Ammon News - Endeavor Jordan awarded a contract to Ernst & Young (EY) Jordan to conduct an in-depth diagnostic, in-house consulting, and training for high potential growth companies (HPGCs) selected to join the Scale-up Roadmap for Growing Enterprises Program (SURGE), a 3-year program co-funded by the European Union’s "Innovation for Enterprise Growth and Jobs" program "Innovate Jordan".

Under the contract, EY Jordan will support the SURGE team to improve some of the core business functions of the 45 HPGCs that will be selected over the 3-year project period. EY Jordan will also support various activities related to access to markets and access to finance, according to an Endeavor press statement.

More specifically, EY Jordan will support the SURGE team in conducting an exhaustive needs diagnostic analysis to help identify the internal and external challenges for each HPGC. This will culminate in the development of a 9-12 month milestone-driven roadmap for each HPGC, Endeavor announced.

The roadmaps will identify the immersive 8-week in-house consulting needs that will be delivered by subject matter experts on the premises of each assigned HPGC. Roadmaps will also identify the training, coaching, mentorship, and advisory needs for each HPGC, the statement pointed out.

Additionally, EY Jordan will support the SURGE team with organizing and facilitating a number of workshops using proven and recognized methodologies and tools. These workshops will focus on market prioritization, healthy tax practices and tax evasions complications, accounting best practices for investment readiness, and impact investment. EY Jordan will also support the SURGE team in identifying potential global industry players to be introduced to the companies during the market exploration trips, Endeavor said.

A total of 14 business consulting and professional services firms applied to the request for proposal announced on December 13, 2020. The evaluation of the proposals followed a rigorous and fully transparent process, complying with the evaluation grid of the award criteria presented in the RFP by a committee of experts representing the 3 consortium entities. The entire process was observed by the team leader of the EU funded technical assistance to Innovation for Enterprise Growth & Jobs program resulting in awarding the contract to EY Jordan for attaining the highest score of the technical and financial evaluation, Endeavor added.

SURGE, which is implemented by a consortium led by Endeavor Jordan (not for profit) and includes Oasis500 and BeyondCapital, aims to foster the demand-driven growth and scaling of 45 HPGCs, 15 companies per year, throughout the three years. It will focus on strengthening their core business functions, and assisting them to identify and seize new market opportunities, according to the statement.