Oasis 500, a Jordan-based projects and investments company, said that 12 out of 33  entrepreneurs have completed its first entrepreneurial boot camp training programme.

Oasis 500 had launched its operations in August by accepting applications for its entrepreneurship programme with the goal of helping accelerate no less than 500 start-ups by 2015.

The selected entrepreneurs were part of a unique experience as they underwent an intensive boot camp of training and mentorship geared towards building the capacity of Jordanian entrepreneurs.

The graduation recognized the first group wave of entrepreneurs.

“Oasis 500 is based on a model where we select companies for funding and incubation based on the results of an intensive entrepreneurship boot camp programme designed to provide business, behavioural, and fund raising training to candidates,” said Dr Usama Fayyad, executive chairman of the Oasis 500.

“The quality and capability of all the participating entrepreneurs were very encouraging, validating the potential of Jordanian entrepreneurs, and we will have high expectations for many of our graduating class.”

Oasis 500 provides three major activities in addition to its training boot camp:  an investment and incubation programme, an intensive mentorship programme, and a regional Angel network of investors to help eligible companies secure funding and to encourage Angel investment in technology.

“The Oasis 500 model is one that can tangibly transform opportunity in Jordan for entrepreneurs needing to hone their skills at building special businesses.  It also serves as a platform for local, regional, and international stakeholders to participate in the early stages of high-growth prospects in the Jordanian ICT sector” said Emile Cubeisy, board member of Oasis 500 and managing director of IV Holdings.

“We aim to raise our capital by $6 million, and over the next five years raise an additional $30 million as we scale our operation”, added Dr Fayyad.  “We aim to make about 500 initial investments in startup companies over the coming 5 years, and these will come from thousands of ideas we will review, consider, evaluate, and filter over the coming 5 years.”

“The potential of Jordan’s ICT sector is clear, and we are confident that this model will accelerate the development of more success stories in technology startups in our sector,” said Aiman Mazahreh, board member of Oasis 500 and chairman of intaj, Jordan’s IT Association.

“We hope that these successful startups will transform the perception of Jordanian start-ups, by setting a standard for what our entrepreneurs can achieve when the right environment is in place.  Jordan’s got a track record of success and we are striving to ensure that more entrepreneurs can participate in this sector’s potential.'

“We hope to change the investment culture in this region from having a strong focus on real estate and traditional businesses, to turn to the more exciting and often significantly higher return area of ICT and Digital media”, continued Dr Fayyad. “Our angel network, which will be launching soon, will aim to create a new tradition of angel investments in technology startups.” – TradeArabia News Service