Creativity Centers in Tafila.. Transforming Ideas into Projects

Al-Shalabi stated that the role of academic centers does not stop at the limits of awareness, but extends to building an incubating environment that provides technical and advisory support for innovations, and links them to industry and the labor market, ensuring the transformation of research into economically viable projects that serve the governorate and reduce unemployment.

For his part, the Director of Youth in Tafila Governorate, Hamza Al-Omariyyin, explained that the Youth Directorate is working to implement empowering and awareness programs in youth centers across various villages and districts to become interactive incubators for skills, and spaces for digital innovation and community entrepreneurship.

Al-Omariyyin pointed out that the centers affiliated with the directorate implement courses and workshops directed at youth to discover talents and equip them with practical experiences that qualify them to engage in the labor market by providing them with the necessary skills, stressing that the centers have become real platforms that create job opportunities and embrace innovators in various fields.

In turn, the consultant at the Productivity Enhancement Center in Tafila, Mohammed Al-Omariyyin, indicated that the center provides an integrated system of free advisory services and technical and financial studies for entrepreneurs and owners of innovative ideas.

Al-Omariyyin affirmed that Eradah Center has contributed to transforming dozens of youth ideas from mere perceptions into existing and viable small and medium-sized projects, prompting the owners of the feasibility studies to search for the required funding sources.

Regarding the field partnership in the youth sector, the coordinator of the "All Jordan Youth Commission" in Tafila, Amjad Al-Krimiyyin, emphasized that the commission focuses on building the capacities of youth and giving them the opportunity to lead developmental and technological initiatives.

Al-Krimiyyin stated that the youth commission in Tafila has managed to embrace hundreds of young skills and provide them with training and logistical support, which contributed to launching successful entrepreneurial projects in various fields. Meanwhile, a young woman, Hanan Al-Saudi, explained that she formed a model for digital empowerment after participating in the "E-commerce" course organized by the Busairah Youth Center; as the practical axes of the course enabled her to realize the importance of digital platforms as an integrated economic environment that transcends geographical challenges and reaches target segments at the lowest costs.

Al-Saudi pointed out that these experiences enabled her to launch her own online project to sell and market cosmetics and personal care products, where digital marketing tools contributed to building a wide customer base and achieving a financial return, which underscores the role of youth courses in transforming knowledge into productive projects that enhance the financial independence of girls.

The young man Mohammed Al-Khasbeh stressed that his experience with specialized training programs and workshops in the governorate constituted a pivotal turning point in his career path; as it enabled him to acquire the modern technical and applied skills required by the contemporary labor market, and supported his aspirations in transforming nascent ideas and innovations into tangible practical steps.

Participants and beneficiaries of these creative incubators agreed that the most prominent challenge facing entrepreneurs in Tafila Governorate lies in the advanced development phase, pushing towards the necessity of expanding the direct funding base, providing permanent marketing outlets inside and outside the governorate, in addition to enhancing co-working spaces equipped with modern technology, to ensure the sustainability of these projects and turn them into an integrated economic engine in the governorate.

The manager of a bank operating in Tafila Governorate, who asked to remain anonymous, revealed that the banking sector faces real challenges in expanding the granting of loans and credit facilities to some youth and entrepreneurial projects, stressing that the primary obstacle does not lie in the bank's desire to provide funding, but rather in the absence of standards and regulatory requirements imposed by banking laws and bank regulations to ensure the protection of depositors' funds and the recovery of loans. The same source explained that the majority of applicants for funding, especially recent graduates and unemployed youth, collide with their inability to provide sufficient in-kind guarantees such as land or real estate, along with extreme difficulty in finding guarantors who possess official salaries deducted from the public sector or accredited institutions.