The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Jordan and Leaders International for Economic Development (LI) launched the "Corporate Entrepreneurship Responsibility Alliance” (CERA) project. 

The four-year project aims to integrate local MSMEs in underserved governorates across Jordan into local and international supply chains, according to a LI statement.

CERA will work on prompting larger Jordanian enterprises to shift their global sources of intermediate inputs to local vendors instead. To do so, the project will promote Corporate Entrepreneurship Responsibility to attract larger enterprises to work with local Jordanian suppliers across the value chain, according to the statement.

At the same time, the project will build the human, technical and financial capacities of local micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) so they can better respond to both Jordanian and global industry needs.

Dolf Hogewoning, acting ambassador of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Jordan, said: "Following a tough year marked by the pandemic and its compounded social, fiscal and economic impact on Jordan, it is imperative that we engage Jordanian corporates and their social responsibility efforts in improving the dynamics of Jordanian supply chains, leveraging the benefits of local sourcing, and consequently, boosting the competitiveness of Jordanian MSMEs across the supply chain and creating more jobs in Jordan.” 

This project falls under the Netherlands efforts to foster a stronger private sector in Jordan, in order to build a more sustainable and resilient economy and offer more opportunities for vulnerable Jordanians and refugees, the statement said.

Hamzeh Shamaileh, country manager at LI, added: "CERA will play an unequivocal role in promoting inclusion by stimulating growth in underserved governorates across Jordan. Specifically, it will address pressing issues for Jordanian MSMEs such as access to finance and deficient capacities, and on a wider scale, unemployment and poverty”.

The project will also enhance market linkages for local MSMEs through various interventions such as B2B meetings, advisory services, and expos. This will enable MSMEs to integrate into international supply chains, provide specialised products, develop their operating efficiency and productivity, and foster innovation through technology transfer, the statement said.

Leaders International is a non-profit organisation, specialised  in designing and managing economic development interventions, specifically those related to sustainable development of the private sector, tourism, innovation, entrepreneurship, digital transformation, and job creation, according to the statement.

Jordan was designated by the Kingdom of the Netherlands as a priority country in 2019, with the Netherlands pledging to invest more than 200 million euros to Jordan to support hosting of refugees and vulnerable host communities alike, concluded the statement.