Achieving his dreams…

In this article, we will go back to Jordan to introduce a new success story. The story of the former Jordanian minister of agriculture, is today the president of the Jordan Society for Scientific Research, entrepreneurship and creativity (JSSRC), BESTMEDGRAPE partner in Jordan.

Raised and educated in Jarash, Jordan, Rida Shibli was always interested in pursuing higher education in order to be a researcher one day. After a long journey of education, from Jordan to the United States of America, he managed to achieve his higher education and fulfill his dreams, now he has more than 170 research articles published in plant biotechnology and biodiversity. He also become the professor he wanted to be and has supervised more than 50 graduate students.

His view on BESTMEDGRAPE…

Dr. Shibli is the administrative director and representative for the steering and scientific committee for the BESTMEDGRAPE project. He tells our website that through his connection and previous experience, he assists in developing administrative plans to support and bridge various research activities to turn science into practice, meanwhile involves and educating the public about the significance of scientific research, including the local farmers growing the grape local cultivars, the new start-ups by transferring scientific/technological knowledge on local grape cultivars and by exploitation of grape waste as a source of bioactive compounds that are transformed in innovative commercial health products, the researchers working on phytochemical products and bioactive compounds for producing health and environmental products, the researchers and new start-ups working on nanotechnology that use bioactive compounds for producing health and environmental products.

Dr. Shibli considers that in Jordan as in many countries, there is a mismatch between the education that young people receive, and the needs of businesses and labor markets, therefore the BESTMEDGRAPE project facilitates providing youth with specific and advanced Training via conducting theoretical and practical living labs on important subjects like grape characterization and conservation, phytochemical compound extraction, and nanotechnology. On the other hand, he adds, the project enabled Jordan's partner to organize long training on business creation and entrepreneurship to link the scientific background with business creation, specific skills were developed like independency, creating loyalty toward the work, enhancing motivated thinking and  Mentor persons.

In addition, the businesses created by BESTMEDGRAPE in Jordan were built in a way to be sustainable, dynamic, and survive because during training phases the entrepreneurs linked with already established SMEs, and synergies were considered in this relation.

Moreover, there are chances to work with pharmaceutical companies in Jordan (ex. Al Hekma company and  Dar Al Dawa) to adopt processes and innovations developed by entrepreneurs to produce pharmaceutical products and cosmetics developed on a commercial scale.

And of course, the potential selected entrepreneurs will be awarded vouchers that help them to establish their own new start-ups/SMEs.