Jordan Industry

Content

>KADDB success story
>Pharmaceuticals in Jordan

The industrial sector, including mining and extraction, accounts for 20% of GDP, and a larger amount of exports. One of its greater success stories is the The King Abdullah Design and Development Bureau (KADDB).

The KADDB was created at the instigation of King Abduallah II immediately after he ascended the throne in 1999, to provide “an indigenous, self-sufficient and commercially viable research and development facility which acts as a catalyst within Jordan for the design and manufacture of defence and commercial equipment and services.”

In 2009, King Abdullah dedicated the KADDB Industrial Park, the “first comprehensive free zone in the Middle East, specializing in defense industry production,” including military food rations (Arab Ready Meals); one of the largest centers in the Middle East and North Africa for the design, development, production of ammunition (JORAMCO); and·

the Jordan Light Vehicle Manufacturing LLC (JLVM) factory, which produces and markets military vehicles, including the Al-Jawad troop carrier; the Al-Tha’lab long-range reconnaissance vehicle; and the Desert Ranger, a heavy-duty military reconnaissance motorbike.

Moayad Samman, Chairman of KADDB and Managing Director of Mawared, recounts the progress of KADDB: “We only started ten years ago, and the first five years were building infrastructure and turnover was almost nil.

Now we’re talking about a turnover of over 100 million, and we expect in the coming two years to reach up to 300-400 million US dollars, with two more companies coming on board. We are, for example, considered number one or two when it comes to exporting armored Land Cruisers in the world.”··

Mawared is also pat of the Jordan Armed Forces investment arm, and is intended to be, according to Samman, “more commercial, bringing in value to the government and the Armed Forces by investing…commercial” development. “Another focus for Mawared,” says Samman, “will be real estate development; from selling land to doing master planning…as well as managing real estate.”

Another area of growth is aviation, including both airline travel and aviation construction.

According to Bashir Abdel Hadi, CEO of JorAMco, “Aviation in the middle east is a sector facing steady growth.· Despite the economic downturn aviation still continues to expand. Our MRO (maintenance, repair, overhaul) business was established years ago in the area.

As MRO services become more expensive in Europe, we believe the opportunity in the middle east is expanded to attract business from the north and the west.· JorAMco, for example, has 30% of its business from the local market, 50% from Europe, and 20% from the rest of the region.”

Hadi believes that the secret of both Jordan’s success as a country, and JorAMco’s success as a company, is proper training and education of youthful workers. “Jordan has a great future,” Hadi says, “and the model that could be duplicated in many other industries is the availability of motivated, young labor.·

With the right training this labor force could provide a major edge for Jordan.· At JorAMco we developed an academy…and by the end of the four year program they are well prepared with qualifications, skills, and knowledge to make a difference in the industry.· My personal passion is to develop young people who might not have otherwise had the opportunity.”·

This seems to reflect King Abdullah’s vision of “harnessing the only talent we have, which is human beings·.”

Pharmaceuticals in Jordan

Pharmaceuticals are one of Jordan’s major export industries, accounting for about 20% of exports. Presently there are 17 firms competing in the field—a decline in number due to consolidation and merger.

Since the 1960s, Jordan has sought to create a place for itself in pharmaceuticals by scrupulously meeting international standards for drugs. It presently excels in making generic products that can be sold in any market.

Tantash Group is typical of this development, according to Mazen Tantash, Chairman of Tantash Group;

“Mainly in this area we are generic pharmaceutical companies. What that means is that we don't create new molecules but we give a cheaper alternative for regional drugs when they come off patency. Our company is called Midpharma ; we have 16 offices, we operate in the Near East area, North Africa and the Middle East, we employ close to 500 people.

We have around 255 different types of medicine, varying from antibiotics, aspirin, to general, to medicated. We export around 80% of our production, and 20% of our production is for the local market. We export to around 16 markets abroad.”