On May 10, a seminar over 70 entrepreneurs and private sector representatives, incubators and investors, donor countries and government representatives as well as national and international civil society organizations to discuss the state of play for women’s entrepreneurship in Jordan. Inspiring, prominent Jordanian women entrepreneurs and business leaders shared their experiences and insights.
Key points that were stressed during the seminar were the importance of female role models in the business sector, and a holistic and long-term approach towards supporting female entrepreneurs, ranging from creating on enabling regulatory environment to providing access to capital and networks, and changing societal attitudes towards working women and women in leadership positions.
The importance of a decentralized support system for entrepreneurship was stressed, with participants pointing to the fact that the concentration of incubators, networks and support programmes in Amman makes for an uneven playing field, putting actors outside of the capital at a disadvantage. The participants of the seminar concluded that this was only the beginning of a conversation on the potential of Jordanian female entrepreneurs that needs to be ongoing.