“People want to have a voice and solve local problems, ” says Ruwwad Micro Venture Fund (RMVF) founder Fadi Ghandour. This is especially true in Jordan, a country with a high youth population, soaring unemployment rates and marginalized communities with great business potential but a lack of proper support for follow-through. So Ghandour designed RMVF as “a platform to encourage entrepreneurial initiatives ” and help them meet such challenges.
With a distinctive business model in mind, RMVF empowers these low-income communities through an equity investment approach with an array of business support services , including mentoring, training, accounting, and legal support. It also stands out from other economic empowerment initiatives through its sharing of investment risks with its beneficiaries , requiring them to buy back or pay back the funds allocated to them only if their micro ventures start generating profit. Through a detailed selection process, RMVP was able to train hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs over the past year, identifying promising business ideas and establishing over 100 micro-businesses in Amman, other cities and governorates.
