Tamweelcom launches third phase of entrepreneurship award

AMMAN — When she looked into the obstacles Jordanian women face in their everyday lives, Marriet Mohammad realised that car owners find it difficult to get their vehicles checked by male mechanics.

“Women usually complain that car repair garages are far away, but most importantly that they are uncomfortable dealing with male service providers,” she said on Tuesday at the launch of the third phase of the Fekrati (my idea) entrepreneurship award.

The 21-year-old added that women said they would feel more comfortable dealing with female mechanics that can provide customers with quality services and offer play areas for children.

“That is where the idea of my project came from,” Mohammad told reporters at the event, attended by Her Majesty Queen Noor.

Around 700,000 Jordanian women have driving licences and around 41 per cent of them own cars, according to Mohammad, whose initiative is among 106 selected in the third phase of Fekrati, which is organised by the Jordan Micro Credit Company (Tamweelcom) in cooperation with 17 local partners. 

Fekrati targets men and women between the ages of 18 and 35 with the aim of boosting the culture of entrepreneurship, and linking young entrepreneurs to a network of mentors and potential investors for their businesses, according to Tamweelcom.

The first phase entailed promoting the award online and through field visits across the Kingdom, and resulted in the submission of 750 project applications in the fields of commerce, social life, environment and technology. 

The second phase consisted of sorting applications according to the creativity of the proposed projects, the applicants’ willingness to implement their ideas on the ground and the effectiveness of the solutions proposed by the initiatives.

Forty-six per cent of the projects selected for the third phase are by female applicants, according to the organisers.

In the third phase, participants will receive 70 hours of professional training on commercial and technical skills in order to start implementing their work plans.

The top 12 projects will receive financial awards between JD600 and JD1,000, in addition to funding for three years and mentorship, according to Tamweelcom.