The Jusoor Small Business Accelerator has been carefully designed to provide small businesses that are in the early stages of their development with intensive training and mentorship, along with clear pathways and access to investors and finance opportunities. These businesses are not “idea stage” but working in the informal market and may be anywhere from 6 months to 4 years old.
The SMEs incubated by the project receive intensive, specialized assistance and support through Jusoor’s hybrid approach of providing one-on-one mentorship, training, and workshops tailored to their needs as well as pathways to finance and investment. Without requiring equity in exchange, SBA’s mission is to connect our SMEs to suitable investors and investment institutions to grow and scale.
The accelerator includes training and mentorship sessions with seasoned professionals from global and regional business growth programs.
1. 2020 > Sector agnostic Targeting Jordan - Online - 20 startups
Small businesses in Jordan, whether refugee or Jordanian-led, face a similarly difficult path navigating the legal, bureaucratic and financial barriers to becoming viable and successful, and therefore need specialized assistance and support. In order to assist these business owners, Jusoor provided mentorship and training as well as pathways to finance and investment, without requiring equity in exchange.
Jusoor will provide a methodical program of business acceleration to 20 selected businesses. Trainers and mentors will guide and support Syrian and Jordanian entrepreneurs with Training, Mentorship, Access to Finance, Design Services, Business setup & registration legal process.
2. 2022 > Agriculture businesses and startups Targeting Jordan and Lebanon - Online - 35 startups
This project supports startups addressing solutions to challenges faced in the agriculture sector in Jordan and Lebanon that are scalable to the Levant region. By researching challenges to agriculture in the Levant region through desk research and a cross-sectional study and needs assessment in partnership with ministries of agriculture in different countries, the project identifies entrepreneurs with startups which are likely to have the highest impact at scale. These entrepreneurs are trained, mentored, and technically assisted to accelerate and upscale their businesses to be ready for investment and scalability.
The Agriculture Accelerator, which took place between October 2021 and April 2022, supported 33 Agriculture and Agri-tech start-ups and businesses ranging from Minimum Viable Product (MVP) stage to two years old. We provided specialized training and support to build the capacity of businesses to expand to new markets and to access finance. By focusing on agriculture, our project contributes to food security and a more resilient and diversified economy in these two countries.
