Members News

The Innovative Startups and SMEs Fund (ISSF) – the largest investment fund of its kind in Jordan – has announced a direct investment of USD 150,000 in Martix; a Jordan-based online marketplace platform. The investment was made following an investment round during January 2021, which raised a seed fund of USD 300,000 together with UAE-based investment management firm; Select Ventures Holdings.

Founded in 2018, Martix enables local merchants to smoothly transition online and strengthen their ecommerce presence by leveraging state-of-the-art technology tools and workflows, whilst presenting consumers with an aggregated view of on-boarded stores for a seamless shopping experience that allows them to make purchases from multiple stores via one shopping cart. Martix also lends logistics and digital payment solutions, as well as last-mile service providers that are connected to the platform, to both sellers and consumers.

“With services rapidly shifting online, we are placing special emphasis on supporting digital companies that not only possess high growth potential, but also help give rise to Jordan as a regional hub for innovation and entrepreneurship. By depolying the latest technologies to cater to the evolving ecommerce needs of merchants and consumers alike, Martix serves as a prime example of local entrepreneurial success, and we eagerly look forward to seeing how our investment will contribute to the plaform’s development during the upcoming period,” commented ISSF CEO, Laith Al Qasem.

On his part, Subhi Sallam, Martix Founder and CEO, stated, “Martix emerged from the need to streamline the local ecommerce market and create a digital mirror of the local physical market. Our laser-focus on our vision, paired with our deep understanding of market context and dynamics, have been key factors in our success. With Martix, people across Jordan can now shop safely and conveniently online from more than 400 local merchants that have access to over 300,000 consumers on our app. We have a vision and goals that have yet to be achieved, and we are excited to kickstart our next phase with the support of the investment made by the ISSF and Select Ventures Holdings. We cannot wait to reveal what Martix has in store for the region.”

In turn, Amjad Mustafa, Select Ventures Holdings Managing Partner, added, “Community shopping is an important aspect of the Jordanian culture and a growing trend within today’s ecommerce arena. People prefer to buy from stores they know and trust, and Martix has brought those retailers to their customer base via an excellent platform. The strength of Martix is in their business model, scalable technology, customer service and the very hard work of their founding members. We have been alongside Martix since the beginning and are excited to see them progress well beyond the Jordanian market.”

The ISSF is registered as a Jordanian private shareholding company. The objective of the ISSF is to support and elevate Jordan’s entrepreneurial and innovation landscape by facilitating the establishment of new investment funds that serve the ecosystem; making direct investments in innovative, export-oriented and scalable local startups; as well as implementing initiatives that improve the capabilities of Jordanian entrepreneurs and startup teams through training, capacity building and targeted incubation and acceleration programs.

STS, the leading provider of digital transformation, information systems, and integrated Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) solutions in Jordan and the region; has announced the introduction of its innovative CRM platform, specifically built to address the pharmaceutical industry, under the name of “Nsights”.

The introduction of “Nsights” falls under STS’s strategy to offer innovative industry-specific solutions, and its efforts towards accelerating digital transformation across various industries. STS presented a comprehensive l CRM dedicated to the pharma industry to positively impact the customer experience and upgrade the work-flow process. It is worth mentioning that the CRM solutions offered by STS has a proven success record with a number of well-known companies in Jordan and the region.

This innovative CRM confidently differentiates itself from similar platforms by owning the specialization in the pharmaceutical industry and clearly understanding their processes and specific needs, resulting in increasing efficiency and sales outcomes along the way.

The Nsights CRM targets the pharmaceutical organizations’ structure as a whole, starting from the top management, sales and marketing teams for market insights and tracked sales planning, all the way to the logistics officers and distribution channels

Moreover, Nsights features a comprehensive thus extremely secured CRM, that allows its users to access their customers’ data base, get updates on the medicinal stocks, receive real-time feedback from doctors, generate detailed reports, track representatives’ sales plans and coverage territories, in addition to all-around access to key information and updates about the products, latest sales plans and distribution channels.

Commenting on the launch, Ibrahim Zeine, Manager, Sales Operations at STS said: ” As a Jordanian establishment, we have always proved our high competency in introducing cutting-edge digital transformation solutions since our inception. The introduction of Nsights confirms our strategy to further develop our digital conversion offerings, making them smartly adoptable and a remarkable game changer. Today we pride ourselves in transmuting the traditional pharmaceutical sales process and transforming it into a vital tool that will shift the medicinal institutions’ positioning in many aspects.”

This addition to the company’s offerings confirms on STS’s commitment in providing innovative solutions and easing this fast-paced transformation while accumulating business knowledge and technical up-to- date experience

Orange Jordan supported an art exhibition by visually impaired students that were held under the Chairman of The Company, Dr. Shabib Ammari, to mark World Art Day, celebrated on April 15^th, to affirm the importance of Art and the inclusion of people with disabilities in all activities and sectors.

The workshops were held in cooperation with artist Suhail Baqaeen in his art gallery, the visually impaired students used colors with aromas such as fruits, herbs, etc. to help them create lively artworks to enhance their experiences and encourage them to adopt innovative tools to produce beautiful art.

As Dr. Ammari viewed the paintings, he expressed his pride in the great artworks that were drawn by visually impaired students, noting Suhail Baqeen’s efforts and the mutual cooperation to instill the inclusion and art for al, which is in line with Orange’s vision and its “Differently abled, definitely enabled” umbrella.

Dr. Ammari stated that supporting the gallery embodies Orange Jordan’s interest in spreading art and creativity in the society, which the company is keen on to support especially in World Art Day, noting that art in its different forms had a vital role in history, Whether by upgrading the aesthetic elements or expressing noble messages, celebrating heritage, and bringing societies closer.

This sponsorship comes within Orange Jordan programs framework to enhance the participation of people with disabilities in the community and their effective role including artistic initiatives, where the company supported previously workshops for students with hearing disabilities to develop their skills and encourage them to unleash their creativity.

The Innovative Startups and SMEs Fund (ISSF), the largest investment fund of its kind in Jordan, has extended financial support worth USD 250,000 to Oasis500 – a pre-seed and seed fund manager and accelerator within the MENA region – to promote an innovative entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Kingdom and enable its active players. In doing so, the ISSF is supporting new and existing incubators and accelerators through its Incubation and Acceleration Development Program (IADP), advancing the capabilities of entrepreneurs and management teams to build, grow and sustain startups and early-stage companies, while providing them with the assistance required to achieve their goals.

Through this financial support, Oasis500 will accelerate 16 startups in four cohorts over 28 months via IADP, starting February 2021. Oasis500 will offer services comprising extensive oversight, workshops, training courses and learning groups, among others – as well as introduce startups to a broad investor network that can accelerate their businesses and boost their growth. The ISSF also targets young female and male entrepreneurs to develop their innovative companies and generate direct and indirect job opportunities for Jordanian men and women, thereby giving rise to the Jordanian entrepreneurial ecosystem, which is a major regional hub for innovation and creativity.

“We are delighted with our partnership with Oasis500, which has been contributing to an innovative and sustainable national economy by lending young entrepreneurs the support, training, capacity building and institutional development they need to enhance their skills and potentials. This, in turn, has resulted in technology and creativity-based companies that can expand their business scopes and attract investors in the future,” commented ISSF CEO, Laith Al Qasem. “The ISSF works closely with active national players within the entrepreneurial arena, presenting them with the funding necessary to extend vital services to Jordanian entrepreneurs, ultimately reflecting positively on the local economy and its ability to compete and prosper.”

On her part, Oasis500 CEO, Luma Fawaz, emphasized the importance of offering continuous support to improve the standards of startups, stating, “We are excited to join forces with the ISSF, which will enable us to empower more entrepreneurs and startups and equip them with crucial management and financial skills.”

The ISSF is registered as a Jordanian private shareholding company. The objective of the ISSF is to support and elevate Jordan’s entrepreneurial and innovation landscape by facilitating the establishment of new investment funds that serve the ecosystem; making direct investments in innovative, export-oriented, and scalable local startups; as well as implementing initiatives that improve the capabilities of Jordanian entrepreneurs and startup teams through training, capacity building and targeted incubation and acceleration programs.

the leading provider of digital transformation, information systems, and integrated Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) solutions in Jordan and the region; has been named the Levant partner of the Year 2021 by Dell Technologies, at the virtual MERAT Partner Summit & Award Ceremony that took place on the 5^th of April.

This title obtained by STS, is considered as an unprecedented achievement, as it was announced after a comprehensive evaluation for the outstanding results achieved by the company in the levant region, on its provision of a wide range of innovative solutions to its clients with the highest standards and professionalism levels in designing and implementing these solutions, and achieving optimum client satisfaction and trust.

“At STS we continue to build on our long-term partnership with Dell Technologies as their first and longest standing partner, and we are extremely proud to achieve such a distinctive recognition that attests our commitment to always link our offerings to global leaders, paving the way for businesses to technically grow and be enabled to digitally transform with our strong offerings portfolio.” said Zeid Mazahreh, Sales Director, STS.

The Dell Technologies Partner program is intended to support and distinguish partners for their ability to reflect an outstanding performance regarding the solutions offered, and according to their team’s commitment and ongoing achievements.  STS commits to providing innovative solutions and easing this fast-paced transformation while accumulating business knowledge and technical up-to- date experience