We are thrilled to announce our most recent success story by Batool Alboul from the Ajloun governorate in northern Jordan, specifically from the village of Anjara where she was born and raised.
Using what she learned during the Code on the Road (COR) business entrepreneurship course in Amman, Batool Alboul won a European grant to launch a new project in Ajloun to regenerate her community
In 2009, Batool joined the Al-Amani Charitable Society for the Protection of the Family and Childhood which was established in 2006. Today, eleven years later, Batoul oversees the management of this remarkable charity.
The association focuses on women and families in need and boasts an astonishing membership of 500 local women. It assists families and children by empowering women economically and socially and by providing job opportunities through setting up projects for women. The association also provides women with courses on both project management and how to market and sell the products they produce through the “Green Petroleum Project”.
Their products include olive oil, thyme (zaatar), vinegar and other products which generate a monthly income for more than 200 women.
The association also prepares hand-made straw baskets containing products by its members and offers them for sale to companies. The products included in the basket are all made by the association and include olive oil, sumac, grape molasses, pomegranate molasses, carob molasses, delicacies, lavender, thyme, sage and soap.
The association also provides interest-free micro loans to help women set up projects in cooperation with the Jordan River Foundation. The number of beneficiaries has reached almost twenty people and has benefited even males who live in Ajloun..
Numerous projects have been established through these micro loans. For example, a veterinary clinic which went on to win a nationwide prize in Jordan was established through these loans. Overcoming obstacles, another individual with special needs managed to set up a carpentry business. In addition, the association also has a gym and beauty salon for women where refugee women from Syria work.
Batouol joined Code on the Road (COR)’s business entrepreneurship programme after reading about it on Facebook. She describes the experience as extremely useful and through it she realized she was able to develop her own capabilities and potentials which reflected positively on her career. The know-how she acquired through the programme helped her win a grant from a leading NGO in the European Union worth 40,000 Euros. The agreement with the NGO Plan International provides a grant for the creation of a restaurant affiliated with the association as an income generating project.
Batool was able to use the skills she gained from the COR program and its mentorship focus in order to win the grant following a tough competition and meeting all the conditions stipulated by the NGO donor. The restaurant will specialize in traditional Jordanian food and hopes to provide job opportunities for a number of local women. The women from Ajloun will be in charge of training those who will be responsible for preparing the food.
Because the project will need additional funding, the association has submitted an application for a loan from Jordan’s Development and Employment Fund.
Along with the restaurant project, the association is working to establish a nursery and kindergarten and additional projects that will provide job opportunities and revenue for the association.
In addition, our COR alumna Batool is currently taking courses to improve her English language skills as she dreams of creating her own project and she is also applying for a post-graduate scholarship to study business development!
And that’s not all! Batool is now overseeing a new income generating project for her community. She is growing wheat in the fertile land of Ajloun using traditional and organic methods to produce flour. The flour will be sold through Bilforon, an award winning marketplace application for connecting customers with home-cooks who make food and sell it from their houses.
Batool made contact with Bilforon’s Mohamed Albattikhi who was a guest trainer at COR’s entrepreneurship courseat the King Abdullah Business Park in Amman.
One of the aims of the COR programmes is to provide students with networking opportunities so young business entrepreneurs like Batool can connect with the right mentors.
Batool is an inspiration to our organization and to women everywhere: her tireless work ethic, her enthusiasm, her deep sense of responsibility, her initiative, curiosity and courage empowers not only herself, but the community of women and children around her too.
We wish her all the best in all her endeavors and are committed to standing by her every step of the way.
For more information on Al-Amani Charitable Society for the Protection of the Family and Childhood see: http://www.alamani.org/