10th May 2010, Amman- The Jordan Micro Credit Company (Tamweelcom) has launched its new program “Tamweelcom Youth”, the first of its kind in Jordan.  The program is targeted at Public university and college students between the ages of 18 and 24 years, and is designed to help them acquire knowledge about the microfinance, raise youth awareness about this industry at the local, regional and international levels, and prepare them for work after graduation.  The program also aims to enter them into the training and employment program to help them find a source of income in order to shoulder part of their own tuition fees.

Through this new program, Tamweelcom seeks to assert its social mission as a non-profit microfinance Institution that provides financial and non-financial services and various comprehensive services to productive poor and low-income people.

The program targets students enrolled in public universities or colleges who reside in any of the areas covered by the Company.  The student will receive a free training course in microfinance, after which the Company will award him/her a certificate to be calculated as part the Social Service requirement in the university’s curriculum.  This will be in addition to receiving temporary employment with fixed wages at the Company, and the provision of financial support for the youth’s creative and innovative projects and ideas.

Tamweelcom’s CEO Mr. Ziad Al-Refai said that “the idea for the youth initiative stemmed from Tamweelcom’s unwavering interest in the youth sector and in their energy and capacity that could support our future human resources.  They are the ones that constitute the national workforce and the unlimited wealth for the labor market in Jordan and Arab countries.  Because of its belief in the need to support the local community, Tamweelcom chose to direct part of its social services to this group.”

Tamweelcom is a non-profit company and is one of the pioneering microfinance companies in Jordan that endeavors to fight poverty and unemployment.  It was founded in 1999 and is owned by the Noor Al-Hussein Foundation (King Hussein Foundation).  More than 142315 projects have been financed using more than JD 66 million, 96% of the projects were for women.