Ammon News - USAID Business Growth Activity on Tuesday launched its partnership with Jordan’s Business and Professional Association-Amman (BPWA) aimed at encouraging women entrepreneurs to leverage resources, technical expertise, and capital to build their businesses and contribute to the country’s economic growth.

The USAID Business Growth Activity, a five-year project (2021-2026), offers a range of capacity building programs, capital, incubation services, and mentorship support, both for startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), tailored to women businesses. The goal is to create a competitive, demand-driven, entrepreneurial ecosystem—one which leads to increased private-sector employment, especially for women, youth, and persons with disabilities.

Despite their comparatively high education levels, Jordan has some of the lowest indicators in the world for women’s labor force, economic productivity, and gender equality. Fewer than one-fifth of women, who comprise 50% of the 11 million population, are engaged in the workforce. Increasing women’s participation in entrepreneurship has the potential to create hundreds of new businesses, as well as grow job opportunities and income levels.

Wafaa Aranki, USAID Business Growth Activity Chief of Party said: “When businesswomen know what is made available to them, how best to obtain such services, their plans to succeed become concrete and rewarding. We invite you as Jordanian businesswomen to reach out to our project and to engage with us to establish your own path to success.”

In the first round of USAID Business Growth Activity applications, only 4% of women entrepreneurs applied, a low rate that signaled greater promotion of USAID program, the application process, and the benefits for early-stage ventures and women-led and owned SMEs.

The partnership with the activity is expected to expand the outreach to more governorates and sectors and increase qualified women applicants to the project. The event marked the beginning of the pre-qualification process aimed at encouraging women entrepreneurs to access resources and technical support to scale up their businesses, and affect positive change in their communities.

Thanaa Al-Khasawneh, BPWA, Executive Director said: “We welcome this hands-on activity that will enhance our members’ access to available donor resources, especially to projects like this that focus on creating jobs for women, youth, and persons with disabilities. Our members will benefit from an array of services, finance, innovative tools and ideas that can help them to contribute to Jordan’s growth and prosperity.”

The USAID Business Growth Activity is aligned with the Government of Jordan’s vision to increase and deepen collaboration with the private sector as it pursues reforms to improve private sector competitiveness, increase participation of women in the economy, and expand employment opportunities across the country to strengthen Jordan’s political and economic stability.