Equipping Jordan’s small businesses for resilience and growth
Across Jordan, micro and small enterprises (MSEs) sustain livelihoods by generating opportunities within their communities and creating jobs, yet they often operate amid persistent internal capacity gaps and external market challenges that constrain their ability to grow and maintain continuity.
Many MSE owners have the drive and promising ideas needed to stand out in competitive markets. However, their limited business acumen often prevents them from fully capitalizing on market opportunities, achieving scalability, and becoming resilient to future challenges. Typically, these capacity constraints stem from weaknesses in core aspects of their business, including strategic planning, administrative and financial management.
As a result, this important segment of the local economy struggles to manage resources effectively, price their products accurately, understand their legal rights and obligations, and build meaningful market linkages to expand their customer base. These constraints can cascade into broader challenges, limiting their ability to reach new markets and ultimately scale beyond local geographic limits.
To address these exact constraints, the Informal Livelihoods Advancement Activity (Iqlaa) - funded by the United States Government and implemented by a consortium of partners led by Mercy Corps - identified that foundational skills acquirement and capacity building are not secondary needs, but essential entry points for MSEs’ resilience, economic growth, and sustainability.
Through one-on-one sessions with a financial advisor, I was able to organize my finances, price my products properly, and understand how decisions affect my cash flow, which gave me a real sense of my business’ potential
Samar Al-Assadi, owner of Aloush Tailor Shop and Fashion in Amman
However, finding the right entry point for each enterprise requires acknowledging that business owners do not all begin at the same place. Some are still developing the foundations needed to run their enterprises, while others are ready to strengthen established practices and pursue growth. Recognizing that, Iqlaa’s capacity building interventions have been designed to cater for different maturity levels of MSEs and where they stand in their journey.
“I had the entrepreneurial mindset, but I lacked the resources, confidence and courage to act on it and take the first step. The training gave me the clarity and impetus to turn that ambition into action and take the first step toward building my business,” says Yafa Al-Shayeb, a business owner from Amman.
The interventions also deliver multi-layered training that covers a broad mix of key business and financial topics, addressing the different needs of MSEs, including entrepreneurial behaviors, business administration, financial management, quality control, production, stock management, branding and packaging, traditional and digital marketing, and investment readiness.
Depending on the enterprise's needs, coaching and mentorship are either paired with these training sessions or offered as standalone interventions to help businesses turn learning into practice and improved performance.
“The training helped me realize that my business persona, decisions, behaviors, and accountability were the true drivers of my business success,” says Salah Thaib, a business owner from Aqaba.
By strengthening the knowledge, skills, and practice that underpin businesses, Iqlaa’s support drives transformation on two interconnected levels: the personal growth of the business owner, and the advancement of core practices and systems within the MSE itself.
On a behavioral level, the sessions help foster a stronger entrepreneurial outlook on their enterprises, enabling them to assess their own attitudes more clearly, take greater ownership of their decisions, and recognize how their daily behaviors directly influence their business outcomes.
This internal change empowers them to recognize what they are good at and leverage those strengths to their advantage instead of merely reacting to daily challenges.
"Learning how to manage my business changed my perspective; I finally realize what I am good at, which opened my eyes to where my true business value lies in the market," says Jehan Al – Sayed, a business owner from Al - Karak.
At an operational level, advancement often begins by replacing outdated manual processes with more efficient solutions. Through a better application of technology provided by Iqlaa, business owners are embracing digitalization to modernize their operations and business management practices. For example, many MSEs have transitioned to digital bookkeeping software, resulting in vastly improved financial management and pricing strategies.
“I am able today to know the financial status of my business at any moment of the day,” says Lateefah Al Talibi, a business owner from Ajloun. She adds, “through the bookkeeping system, I have better insights into my business’ financial performance, which has improved my planning and projections.”
Beyond building knowledge and skills, the program also creates space for participants to learn from one another through networking sessions, gaining practical insights from fellow business owners. “The training allowed me to exchange experiences with other entrepreneurs. Now I can apply what I have learned to enhance my business branding and product presentation,” says Muna Hayari, a business owner from Ma’an.
Building on these foundations, businesses are also advancing their commercial practices to keep pace with evolving market trends. For example, by changing their outlook on packaging from a simple function to a core driver of value, this helped MSEs reach wider audiences and attract bigger buyers.
For a business owner like AbdulRahim Al Harsh, this level of market readiness transformed his trajectory: “The practical nature of the training allowed me to experiment with different business models and find one that aligns with my business interests. The training also helped me develop a clear plan for expanding my market reach and thus exporting my first cargo.”
Going from selling locally to shipping products abroad is a huge leap. For AbdulRahim, this meant learning not only to deal with packaging and presentation, but also how to coordinate customs paperwork and ensure shipping costs would not eat up profits.
With better approaches to running their businesses, along with practical tools and systems, MSE owners are becoming better positioned to manage their enterprises, respond to market demands, and pursue growth opportunities.
To date, Iqlaa's capacity-building interventions have equipped around 7,000 MSE owners and staff members across Jordan with the knowledge, skills and tools needed to strengthen and grow their businesses.
Such support reinforces the role of resilient MSEs as drivers of growing economic activity in their communities. By strengthening the capabilities of MSEs - the backbone of Jordan’s private sector - Iqlaa is supporting a more productive, competitive, and inclusive growing local economy.