Capital Bank has announced the signing of an agreement with the Business Development Center (BDC) to support entrepreneurs and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Jordan. The agreement is a continuation of a long-term program that aims at supporting and building the capacity and entrepreneurial skills (entrepreneurial technology) of entrepreneurs and SMEs.

Capital Bank's General Manager, Haitham Kamhiyah, and BDC's Chief Executive Officer Nayef Stetieh signed the agreement.

"We sign this agreement with the BDC to contribute in supporting Jordanian entrepreneurs and SMEs in the Kingdom by giving them the opportunity to build their capabilities with the tools needed to advance their businesses in order to compete at the local and regional levels", Kamhiyah said.

He indicated that the Bank is constantly ready to grant Jordanian entrepreneurs, owners of SMEs, the opportunity to obtain the appropriate financing to expand their existing projects through advances from the Central Bank of Jordan with preferential interest rates and long tenor periods, which are allocated to support the manufacturing, alternative energy, and tourism sectors, or via loan guarantees programs through local organizations such as the Jordan Loan Guarantee Corporation (JLGC) or international organizations such as OPIC with a loan guarantee rate equivalent to 60% for enterprises located within Amman or 75% for enterprises located outside Amman. This is in addition to obtaining the necessary funding from the French Development Agency to finance projects related to energy savings, Kamhiyah noted.

Stetieh explained that the BDC is a national non-profit development center that contributes to local economic development through managing several programs and projects funded by international donors, which aims to build the capabilities of the youth and improve their competitiveness in the labor market. The program also seeks to instill a spirit of entrepreneurship, support entrepreneurs, upgrade SMEs in various governorates of the Kingdom and create new job opportunities, he added.

Stetieh commended the agreement, which embodies the true role of cooperation between the banking sector through Capital Bank, and which contributes to the development of SMEs, and those supporting Jordanian entrepreneurs, through the BDC, in order to achieve an effective partnership that provides the suitable environment to create sustainable projects that contribute to national economy and development.

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