Start-up competition concludes tour through Kingdom

AMMAN — “Start-up Battle JO” has recently returned to Amman after a tour through Irbid, Karak, Zarqa and Aqaba, to host competitions among young entrepreneurs, according to a joint statement sent to The Jordan Times.

The project brings together a team of entrepreneurs, mentors and trainers to assist young entrepreneurs to come up with solutions to problems faced by the Jordanian tourism, cosmetic, technology, gaming, plastics, rubber and environmental sectors.

Since the initiative’s first competition in November, Start-up Battle JO has selected a young entrepreneur in each city it has visited to compete against each other in a national competition scheduled for spring, according to the statement.

The initiative, funded by the EU, added that more winners are expected in the coming weeks who will go on to compete until regional and international events are held.

The events are part of EU efforts to support private-sector development in Jordan through its co-funded Jordanian Action for the Development of Enterprises (JADE), according to the statement.

Some winners include Osama Habarnah, Elham Jamal and Mohammad Misto from Amman, for their start-up “Yallo Go”, which attempts to turn the tourism experiences into games which can be played on smart devices.

Zarqa’s winners, Daoud Mansour, Amina Shaout and Suhaib Musa developed “We Cycle”, which is an application that aims to effectively and environmentally recycle household and commercial waste.

Sirpa Tulla, head of the EU Delegation to Jordan’s economic section, said in the statement: “It is no secret that Jordan’s biggest national resource is its talent, and what these competitions are doing are really bringing to the fore the diversity of ideas, ingenuity and creativity of Jordanians, especially youth.”

JADE is a 3-year project to support private sector development in Jordan with four incubators located across Jordan to support entrepreneurs and start-ups in a range of fields, the statement said.