today will host the MENA ICT Forum in Amman for two days. Continuing to develop ICT is critical in a country faced with 13.5 per cent unemployment.

"There is no sector that is built or fit for a country like Jordan, which only has people, better than ICT," Juma said in an interview with Gulf News. "It's something you can easily export. If we keep investing in education, it's something we can compete on, and not necessarily even on a regional scale, but beyond."

The country set goals in 2007 to attain 30,000 jobs in 2011, he said. Since then it has generated 16,000 jobs in the IT sector and 55,000 IT jobs in other sectors. The ICT industry accounts for 14 per cent of Jordan's GDP, with another 4 per cent coming indirectly.

However, Jordan doesn't just want to be a place to develop cheap software or technology. It doesn't want to be a sweatshop, Juma said. The country also won't work as an outsourcing destination, because it wants to have size and scale. He also wants to see a greater focus on entrepreneurship and the development of intellectual property.

"Jordan should focus on where there is high value add," he said. "And we're seeing a lot of IP [intellectual property] coming out of Jordan. And that's an important point. It's local companies creating homegrown IP."

To develop an IT industry centred on developing IP, Juma believes the country need to find its niche. He said the country has done fantastic work in animation and is also doing very well in developing software for the banking and insurance sectors.

On the web, he said that most of the Arabic success stories are Jordanian, including that of regional giant Maktoob, which was acquired by Yahoo! last year.

"It's part of a growing process," he said. "We can't say we're a jack of all trades and a master of none. We have to start having a focus."

He wants to keep the focus though on software and web technology, not on manufacturing.

"Jordan should never go down that road," he said. "We tried and it doesn't work. Manufacturing is too expensive because of energy and labour."

But to build an economy around the private sector requires money, which is a problem throughout the Middle East. The region lacks venture capitalists who can help small- and medium-sized businesses and banks, especially after the last two years of global crisis, are very reluctant to lend.

Most companies now are relying on family, and Juma said family is often reluctant to invest in the intangibles that surround ICT.

"The requirements are what to start an ICT start-up? $30,000, $40,000, $50,000," Juma complains. "In the past you had venture capitalists, who came with funds of $20 million, so you have one guy with $20 million and one guy looking for $50,000. These guys would leave saying they couldn't find anything, and the other guys couldn't doing anything."

To keep money flowing

To help get the money flowing, a number of Jordanian businesses have formed an association called Oasis 500, made up of entrepreneurs who succeeded in the country's first IT push, aimed at providing mentoring and venture capital to promising young Jordanians with viable business ideas. The fund so far has raised $6 million and initially atracted over 200 applicants.

Under the programme, young entrepreneurs will be able to come in and present their ideas and go through a strict filtering process. If their ideas make sense, then they will go to a second stage where they will get funding of 10,000 Jordanian dinars. It the project still looks good after three months, the fund owners will support the new business owners and try to help them establish a viable enterprise.

Encouraging people to get to even this stage is difficult though, he said, because of the Middle Eastern stigma surrounding failure.

"In the Arab world, if you fail, you get mocked," he said. "Everyone is so risk adverse."

So in an effort to de-stigmatise failure and get more people involved in starting companies, he said, "we are looking to introduce the country's own version of Chapter 11, the US bankruptcy law, that allows company to restructure while being protected from its creditors.

"For the private sector you need to protect them," he said. "You need to have laws like Chapter 11. It's a disaster for a private company to go bankrupt in the Middle East."

The final step will be to convince young business people to make sure the rest of the world knows about their success. It's a common problem in the country, he said.

"Jordanians, it's our nature, we're not very good marketers," he said. "We're very good engineers. We're very good programmers. When it comes to marketing, packaging and promotion, it's not our forte. We don't celebrate success."

Juma said he is trying to get across to young entrepreneurs that public relations and marketing isn't expensive, but an investment and the more you invest, the more you reap the benefits.

"These companies must realise that without proper marketing and exposure and support, they are not going to get a look at these potential deals," he said. "If people don't know about them, if they're not exposed, they're not going to be asked to tender."

http://gulfnews.com/business/feature...trail-1.694030

[lealfonse]

Jumping the fence from private to public sector

An entrepreneur takes it on himself to make headway at the policy level

* By Scott Shuey, Business Features Editor
* Published: 00:00 October 10, 2010
* Gulf News

Juma Marwan's interest in the private sector comes from long association with it. Over the last 10 years, he has been the chairman of dot.jo, a web development company and kinz.jo, a company that specialises in data mining, and is former chairman of int@j, the country's information and technology association. He is also the former chief executive officer of both Xpress Telecommunications and Batelco Jordan, two of the country's telecommunications companies.

That puts Juma in the position of now dealing with many of his former associates. "He's in a tough position now, because he used to complain about government bureaucracy, and he [is] there now," says Aiman Mazahreh, the current chairman of int@j.

Mazahreh says the industry has a long wish list of things it wants to see the government achieve, but so far it has received what it had been asking for, especially in the area of taxes.

"We said, if we want to build an export industry, for Jordan, we have to exempt the export software and programmes from taxes," he says. "He has to fight with the cabinet to get their approval, and that got approved."

Still on the agenda though are education and procurement, he says. The procurement issue is critical, he says, because it still takes too long to award a contract in Jordan. One of the biggest obstacles the country still faces is education at the university level, Juma says.

"There's been a gulf in the past," he says. "Too much focus on quantity and not on quality."

Jordan has been seeing a disparity between schools offering IT programmes, he says. Of the 20 available, there are about five or six that produce graduates who are employable almost 100 per cent of the time, but some schools are falling way beyond, and some schools shouldn't even have an IT programme.

But the private sector can help.

"They have an obligation to tell academia to where we are heading as a country and what needs to be taught in our schools," he says.

Marwan says strong public/private partnerships will be essential to success in Jordan. Failure to achieve a strong private sector will mean employment issues for the country.

"Jordan can only thrive and prosper if we create the ecosystem for the private sector to grow and prosper, because government will no longer be an employer in Jordan. We can't afford to. Government is too big."

Capital requirement

Jordan is also hoping to use its location as a midpoint between the Levant and the Gulf to attract business, but it has also lowered taxes. Juma says the country recently lowered the tax rate from 24 to 14 per cent, and it if the tax base grows large enough could even drop to 10 per cent. The capital requirement to start a new business has also been dropped to 1,000 Jordanian dinars (Dh5,149.6), although Juma says he wants to see it lowered to just a single dollar.

"Those companies have a choice today, so if Jordan doesn't remove those taxes, they can easily look in other places where taxes aren't there, "he says. "We understand that if Cisco comes to Jordan and employs 100 Jordanians, revenue will come from sales taxes, revenue will come from these people earning salaries in Jordan, and investing in Jordan. At the end of the day, Jordan will gain. If we impose taxes, they will not come. We won't lose revenue. It's revenue we never had."

He would also like to see Jordan take steps to break down political barriers that could help the region's IT sector grow, including having companies listed on multiple regional exchanges.

"Why can't the company be listed in Jordan, the UAE, and Riyadh, for example and we get these political boundaries out of the way," he says. "We're so close to each other as Arab countries as there is so much business to go around and why should it go to — with all respect — Indian companies? Why can't it stay here in the region?"

* 14% the tax rate in Jordan at present after it was lowered from 24%.
* 10% the rate of tax being proposed if the tax base witnesses a substantial increase.
* 1,000 Jordanian dinars is the capital requirement to start a business in the country.
* 20 educational institutions currently offering IT programmes in Jordan.